{"id":163846,"date":"2026-04-12T13:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/163846\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T13:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:39:20","slug":"sumo-style-and-samoyeds-japanese-street-festival-takes-over-pennsylvania-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/163846\/","title":{"rendered":"Sumo, style, and Samoyeds: Japanese Street Festival takes over Pennsylvania Avenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over 40,000 people were expected to attend the 64th annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival hosted by The Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n

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More than 40,000 people were expected to attend the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival.
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Jenna Zhang\u2019s Samoyed is very popular at the festival.
\n(WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander) <\/p>\n

\n WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander <\/p>\n

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More than 40,000 people were expected to attend the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival.
\n(WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander) <\/p>\n

\n WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander <\/p>\n

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Andrietta Bryant-Minter shows off her Lolita core outfit.
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\n WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander <\/p>\n

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Arielle Mancia and Ichi take part in a Sumo wrestling exhibition.
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\n WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander <\/p>\n

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Ivana Kay dressed up to show off her cherry blossom themed outfit.
\n(WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander) <\/p>\n

\n WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander <\/p>\n

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Arielle Mancia and Ichi take part in a Sumo wrestling exhibition.
\n(WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander) <\/p>\n

\n WTOP\/Jimmy Alexander <\/p>\n

The 64th annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival<\/a> took over Pennsylvania Avenue this weekend.<\/p>\n

Over 40,000 people were expected to attend the two-day annual event hosted by The Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C. The group says it\u2019s the largest celebration of Japanese Culture in the United States.<\/p>\n

It is fitting that Sakura Matsuri translates to \u201cCherry Blossom Festival,\u201d as the celebration marked the final weekend of the 2026 National Cherry Blossom Festival.<\/p>\n

Along with art, amazing food, entertaining performances, the festival also features the very traditional Japanese sport, Sumo Wrestling.<\/p>\n

\n WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander checks out the Japanese Street Festival on Pennsylvania Avenue. <\/p>\n

During an exhibition with the Grand Sumo Tournament Champion Ichi, a woman was picked from the audience to take on the winner of the Emperor\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot 4-inch and 540 pound giant who is known as the Yokozuna killer pointed at Arielle Mancia and motioned her into the dohyo.<\/p>\n

As the crowd chanted her name, Mancia did the unthinkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just beat Ichi,\u201d Mancia said during deep breaths. \u201cI kind of think he went easy on me, to be perfectly honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 6 feet, Mancia, who trains with the DMV sumo club, nearly looked eye to eye with her favorite sumo wrestler and bowed to him after her victory as the crowd went wild.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly wish that that could be my career,\u201d Mancia said while laughing.<\/p>\n

There was also another festival diva who was getting a lot of attention. This one had four legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to take a picture with her,\u201d Jenna Zhang said. \u201cOur dog has a kimono, and we have to show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beautiful Samoyed was not only taking a lot of pictures with people, but she was also getting a lot of pets.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely her ego is gonna get a boost today,\u201d Zhang said with a smile.<\/p>\n

\n WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander talks with visitors at the Japanese Street Festival in D.C.<\/p>\n

As Zhang\u2019s pup met with her fans, the outfit of Andrietta Bryant-Minter was also turning heads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a style called Lolita core,\u201d Bryant-Minter said.<\/p>\n

The look became popular in Japan during the late 70s. The style has a Victorian feel to it with poofy dresses and petticoats.<\/p>\n

To fit the festival\u2019s theme, Bryant-Minter was dressed head to toe in pink.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, my flower crown matches the cherry blossoms and accessories,\u201d Bryant-Minter said.<\/p>\n

Bryant-Minter says she and her friends have made attending the Japanese Street Festival a tradition for the food, fun, performances, \u201cand the beer,\u201d\u00a0Bryant-Minter added.<\/p>\n

Another person dressed head to toe in pink was Ivana Kay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad I\u2019m here,\u201d Kay said. \u201cThis is an amazing place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kay, who is originally from Europe, and now calls Arizona home, says she is in town \u201cto see if I want to move here or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, my goodness, I think I\u2019m sold,\u201d Kay said.<\/p>\n

The museums Kay said make her want to \u201cbe better,\u201d and she is loving the performances at the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong with the food. Yummy, yummy,\u201d Kay said while laughing.<\/p>\n

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over 40,000 people were expected to attend the 64th annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival hosted by The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6889,63963,9356,1137,1515,73908,28,30,29,73909,73910],"class_list":{"0":"post-163846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-cherry-blossoms","10":"tag-dogs","11":"tag-festival","12":"tag-food","13":"tag-grand-sumo","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","16":"tag-pennsylvania-news","17":"tag-sakura-matsuri-japanese-street-festival","18":"tag-samoyed"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}