The WEEKENDER

Eat, Shop, Go

Japan Festival Boston marks the 60th anniversary of the special friendship between Boston and sister city Kyoto on Saturday and Sunday on the Boston Common. The festival will include workshops, food, and live performances. Photo courtesy of Japan Festival Boston

With just about a week left of spring semester, study days and final exams are rapidly approaching. Popular study spots on campus, like Mugar Memorial Library, the GSU, and common spaces in residence halls, are already seeing an uptick in visitors. But take some time to enjoy Boston in its spring glory this weekend: indulge in some retail therapy at the Jamaica Plain Flea Market, enjoy some authentic Japanese cuisine and culture at the Japan Festival Boston on the Boston Common, or try a delicious smoothie or pitaya or acai bowl at a Brighton eatery. Check out the details for these and more in our weekly guide “The Weekender.” If you have suggestions for events or places we should feature, leave them in the Comment section below.

Playa Bowls Boston

Looking for a quick boost of delicious energy as you head into finals? Stop by Playa Bowls Boston, which recently opened in Brighton, near Boston College. Select a bowl with your choice of seven different bases (acai, pitaya, coconut, kale, chia, banana, or oatmeal). Try one of the poke bowls (beet, ahi tuna, shrimp, or salmon) and soups (broccoli cheddar, macaroni and cheese, turkey chili with beans, or red lentil with zucchini and spinach)—great for warming up on cooler days. Playa Bowls began in New Jersey in 2014 and now includes 65 stores. All of the franchise partners at this first Massachusetts Playa Bowls location are BC grads, and they extend a warm welcome to BU students.

Playa Bowls Boston, 2199 Commonwealth Ave., Brighton, is open 8 am to 8 pm Sunday through Thursday, 8 am to 9 pm Friday and Saturday.

Enjoy a variety of fruit-based bowls, smoothies, soups, poke bowls, and more at Playa Bowls Boston in Brighton. Photo courtesy of @kend129

JP Flea Market

There’s nothing like a little shopping to get your mind off studying. This Saturday, you can buy art, clothing, antiques, jewelry, home decor, and more from 100-plus local and Latin American vendors at the quarterly JP Flea Market, where you can speak with individual artists and vendors about their creations. Among the vendors: visual and tattoo artist Mandalas by Mora, self-care remedy creator Blue Whale Apothecary, handmade textile shop Nest Press, and sculptural potter Tessa Lation Studios. Check out Mendi’s Boston, which offers drop-off and on-the-spot clothing alteration and repair services in the Jamaica Plain area. Hosted by community event organizer and soon-to-be zines series SEEK + FIND, the free market is held at the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, serving Jamaica Plain for over 300 years by cultivating welcoming environments for people of all ages, economic means, and backgrounds.

The JP Flea Market is Saturday, April 27, from 10 am to 4 pm, in the yard adjacent to the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, 24 Eliot St., Jamaica Plain, just off Centre Street by the Monument. There are two entrances, one on Eliot Street and the other on Holbrook Street. The event is free. Take an MBTA #39 bus from Copley Square to the Monument in Jamaica Plain or take an MBTA Orange Line train to the Green Street stop and walk up to Centre Street.

A pot made by Tessa Latin Studios, one of the many vendors at the JP Flea Market. Photo courtesy of Tessa Latin Studios

Japan Festival Boston

You’ll feel like you’ve been transported to Japan this weekend at the eighth annual Japan Festival Boston, this year celebrating the 60th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Boston and Kyoto, Japan. The matsuri (street festival in Japanese) on the Boston Common offers an authentic Japanese experience, featuring fresh street food, arts and crafts, Kyoto-themed workshops, silent auctions, a cosplay competition, live performances, and more. Guests can sample a variety of ramen, takoyaki, udon, and yakisoba at cash-only food booths manned by some of the Boston-area’s best restaurants; learn Japanese traditional dance at the Kyoto Pavilion; and try writing Japanese poetry at a haiku workshop. The aim of he all-volunteer festival organizers is to unite the Boston-Japanese community while creating connections with new communities across the city.

Japan Festival Boston is from 11 am to 5 pm Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, on the Boston Common. Admission is free. Take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Park Street.

Somerville Theatre Festival

Human rights is the topic of this year’s Somerville Theatre Festival, which started last weekend and runs Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27. Presented by Performing Fusion Theatre, which promotes multiculturalism by producing work that provides a space for shared culture, the festival shows original short plays, both comedies and dramas. The theater requested submissions about gender, racial, national, and transnational human rights. The winning short plays (10 minutes or less) were cast, staged, and produced with a goal of showing unforgettable stories with dialogue that would “pop off the page and send a message.” All festival proceeds will fund Performing Fusion Theatre’s performance of Touching Myself: An Ode to Audre Lorde, by Ayshia E. Stephenson, at the 2019 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa.

The Somerville Theatre Festival concludes this weekend, Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27, at the Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Doors open at 6:15 pm. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $10 for students, seniors, veterans, and active military (ID required at the door), and can be purchased in advance online. Take an MBTA Red Line train to Davis Square.

The Somerville Theatre Festival’s five days of original short plays are produced by the Boston-based theater company Performing Fusion. Photo by Zack Zerbe Photography

Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris at the Museum of Fine Arts

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was one of France’s most popular 19th-century artists, recording the vibrant cafe life and celebrity culture of Paris. His work is the subject of a captivating new show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris, running through August 4. Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters, prints, and paintings captured the City of Light’s most popular dancers, aristocrats, and performers. The MFA exhibition has more than 200 works of art by Toulouse-Lautrec and contemporaries, among them Pierre Bonnard, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, and James Jacques Joseph Tissot, offering a mesmerizing view of life in late-19th century Paris.

Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, through August 4. Admission is free for BU students, faculty, and staff with a valid ID. Find hours and admission prices here and directions here.

Senior Abigail Freeman (COM) can be reached at anfree@bu.edu.