Time to Mark the Calendars AGAIN
Jun. 7th, 2005 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgSave the date (or at least, give it some consideration) for August 13 - 21, 2005. That's a whole week, with two weekends - one on either side.
It's Nisei Week in Los Angeles.
Screw the anime conventions. Forget the trade shows.
This is the best time to get acquainted with Japanese culture - in one of the most historically dense communities in the United States. It's the only place I know where you can be a total gaijin idiot, know nothing about anything and be completely welcome to screw up in good company. They expect it, and this is their turn to correct you in a completely supportive environment.
This is the ultimate Open House - and you name it, they've got it out on display and will teach you about it.
Taiko
Origami
Tea Ceremony
Textiles
Sumi-e
Calligraphy
Ceramics
Swords (and the entire culture that went with them)
Theater - they were hosting kabuki this year (VERY expensive, we missed it) - but one wonders what they might keep aside for Nisei Week.
Ondo Dance (and everyone gets to do this if you want)
And normally, they host the Tofu Festival at the same time. (And this year looks pretty standard. It's the first weekend of Nisei Week). It's also the chance for the community to come out and show just how "small town" Little Tokyo really is at the foundation - all the civic organizations come out and host tables - let alone a number of local companies. Swag city, yo.
We're members of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center and the Japanese American National Museum - we renew our memberships at Nisei Week every year.
All you have to do is show up. There is no entry fee, and you can do all the events at your own pace.
Everyone is welcome at Nisei Week.
I came in on the Metrolink to do this festival back in 1997 - now, I live less than twenty minutes drive from it, and I have plenty of room for guests and I'm a damn good native guide. Ask anyone.
If you want to visit Los Angeles - and have an interest in Japanese culture (yes, you'll find some anime/manga too, if you must) - this is your week to come. I'm dead serious. Yes, it's August. It can get bloody hot, right-o. However, this is also downtown Los Angeles, less than ten miles from the ocean and the breezes are killer. Also, Little Tokyo sits just a block south of Olvera Street, where Los Angeles was founded and Los Angeles Union Station, the site for many location shots and the finest example of Art Deco architecture handy. If you get tired of Asian-fu.
(Let's also not forget the 'Go For Broke' monument either.)
Come visit. I'm serious.
Mark your calendars. Save the date.
It's Nisei Week in Los Angeles.
Screw the anime conventions. Forget the trade shows.
This is the best time to get acquainted with Japanese culture - in one of the most historically dense communities in the United States. It's the only place I know where you can be a total gaijin idiot, know nothing about anything and be completely welcome to screw up in good company. They expect it, and this is their turn to correct you in a completely supportive environment.
This is the ultimate Open House - and you name it, they've got it out on display and will teach you about it.
Taiko
Origami
Tea Ceremony
Textiles
Sumi-e
Calligraphy
Ceramics
Swords (and the entire culture that went with them)
Theater - they were hosting kabuki this year (VERY expensive, we missed it) - but one wonders what they might keep aside for Nisei Week.
Ondo Dance (and everyone gets to do this if you want)
And normally, they host the Tofu Festival at the same time. (And this year looks pretty standard. It's the first weekend of Nisei Week). It's also the chance for the community to come out and show just how "small town" Little Tokyo really is at the foundation - all the civic organizations come out and host tables - let alone a number of local companies. Swag city, yo.
We're members of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center and the Japanese American National Museum - we renew our memberships at Nisei Week every year.
All you have to do is show up. There is no entry fee, and you can do all the events at your own pace.
Everyone is welcome at Nisei Week.
I came in on the Metrolink to do this festival back in 1997 - now, I live less than twenty minutes drive from it, and I have plenty of room for guests and I'm a damn good native guide. Ask anyone.
If you want to visit Los Angeles - and have an interest in Japanese culture (yes, you'll find some anime/manga too, if you must) - this is your week to come. I'm dead serious. Yes, it's August. It can get bloody hot, right-o. However, this is also downtown Los Angeles, less than ten miles from the ocean and the breezes are killer. Also, Little Tokyo sits just a block south of Olvera Street, where Los Angeles was founded and Los Angeles Union Station, the site for many location shots and the finest example of Art Deco architecture handy. If you get tired of Asian-fu.
(Let's also not forget the 'Go For Broke' monument either.)
Come visit. I'm serious.
Mark your calendars. Save the date.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 02:32 am (UTC)I just spent two straight days in Japantown - lunch special at Benihana (okay, not all that cultural really, but we were almost the only non-Asians present), wandering around the mall and streets and stuff, spent the night in the semi-Japanese-style hotel (oooooh Japanese soaking bath! That right there was worth the price of the room to me), Japanese dinner, breakfast at the weirdly Hawaiian Denny's in Japantown, wandering around past the Buddhist temple and historical society exhibit - mmmm.
This after my project last week was planning a trip to Japan, or at least the bare bones of a projected route, and doing the research on wheelchair accessibility and the like, and trying to figure out how many of my favorite shrines and gardens I can get to to by rail, and so on. (This trip is scheduled for late September or early October of When We Can Afford It, natch.) And before that, it was trying to design my very own small cheap dry Zen garden for the garden spae I don't get to use now. And some Shinto reading.
I can't say I'm Japanned out - I didn't get any udon, or groceries, nor did I blow two hundred bucks at Kinokinuya - but boy, is my head full of Japan stuff right now!
Sadly, if I get to go to LA any time soon, it's gotta be for King Tut. But someday, darnit.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:52 pm (UTC)Sure - come on down!