The return of Doki Doki Festival to Manchester after the pandemic hiatus proved hugely successful. The Japanese themed stalls were bustling with pundits and there was food, music, cosplay and more, all related to Japanese culture.
As with previous years all proceeds from the festival were being donated to us, Aid For Japan, and we could not be more grateful. Doki Doki Festival is a non-profit project that is being run by the passion of the organisers, and so, we were very glad to be partnered with such a pure and joyful event.
Doki Doki Festival took place over the August bank holiday weekend, so there were many visitors. Aid For Japan had a stall offering to write people’s names in shodō (Japanese calligraphy) which was surprisingly popular! We also dressed people in kimono so they could take photos.
We also sold copies of the book, The Power of Chowa – Finding you balance through the Japanese wisdom of harmony, written by our late-founder Akemi Tanaka to raise money for Aid For Japan. Her daughter and director of the charity, Rimika Solloway, appeared on the ‘Traditional Japan Panel’ alongside other Japanese specialists. She also gave a speech about the work of Aid For Japan, where Maria-chan introduced herself to the gathered crowd, which was a very brave thing for her to do.
Doki Doki saw the charity raise over £700 from shodō and book sales, while the kind efforts of Meian Maid Café raised nearly £200. The cute and bespoke design T-shirt sales from Genki Gear raised £520. Meanwhile, the festival itself raised £4,500 which meant that Aid For Japan benefitted from £5,963 in total from the event. We are very grateful to Doki Doki and their associates as well as all of our dedicated volunteers for raising this amazing amount of money.
We are hoping to be back again next year, but until then please spread the word about how wonderful Doki Doki – The Japanese Manchester Festival is to everyone!
