Your Turn Events

20/09/2024

Workshop fun tomorrow with Sachi’s Japanesey

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Vx4nhedp5oEyoxC/?

🍣 Roll into fun! Join us TOMORROW for a hands-on FREE kids Sushi Making Workshop at Dalyellup Shopping Centre. Let your kids roll, create, and enjoy their own sushi masterpieces with easy-to-follow instructions, and a take home recipe card! PLUS, receive a $5 cockatoo sushi voucher! Perfect for ages! 🎌 See you there from 11am - 1pm! ! 🥢👧👦

18/09/2024

Had the most amazing time with all the community involved with this festival South West Japan Festival a HUGE thank you to Lauren Dixon from Studio42 for sharing the vision with me and created an epic 2 weeks of events around the southwest

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https://www.facebook.com/share/1JcSUMs99TW83Wmy/?mibextid=WC7FNe

A highlight reel of the 2024 South West Japan FestivalVideography and editing: www.studio42.com.auSponsored by: City of Bunbury, Tourism WA, SIMCOA, Your Tur...

17/09/2024

Thank you to everyone who came to this year's South West Japan Festival! Thank you to our organisers, vendors, market holders, volunteers, suppliers, local businesses, performers, entertainers, delegates, and of course, our sponsors.

🌸 Kotoshi no seinan Nihon matsuri ni go raijō itadakimash*ta minasama, makotoni arigatō go zaimash*ta! Shusai-sha, bendā, ichiba kankei-sha, borantia, sapuraiyā, jimoto kigyō, shutsuen-sha, entāteinā, daihyō-sha, sosh*te mochiron suponsā ni kansha shimasu. 🌸

🌸 👉 SURVEY HERE: https://form.typeform.com/to/O0HFf6nK

We had a beautiful closing Matsuri yesterday in Busselton at Origins Market Busselton, which was the perfect way to celebrate the end of two weeks of Japanese events and activities.

This year saw a LOT of changes for the South West Japan Festival, based off feedback we received in 2022 and 2023. Your feedback is important to us, and is taken into consideration during the planning stages for each year's festival.

In 2024 we:
🌸 Combined our two signature events into one Oki Weekend so travellers from outside of Bunbury could enjoy more time in the city and make the most of a full weekend away!

🌸 There was a huge demand for more grassed spaces from our 2023 survey, so we moved our Matsuri location to Queens Gardens - we'd love your feedback on this change!

🌸 This also allowed us to invite more food vendors along to Matsuri Day.

🌸 Matsuri Day is a huge day for families and community in the southwest, and with the amount of feedback we had about Saturday being an inconvenient day for a lot of families with sporting or work commitments, we made the decision to move Matsuri Day to Sunday, and our Floating Lantern Festival to Saturday evening as an opening event for the weekend.

🌸 Moved more of our marketing materials online instead of printed, to minimise waste as much as possible.

🌸 A number of Dunsborough restaurants came on board!

🌸 And Origins Market and the teams involved in the Busselton activities were all incredibly eager to get involved and become a part of this year's program!

If you attended any of our events this year, we'd love to hear your thoughts:
🌸 👉 SURVEY HERE: https://form.typeform.com/to/O0HFf6nK

Every completed survey has the chance to win our randomly drawn prize from Tokyo Underground!

15/09/2024

Floating Lantern Festival
Sat Sep 7 @ Friendship Gardens
Photos by Scarlet

15/09/2024

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14/09/2024

What an amazing two weeks celebrating the Japanese culture and bringing community together to enjoy it 🌸💚
Super grateful ✨

The final weekend of the South West Japan Festival is upon us!
What a fortnight! There are still a number of events happening this weekend, to celebrate the conclusion of the SWJF in style.

Nansei Nihon matsuri mo iyoiyo saigo no shūmatsudesu! Nanto ni-shūkanda! Ima shūmatsu mo SWJF no heimaku o seidai ni iwau ibento ga tasū kaisai sa remasu.

