A Year of Events:
Vandalism
A generous donation
Music trip to Kanazawa
Vandalism at Buffalo's Japanese Garden exhibit (article by Channel 4 News, July 26, 2008) |
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Buffalo, N.Y. (WIVB) - - Someone's defaced a sparkling gem of the Queen City. The timing means that people who are looking at Buffalo's best-kept gardens will have to see it. It was discovered about 2 weeks ago, and for the past 10 days the caretaker has been scrubbing, but the spray paint is still very visible. Trudy Stern says whoever spray painted the Bench Tops and rocks at the Japanese Garden on Mirror Lake did more than they know. "The graffiti artist who damaged the Japanese Garden did damage to international relationships and it represents peace in Buffalo," says Stern. This Garden is a gift from Buffalo's sister city Kanazawa, Japan. In fact, volunteers from that city rebuilt it 12 years ago....as a sign of friendship. Atsuko Mitchell was born there, and lives in Buffalo now and considers this disrespect. "If people respect each other, they do nothing like that," says Mitchell. And the timing is terrible with this being part of this weekend's annual Garden Walk. "We've got, I know thousands coming from Cleveland, and Toronto, and Binghamton & Syracuse. I just hate to have them come here and see a beautiful garden like this defaced," says Jim Charlier, president of Garden Walk Buffalo. Reported by George Richert View the televised report online on the Channel 4 website. |
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(images from the Channel 4 televised news report)
Also... read the Buffalo Rising posting: "Ignorant Taggers Daface the Japanese Garden"
A Generous Donation to the Japanese Garden of Buffalo |
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Ms. Linda Lee Dear Ms. Lee, The Friends of the Japanese Garden of Buffalo would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the HSBC Asian/Pacific Islanders Diversity Committee (APIC) of Buffalo and HSBC Bank USA, N.A. for their generous grant of $1000 to the Friends of the Japanese Garden of Buffalo. We also acknowledge and thank the employees of HSBC for their time and efforts on Japanese Garden Clean-up Day. The generosity of the people of HSBC will help the Japanese Garden of Buffalo continue to stand as a symbol of peace, harmony and international friendship in the heart of the city of Buffalo, N.Y. As you know, the Japanese Garden of Buffalo was a gift to the City of Buffalo from Kanazawa, Japan. The Garden stands on six acres in Buffalo's historic Olmsted Parks and is open and free to visitors 24 hours a day. The Japanese Garden of Buffalo is maintained with the help of generous volunteers and donors such as yourselves. Thank you very much for supporting the Japanese Garden of Buffalo with your generous gifts of time and funds. The Friends of the Japanese Garden of Buffalo is beginning to bring attention to this garden in Buffalo. We are committed to supporting the work needed to bring the garden back to excellent condition after a hard winter and a devastating storm in October of 2006. I hope that you and the other representatives of HSBC will visit the Japanese Garden of Buffalo again soon and continue to see the fruits of your generosity. Sincerely, |
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Linda Lee (center) from HSBC officially hands over the "big check" to Friends of the Japanese Garden Committee members, Trudy Stern (left) and Atsuko Nishida-Mitchell (right)
A Musical Trip to Kanazawa in November |
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On November 26th - December 2nd of this year, Dr. Takako Michii, head of the Buffalo-Kanazawa Sister City Committee, will accompany JoAnn Falletta, Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra to visit Kanazawa. Falletta and her husband, clarinetist Robert Alemany, will perform with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Japan's First International Chamber Orchestra.
Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa