I had the pleasure of attending the 150th anniversary celebration of Japanese immigration to the U.S. at the Wakamatsu Fest150, held in Placerville June 6-9, 2019. All images were taken with my Nikon D750 camera and Nikon Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6g lens.
The event celebrates the 1869 arrival of a group of Japanese colonists from Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan in Gold Hill, California to start a tea and silk farm. The site is now a registered historic landmark, and is also the birthplace of the first Japanese American citizen, Mary Schnell, as well as the burial site of Okei-san, the first Japanese woman and immigrant to die in the U.S.
The festival included live music, silk-making, weaving and Japanese tea ceremony demonstrations, artwork and other booths, gravesite programs, and more. Below is a collection of images I took while at the festival – enjoy!