🌸TODAY:

🌸 1000 Crane Project at Origins - an initiative to create 1000 paper cranes with Pavlova’s Garden. Proceeds are being donated to the Busselton Health Campus Hospice Unit and Geographe Bay Centre, supporting bereavement, complementary therapy, home visiting, and carer education programs.

🌸Japanese Kitchen Knives | Kizuna Knife Arts: high quality Japanese knives are available for sale from Merchant & Maker in Dunsborough, at their pop up shop celebrating Japan!

🌸 High Sushi at Tora Sushi Busselton: Ticket holders are in for a treat! Tora Sushi are hosting a range of sushi options, along with matcha lattes.

🌸 Lunch specials at Merchant & Maker and Sora Dunsborough, and Japanese ice cream flavours at Elski

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🌸 SUNDAY (TOMORROW) 🌸

🌸 We conclude the festival with the Busselton Mini Matsuri at Origins Market Busselton!

Join us for 4 hours of:
🌸 Japanese entertainment from Scott Pearce Music
🌸 Delicious desserts from Sachi’s Japanesey
🌸 Premium Matcha in strawberry, vanilla and pistachio flavours from obison_coffee_roasters
🌸 Matcha gelato from SubZero Gelato
🌸 Tonkotsu Ramen special at Tora Sushi Busselton
🌸 Fold a crane for the 1000 Crane Project with Pavlova’s Garden
🌸 Japanese flag rock candy from Sour Boys Candy WA
🌸 ICCC-Immigrants Committee Community Connection Group
🌸 SWJF Merch Stall to get your 2024 t-shirt!
🌸 GOLD Educational Tours South West Stall

The Japanese Mini Matsuri is on from 10am - 2pm, and is proudly sponsored by City of Busselton - Local Government.

For more information on each event, click here: https://www.southwestjapanfestival.com.au/tickets

Photo by Abby Murray Photography

09/09/2024

A beautiful weekend celebrating the and love all the community involved in the festival!

Another week filled with events this week, check out our website for more information!!

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06/09/2024

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05/09/2024

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Our Festival Director, Renee, chats to Triple M Southwest host Michael to discuss the 2024 South West Japan Festival.

30/08/2024

🌸WHAT'S ON FOR THE KIDS AT THIS YEAR'S SWJF? 🌸

Okosama-muke no ibento mo!

The culture, craft, art, food and music of Japan is for everyone, and knows no age! Children, teenagers and adults are all welcome to come and enjoy what the South West Japan Festival has on offer.

We've made it even easier this year for families to attend our key events (the Floating Lantern Festival, Bunbury Matsuri Day, and Japanese Car and Motorbike Matsuri), by holding them all in the same one BIG (Oki) Weekend!

For families with sporting commitments, we've moved the annual South West Japan Festival Matsuri Day 🌸 to SUNDAY the 8th.

There are also drawing workshops (Draw Your Own Chibi Character (Workshop)!) available for children over 7, from our Chibi drawing expert, Jen, as well as the popular Japanese Sweets Making Workshop (selling fast!).

And the Floating Lantern Festival will now be held in the afternoon of SATURDAY the 7th September. For those families who enjoy The Bunbury Markets on a Saturday, we'll have a stand running from 11am demonstrating how to make your own koi kites. Suitable for all ages, but parents may need to assist children with scissors and staples. Koi Kite Workshops at Bunbury Markets

For those parents looking to add new recipes to their dinner repertoire, the Oki Weekend officially begins on FRIDAY the 6th with The Miso Experience | Cooking Demonstration + Tasting from Peko Peko in Busselton.

There's also the Busselton Jetty Sushi Train, with child friendly menu options, and the Busselton Mini Matsuri Day (details to come).

Has your child got an interest in arts and crafts? Why not check out the 1000 Crane Project at Origins? Open to all ages and proceeds go towards a great cause.

For a full list of child friendly activities, check your inbox! We've just sent out a newsletter jam packed with family and child-friendly events.

For tickets and our online program, head here: www.southwestjapanfestival.com.au

17/08/2024

Winter Wonderland Fun today at !

