LONGVIEW — Machiko Rowland considered herself lucky to leave Japan on Tuesday.

She had been visiting family for three weeks and stayed with friends in Tokyo before flying back to the US and her home outside of Kelso just before an 9.0 magnitude earthquake, and subsequent tsunami, rocked Japa

n.

“It was really close,” she said.

Rowland said her family and friends are OK, but they are keeping an eye on the country’s unstable nuclear reactors.

On Sunday, Rowland — who was teaching traditional Japanese origami — was one of 70 who came Sunday to the Columbia Theatre to for the opening Japanese Culture Week events.

But before a series of performances, workshops and lessons started, the event began with a moment of silence for the estimated 10,000 lost in the earthquake and tsunami.

Columbia Theatre executive director Gian Paul Morelli said the hope is to make Japanese culture come alive for area residents. He said the theater is planning for several annual events to showcase world cultures.

Morelli said Japanese culture will continue to flourish in the wake of the devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami, and “we will continue to celebrate it.”

About 100 people kicked off the event with an anime (Japanese animation) movie marathon Saturday night, Morelli said.

Julia Bishop, a volunteer with the American Red Cross Southwest Washington chapter, manned an emergency preparedness booth. She said the Red Cross is requesting cash donations to help the Japanese because of the high cost to ship donated supplies.

“It’s hard to help others when you’re not prepared yourself,” Bishop said. She said the Red Cross offers free disaster preparedness classes. Class schedules can be accessed and donations made at swwredcross.org.

Organizer Michael Cheney said the theater staff debated postponing the event but decided to push ahead. “We wanted to go ahead in hopes of raising awareness and to assist in efforts for relief,” he said.

Cheney expressed a deep respect for the resilience and vitality of Japanese culture, which he described as a combination of ancient traditions and modern progressiveness.

“It’s kind of like marrying the past with the prospects of the future,” he said.

At one of the workshops Sunday, Marjorie Yap, an expert in the Japanese tea ceremony, demonstrated the ancient tradition in a small classroom. She said she studied in Kyoto, Japan, for a year to master the art and has taught the tea ceremony in Portland and Seattle for the past 13 years.

“If you want to study Japanese culture, you study the tea ceremony,” she said. “I need at least 20 lifetimes to study tea.”

She said the ceremony manages to combine all of Japan’s higher arts, such as calligraphy, ikebana (flower-arranging) and interior decoration, into an intricate interaction between guest and host.

She said she is glad people are getting exposure to Japanese culture through the theater’s program, especially in the context of the earthquake.

“I think this event is perfectly timed,” she said. “Thank goodness everybody I know in Japan is safe and accounted for.”