Cherry Blossom Festival- Good luck Cori Hanagami:)

What is beauty? This question came to my mind while I was watching the fundraiser event for the Cherry Blossom festival last Sunday. As I have attended a few beauty pageants in Malaysia, I was actually expecting the Cherry Blossom festival to be held as a formal event, probably in a restaurant where the contestants give speeches, a catwalk, very businesslike,etc. However, my first ever beauty pageant event in Hawaii was definitely an eye opener for me, it was actually held in an open air corner of a shopping center, with a stage set up for the cat-walk and a few tables in front of the stage. Anddddddd, contestant's families had to decorate the table they bought to show their support for their daughter, girlfriend, friend, wife who was in the pageant??? Interesting huh????

What I as an "outsider" didn't realize was that the Cherry Blossom festival was MORE than a beauty paegent. It was an activity or festival which is ongoing for months to educate the contestants who are Japanese American women about their heritage and culture. The contestants take classes on their cultural heritage which are sponsored by the Cherry Blossom organizers and even hold many activities and events for the contestants to share their experiences with other people(e.g., family members, friends). In contrast, pagrents in Malaysia do not have any beneficial activities or lessons to further educate their contestants(or not that I know of), rather the activities or appearances are more to promote sponsor's businesses. How different right? Maybe, I should start having pagents for educational purposes in Malaysia...ehehhe....

Initially it was raining, so all of us were basically rained on because it was an open air venue without shade????!!!??? Here are some pictures AFTER we were rained on.....

The Hanagami women. All so beautiful!

All of us here to give our support

At the "pupu"(Hawaiian word for appetizer) table.

Honestly I was dissapointed at the amount of food they had.....it was so little and there were throngs of people lining up for it!

Kendra's mother made this beautiful sakura tree:) Kirei desu ne(pretty in Japanese)......... And all those cupcakes wrapped in those boxes were made by Kendra and Jen....they were delicious by the way.....

Waiting for the fashion show....and at that point of time, very sick and cold from the rain too....hahaha...

Next up, show time!

A picture of the stage

Some of the contestants in outfits by Tori Richards

The next three outfits were from the "Wedding Cafe", I love their clothes!!!

This contestant in particular has alot of sass!

Stylish outfits!

Cori, you are a sure WINNER!!! Good luck:)

Kendra's mother on the right with another one of her home-made sakura trees! It's just so pretty and nicely done, filled with love!!! And all of Cori's supporters!!!!

Final round of catwalk, the next few pictures are actually last year's winners in wedding gowns...

Last year's winner

Some of the contestants lining up for the Q and A session. It was really interesting because contestants were asked to do silly stuff. For example, one of the contestants had to hand-wrestle another contestant, another had to walk down the catwalk acting like a monkey, and some even had to sing songs in English BUT using a Japanese accent!!! All the contestants were so brave and were able to do what was asked of them. Good job ladies!!!

Final pictures before we leave

All handmade take-home gifts made by Kendra's mother, Kendra and Jen. We all support you Cori Hanagami!!!!!!!

Watching these contestants strut their stuff, show their prowess really impressed me which lead me back to my initial question at the beginning of this post. What is a beuatiful person? Does it mean that woman has to have the perfect, eyes, lips, nose, body to be deemed as beautiful?????  Well, for me....... I don't judge a person's beauty just by the surface but from the many,many layers that make up a person too. If you know me, alot of people say I have "high" taste when judging whether a person is good looking or not? That is true, because I always judge a person not from how they look but for who they are............Therefore, I believe and know that all the women around me including my Mom, Grandmother, and girlfriends are BEAUTIFUL because they are all nice, confident, smart, kind-hearted and have the looks too!!! I promise you that I am not lying because aloooot of my guy friends have asked me, "Mei Sze, why must all your girlfriends be sooooo hot??" .....Well, because they are beautiful inside and out.....~wink~

Do you agree? If not, what is your conception of beauty?

xoxo

Meiz