Love the different ones created and the cheeky ones, who had so much fun doing it!

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27/01/2024

So much fun and so much colour 🌈

20/01/2024

We received a phone call this week from the City of Bunbury Mayor’s office, to say that the South West Japan Festival has been nominated for the ‘Event of the Year’! ✨🌸💚

This event holds a very special place in my heart and the joy it brings the community. Absolutely humbled to be nominated and look forward to attending the award ceremony on Thursday!

A HUGE thank you to my team who work super super hard behind the scenes each year to bring this festival to fruition and support me.

Thank you also, to the community (family) who continue to support this event each year as it continues to grow! 🌸

24/11/2023

🌈 Sand Art Workshops 🌈

Perfect activity for ages 4 and up, they choose a picture, peel the sticker and sprinkle coloured sand!

Once all covered and complete, they are left with a colourful masterpiece to take home!

Children learn lots of transferable skills and benefits such as concentration, creativity, colour awarenesss, imagination, patience and mindful mediation!

PM us for availability of dates and workshop package options!

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11/11/2023

Sand Art fun today for the Community Bank Donnybrook!

Come find us at Station Square for free activities, food and fun 🌈

Thank you to for organising a fun event!

17/09/2023

My heart 💚 is full from our closing event for the ‘Floating Lantern Festival’.

This event is truely special to me and the weather cleared for us to enjoy

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A huge thank you to Charmaine and granddaughters, for the beautiful singing we were welcomed to, as we walked to the foreshore. Charmaine is the CEO for Wardandi Miya-k Kaadadjiny Aboriginal Corporation.

Thank you to the Consul-General Natio, who enjoyed the festival with us and Mayor Jaysen Miguel!

from the start of this event it’s been a joy to work alongside you, to grow and create these amazing events ✨🌸 thank you for your support!

Lauren from for supporting me and smashing out each event in challenging weather conditions 💧😂Thank you 💕
pearce.music thank you for entertaining us throughout the afternoon!

Kimono’s and Tea ceremony by the lovely Sayaka & Miyu from A Japanese Experience Perth✨

Sachi’s Japanesey, your delicious warmed many tummies 💕 Sachi’s Japanesey

Mike from the kids loved the lollie drop from the crocodile 🍭

Thank you to the volunteers and staff, this would not come together without your support and the many hours behind the scenes!

And seeing this reflect looking around, with the many smiles through the crowd!

To rest and recover then to debrief and continue planning for ‘2024’

16/09/2023

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19/08/2023

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Block Party with Lauren 💛 from for !

04/08/2023

Happy 7th birthday to

WOW 7 years since making the HUGE decision to commence YTE which has included many amazing fun events, over 250 weddings and events staffed and our commencing in a couple of weeks 🌸✨💕

I’m super grateful for the continuous support over the years and looking forward to bringing more events to Bunbury and the South West.

Some cool events we’ve been involved in are

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- Business Awards night
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Enjoy the weekend ahead ☀️

27/07/2023

Nearly the weekend and time for adventures through the Ferguson Valley!

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01/07/2023

The South West Japan Festival was invited to join the ‘Eco Expo’ at BREC last night. We shared a Japanese tradition called ‘Furoshiki’ which is
a square piece of cloth that has been used for wrapping for over 1200 years in Japan.
The word Furoshiki came about during the Edo period (1603 - 1868) when cloths were commonly used in bath-houses to wrap clothes and also used as a bath mat. We will be hosting workshops with Lisa during our festival.

We then enjoyed the show Black Sun/Blood Moon produced by Critical Stages- so much to think about and many emotions felt watching.

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26/05/2023

Super excited to bring the program together for South West Japan Festival for 2023

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06/05/2023

Such a lovely workshop today at for our client

“Paint a Vase for Mothers Day”

Loved the creativity 🌈

03/05/2023

Swapping the fun rainbow shoes for (massive) steal cap boots!!

Definitely felt the support within the team at Albemarle!

11/04/2023

So much fun and dancing at

Loved the tunes 🎶 too!!!