We’ll be starting a new 222 Campaign in the near future (take 2 minutes, donate $2 and tell 2 friends) with a fun and silly video highlighting the number 2. We’ll keep you posted!

I (Emiko) enjoyed meeting the Japanese American Student Society (JASS) at the University of Cincinnati! Thank you for your interest in our project. I witnessed the campaign speeches and election of the new club officers for this year. It is so exciting to hear the diversity of interests in Japan and Japanese culture. Thank you Andrew Tsubasa Reif, for inviting me to share about our playground project. Here are some pictures from my visit.

We enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people who visited the gardens this weekend! Thank you for your interest in our project. A special thanks to Andrea Schepman, Kristin Dugas and curator Mark, and all the other staff at Krohn for making us feel so welcome. Thank you also to volunteer Christine Lucas for all your hard work and to my sister Deborah Frederick for your help this weekend. Here are some pictures of the event.

The News Record just published an article on our playground project. Thank you, Heather King for covering our story. Here is a link to the article.

Here is a gallery of the teacup designs by renowned artist Ikuhiko Shibata. The six glazes of the special edition teacups are hand made by Shibata and have the Ishinomaki Kanji on the front. Only 500 of them were made while he was in Cincinnati and they are selling quickly. Expect these to be collector’s items.

They are $25 each, or 5 for $100 and 100% of the proceeds go to helping the playground. Teacups available at Hanamiya gift shop in Montgomery, Ohio or contact us directly if you’d like to get one.