Chicago Aikikai returned to the Midwest Buddhist Temple’s annual Ginza Holiday Japanese cultural festival to perform demonstrations on Friday, August 8 and Saturday, August 9. Participants included Christian Boswell, Qin Coe, Allie Dignan, Chris Dignan, Nathan Earixson, Dee Guerrier, Tod Olson, Eric Sirota, Dwight Sora (also speaker), and Xiaolu Wang.
One of the highlights was the recreation of a purse-snatching defense from a demonstration done at a 1965 Ginza Festival (when the dojo was known as Illinois Aikido Club and the temple was called Midwest Buddhist Church).