Tea ceremony at Descanso Gardens, Feb 23
Topic: Tea Ceremony
Tea, and the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, will be featured during a special class at Descanso Gardens in La Ca?ada Flintridge. The class will meet from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23.

Rieko McMillan will discuss and demonstrate the Japanese tea ceremony during this introduction to the Way of Tea - an Art of Living.

Participants will have the opportunity to sample the tea and sweets that are part of Chaji tradition. Chaji, a full tea gathering in the Urasenke chado tradition, incorporates rules to capture the spirit of the season, the occasion, the time and place.

Principles underlying the tea ceremony are harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. Rieko McMillan is chief administrator of the Urasenke Tankokai Los Angeles Association, and an instructor in the Way of Tea.

This class coincides with Descanso Gardens’ annual Camellia Festival, appropriate because true teas worldwide are made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis plants.

Fee: $35 ($30 members). Early reservations are recommended. Because of space limitations, this class is limited to 15 students, and walk-in space may not be available. To register, call (818) 949-7980. www.DescansoGardens.org.

(Photo)
Reiko McMillan

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library?s Cherry Blossom Festival, Feb. 24
Topic: Event
“The people of Japan and the people of America are friends of separate pasts. We have a different language, different ancestry, and yet together, our actions have helped to shape the future. Today we have a chance to bring freshness and a new direction to the deep friendship between our two peoples.” - Ronald Reagan, May 7, 1981

To continue this friendship, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library announces the debut of its Cherry Blossom Festival on Friday, February 24th from 10:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

The festival will focus on the beginning of Spring and includes programs fun for the entire family. All activities and events relating to the Festival are free to attend, regular admission rates apply for Museum entrance. For more information, call 805-522-2977.

PROGRAM:

10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. (in the Library’s main courtyard):

Opening Remarks
Traditional Japanese Shinto Rite, conducted by Rev. Tsuyuki
Kendo Performance (Japanese Fencing Demonstration)
Japanese Harp Koto Music Performance
Samurai Sword Demonstrations
Taiko Drums

11:20 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (in the Library’s Presidential Learning Center):
Japanese Odori Dance Performance
Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony
Art of Japanese Brush Calligraphy Demonstration
Japanese Art of Flower Arrangement Presentation

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, 40 Presidential Drive, Simi Valley, California 93065

The Reagan Library and Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

The Museum admission fees are $12.00 general admission, $9.00 for seniors 62 and over, $3 for children 11-17, and free for children 10 and under. For more information, please call (800) 410-8354.

Cultural Twist, Feb. 23
Topic: Music
“Cultural Twist” will be held at The Second Street Jazz, 366 Second Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (Little Tokyo) 213-680-0047, on Thursday, February 23 at 9 p.m.

It will be a variety of music from Taiko Drums, Enka, J-pop, moving towards Contemporary Jazz to American Music Comedy and finally Psychedelic Hip Hop...

Performing artists are: Shin3, Kiyu, Milk:Blood, Heaven Bound Train, Webb, Christal, Herbal Influence.

Door Open at 8:30 p.m. Cover charge: $3 Drink special price between 8:30-9:00 p.m.

Fen-X Productions presents CULTURAL TWIST

By Marisa Kosugi - Doozo Yoroshiku Onegaiitashimasu!
aka: Lisa Ishikawa - Whassup, ya'll !! Come down and chill!

We would like to welcome you and your friends to this event. The theme is CULTURAL TWIST and by reading the performer's info, you will understand why!

The opening of this program will start with sounds from the Far East? The pounding beats of the Taiko Drums by Shin3, celebrating tonight's event with true spirit by 3-performers who believe in the value of 'Shin to the Power of 3'- the Heart-Mind, Truth & Trust}, you will definitely feel their energy so go on and stomp your feet and bob your head to the beat!

We will then sway your mood into a calm but mysterious way of this beautiful artist, Kiyu, who will sing Enka & Pop. She carries a true sexiness & soulfulness in her every movement which will capture your emotions with her voice that will be irresistible.

It is intriguing to say that being caught between cultures is a blessing and Webb, Christal is proof of this. After living in Japan for two years, she has been inspired to challenge of embracing and performing a whole new culture of songs. The uniquely composed pieces will share an amazing transition from Pop to R&B, as well, the natural flow from Japanese to English.

The uniqueness of Heaven Bound Train, an alternative indie band, carries a passionate, powerful and honest blend of worldly sounds with American, Carribean and Japanese Influences. This creation of music will make you want more but not in an aggressive way. Their energy will flow in your heart and you will remember.

Now, moving towards the West Side, you?ll need to hold on to your seats or is this possible? Milk:Blood will definitely pull you away from the monotony of life. A world unknown and sometimes misunderstood, but if you open your hearts and drop your masks, you will understand the meaning of Freedom in their music.

Have you heard of Psychedelic Hip Hop? Not only will you exist in a dream world of heavy based beats with Herbal Influence, their message is to keep it real, straight forward and to the point!

Looking forward to see everyone.. Peace!

Phoenix's Matsuri: A Festival of Japan to feature martial arts, Feb. 25, 26
Topic: Event
PHOENIX - The 22nd Annual Matsuri Festival will take over Heritage and Science Park in the center of Downtown Phoenix on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25 and 26 from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The colorful Festival of Japan is a celebration of Japanese culture with authentic arts, crafts, food, and entertainment. Admission free. The Theme for 2006 is “Martial Arts.”

Matsuri: A Festival of Japan is sponsored by Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, Japan-America Society of Phoenix, Japanese American Citizens League, Himeji Sister City Committee, Arizona Buddhist Church, Phoenix Japanese Free Methodist Church.

Heritage and Science Park is located at 7th Street and Monroe Street. For details, call Heritage Square Office at (602) 262-5071 or visit www.azmatsuri.org. Recorded information available at (602) 262-5029.

Highlights of the event include Japanese exhibits, demonstrations, arts and crafts, children’s activities, Bonsai displays, Japanese food and entertainment. Estimated attendance is 80,000.

Martial arts demonstration

There are many different styles of Martial Arts. Some of these arts are tied to the weapons of the Japanese Warrior Class – the Samurai. These weapons include the yumi (longbow), yari (stabbing spear), or tanto (short blade). The most important of the samurai weapons, the ken or katana (curved sword) will be taught in the event in two forms: Kendo – the Way of the Sword and Kenjutsu – Techniques of the Sword.

‘Do’ Martial Arts are competitive or contemplative forms. They are characterized by bogu (armor, from the Japanese word for ‘tools’) worn by players for safety reason and stress weapons mastery by allowing only deliberately chosen/artificially small target areas.

But they allow for free-form practice. Some Japanese high schools and colleges have kendo teams, just as an American school might have a football team.

Other arts include: Kyudo – the Way of the Bow, Naginata-do – the Way of the Reaping Spear, Iaido – (from iai, Japanese word for ‘to assume a swordplayer’s posture’)

‘Jutsu’ Martial Arts, sometime also spelled ‘jitsu’, are technique-oriented forms. They stress the historical nature of the ryu – or school, to which the sensei/student belongs, through the explicit reproduction of the techniques used with historically accurate weapon replicas.

The entire body is considered a target as well as, for example, weak points in the style of armor that was in use at the time the ryuha – family lineage within a specific ryu – was codified.

These arts allow for muted demonstrations; but, as many techniques contain a ‘subdue by death or injury’ nature, these arts do not allow for free-form practice or competition. These arts remain private to the families that teach and maintain them.

Other Martial Arts made use of simple tools available to farmers and craftsmen that could be used, if necessary, for self-defense. These weapons include the bo (Japanese staff used by traveling monks), and even farm implements, such as kama (rice harvesting sickles) attached to a length of kusariga (chain).

As the Shogun era came to a close in the 19th century and the Meiji restoration opened Japan to the outside world, educated Japanese wondered how to make their traditions available to Japanese youth, as young men from all social classes were now offered equal opportunities in voting and public education.

Fighting forms were combined from elite, historical ryu to create standardized education-oriented and modern forms such as: Judo – (from ju, Japanese word for softer/gentle) and Aikido – (from ai-ki, Japanese word for ‘to bring different spirits into harmony’)

The 2006 Arizona Matsuri offers its first ever-formal Tendo Ryu Naginata Jutsu demonstration.

(Photo)
Kendo practices are characterized by bogu (armor) worn by a player.

(Photo)
A form of Iaido

Preview of 2006 Bi-Lingual Tour to Japan, Mar. 6
Topic: Exchange
Prior to its Spring Japan Tour, Santa Monica Playhouse American Cultural Youth Ambassadors present a preview of 2006 bi-lingual English-Japanese show on Thursday, March 6 at 6:00 p.m. at Santa Monica Playhouse Arts Complex, 1211 Fourth Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401.

Titled as Youkoso!(Welcome Party), one act play musical was written by Evelyn Rudie, Co-Artistic Director of Santa Monica Playhouse in collaboration with Model Language Studio of Tokyo.

