2005 Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen Sarah Sasaki of Los Altos Hills, center, with her court, gathers in front of San Francisco City Hall prior to participating in the April 24 Cherry Blossom Festival parade.

Sarah Sasaki was crowned the new 2005 Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen at the conclusion of the Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Program on April 16.

The event was held at the AMC Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco Japan Town. The Nikkei Lions Club of San Francisco sponsored Sarah. She is the daughter of Go and Kay Sasaki of Los Altos Hills.

A panel of judges selected Sarah from among five candidates. She explained to the Nichi Bei Times, “I feel empowered with the confidence and skills to not only make a differences in this community, but in the world community as one of the foremost Asian American women in business.”

She was a 4-H Club member at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Walter A. Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in May.

As queen, she will represent the Japanese American Community of Northern California, visiting Osaka, sister city of San Francisco, in October. Her duties as queen will include participating in Nikkei festivities in Seattle, Los Angeles and Hawaii for the coming year.

San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival closed its 38th festivity on April 24 with the parade from City Hall to Japan Town.