by Michelle Sproule | The always awesome and super fun Powell Street Festival went down over the weekend in and around Oppenheimer Park. The area was once the beating heart of Japantown; a bustling neighbourhood complete with Japanese shops, groceries, restaurants, rooming houses and more. That was before January 1942, when the community was uprooted and forcibly interned by the Canadian government (with its property confiscated) for the remainder of the Second World War. The festival – now celebrating its 37th year – is an entertaining and inspired combination of traditional and contemporary expressions of Japanese Canadian identity. That means great food (mmm, love me some Mogu karaage), performances, arts, crafts, sumo wrestling, kids’ activities, and much more. It was a ton of good times and an eyeful to boot. Take a closer look above and below.

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER