The St. Regis Doha is holding ‘The St. Regis Cherry Blossom Festival’ from April 19 to April 25. The festival includes a line-up of education, fashion, food and arts activities inspired by the Japanese culture.
The “Cherry Blossom festival” kicked off with a Kimono show of traditional fashion for women through the ages.
Leanne Mills, Director of Marketing, said: “This programme has been meticulously developed and choreographed between multiple teams in Qatar and Japan. In addition to around 25 Japanese ladies and children getting involved, we’re also delighted that two local Qatari designers have taken an interest through our joint connections with The Luxury Network.”
Asma Sckali and Safia Al Qahtani independently collaborated with the teams at The St. Regis Doha, the Japanese Embassy and The Luxury Network to prepare and show a unique collection of abaya designs with heavy influences from Japanese culture and couture.
Following the Fashion Show, on April 20-21, the renowned Japanese artist, Takeshi Ohbayashi returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha with Takuya Kuroda, a trumpeter and composer, to celebrate his homeland.
Every day from 2:30pm, Sarab Lounge at the St. Regis will be serving a special afternoon tea, and on April 22-23, they will be hosting an ‘Ikebana’ flower-arranging lesson followed by a Chakai ‘Japanese tea’ performance, by the wife of Yukio Kitazume, former Ambassador to Qatar.
Throughout the festival, Astor Grill will be decked out in cherry blossom to ensure diners feel the full experience of the festival and will be serving a special Japanese menu.
On April 24, St. Regis Friday brunch will adopt a decidedly Japanese theme, with delicate morsels of Japanese cuisine on the menu.
Closing the week’s festivities, on Saturday, the Japanese School of Doha students will delight and entertain the Cherry Blossom family picnic crowd with their drumming demonstration.
Ambassador of Japan to Qatar Shingo Tsuda said: “This Festival provides an opportunity for the people of Doha to experience a variety of Japanese cultural elements and the Embassy of Japan in Qatar is pleased to see such events happening through the initiative of St. Regis Hotel Doha. We wish success to all the activities at the St. Regis this week.”
The Peninsula
