JAFA's major event each year is the Golden Week Japan Festival held to coincide with the Golden Week holiday period in Japan. The highlight of the festival is the Kodomo no Hi Children's Day.

Children's Day for 2010 will be held on Sunday, 2 May, 11am-4pm.

NEW: Click here to view a video of last year's festival.

Registrations are NOW OPEN for volunteers, stall holders and performers.

If you would like to become a volunteer, please click here.
If you would like to become a stall holder or performer, please click here.

ROUND 2 COMMENCES 13 MARCH

Round 2 starts on 13 March, so please check out below for the dates and to register your interest.

Each round of classes will run for four consecutive weeks and cover origami, chigiri-e (torn washi paper painting), furoshiki cloth wrapping and calligraphy.

Beginners are welcome as well as those with various levels of experience.

Our next J-Kai is from 6pm, Thursday, 25 March.

J-Kai is a great opportunity to practice your Japanese, share your Japan stories, or get started with the JAFA community. It's all very informal and casual, so come join us for a fun night.

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE JLPT IN 2010

If you are planning to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test this year, you'll need to make youself familiar with several major changes, including:
 - More emphasis on communicative competence 
 - Increase from 4 to 5 levels (the extra level basically fits between the old Level 3 and Level 2)
 - Maximum scores even for each section
 - A "Can Do List" to accompany results 

Further information on the changes can be found below and at the official JLPT website.

The application period for the 2010 JLPT will be open in around August 2010. To be kept in touch with information on the 2010 test, please register your details below.

We hope you all enjoyed the End of Year Bonenkai Party on 4th December.

A strong crowd of 60 members and friends stayed well into the evening to celebrate our final get-together for 2009. Please find some pictures below.

Heather Smith gave us an amazing show of her enka talent, while our special guest Mr Santa Claus helped spread the Christmas cheer as we all worked on "forgetting the year".

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas an a Happy New Year.

良いお年を... See you in 2010!

The OzAsia Festival kicked off to a great start with the Moon Lantern Festival on 3 October. The festival will be running through until 17 October with many great shows and events.

Please check out the OzAsia website for more information.

Video of JAFA's performance on the main stage and the origami and calligraphy workshop are available on JAFA's Facebook page.