Admission is $5 and includes a post-show reception of Japanese snacks and green tea. The family friendly event includes a Japanese language lesson and sing-a-log. The space is limited. For reservation, call the Playhouse Box Office at (310) 394-9779 ext. 2.

Santa Monica Playhouse Cultural Youth Ambassadors are the international touring arm of Santa Monica Playhouse promoting cross-cultural awareness through theatrical exchange.

Find out how you can be a part of the Playhouse’s Santa Monica-Tokyo exchanges, as a member of next Spring’s Tokyo Tour or to a participate in this summer’s one-week Japan-America bi-lingual theatre intensive tour (July 31-August 4).

Author Masayo and Peter Duus to discuss thier book "The Life of isamu Noguchi" Feb. 19
Topic: Art
MASAYO, PETER DUUS TO DISCUSS BOOK, 'THE LIFE OF ISAMU NOGUCHI: JOURNEY WITHOUT BORDERS' AT
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM FEB. 19

LOS ANGELES.-As part of the installation of the international traveling exhibition, Isamu Noguchi - Sculptural Design, the Japanese American National Museum will host the public program, "An Enduring Odyssey:Masayo Duus and Peter Duus Talk About the Life and Times of Isamu Noguchi" on Sunday, Feb. 19, beginning at 2 p.m.

Author Masayo Duus has written what critics have described as the definitive biography of artist Isamu Noguchi, originally published in 2004, the 100th anniversary of his birth. Her husband, Peter Duus, a historian, did the English translation for The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders, which examines Noguchi's life in great detail.

Born as Sam Gilmour to a Japanese father, Yonejiro Noguchi, and an American mother, Leonie Gilmour, Noguchi spent his life expressing his bicultural heritage in his work, often fusing together elements and aesthetics from East and West.

The first full-length biography of the artist, the book draws on Noguchi's letters, his reminiscences, and interviews with his friends and colleagues to cast new light on his youth, his creativity, and his relationships. Noguchi was born in Boyle Heights and his mother moved them to Japan when he was three in an attempt to be close to his father.

That relationship never developed and young Sam eventually was sent to school in Indiana, where, after some struggles, he lived a life similar to many young American boys in the 1910s and 1920s.

His exceptional artistic talents took him to New York City and eventually Paris, where he befriended Alexander Calder and became an assistant to Constantin Brancusi.

Duus also reveals much about Noguchi's personal life, including his many romances with such public figures as dancer Ruth Page, painter Frida Kahlo and writer Anais Nin. Yet his own sense of being an outsider never ended. "With my double nationality and my double upbringing, where was my home?" he once wrote. "Where were my affections? Where my identity?"

This search even led to his voluntarily entering the Poston, Arizona World War II concentration camp to be with other Japanese Americans in hopes of improving their lives. His proposed projects for a park and a recreation center were never realized and he left camp after several months.

As the exhibition makes clear, Noguchi, in his six decades of work,explored various fields of both applied and the fine arts. Besides creating over 2,500 sculptures, he designed stage sets for choreographer Martha Graham, invented furniture for Herman Miller and developed his own style of landscape architecture all over the world. He often traveled to Japan, seeking to explore his father's world and collaborated with many Japanese artists.

The exhibition was organized by the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein,Germany, in cooperation with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation Inc., New York. The exhibition design and visual concept by Robert Wilson were developed at the Watermill Center on Long Island, New York.

Masayo Duus has written several books on the history of Japanese Americans and U.S.-Japan relations and has published collections of her essays on life in America. Translations of her work include The Japanese Conspiracy: The Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920 and Unlikely Liberators: The Men of the 100th and the 442nd. Peter Duus is William H. Bonsall Professor of History at Stanford University. His most recent book is Japanese Discovery of America.

All Isamu Noguchi - Sculptural Design public programs are free with admission to the exhibition. Seating is first-come, first-served. Reservations are recommended. All programs are free for National Museum members, unless otherwise noted. For non-members, public programs are included with admission to the Noguchi exhibition ($12 adults, $9 seniors 62 & over, $8 students). Children five and under are free. For more information call (213) 625-0414.

Warabi-za ensemble from Akita prefecture to perform traditional Japanese folk dance and music, Feb. 18
Topic: Folk Ensemble
Japan’s renowned folk dance ensemble Warabi-za makes a return appearance at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre at Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Little Tokyo, on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. as part of its 2006 U.S. tour. The company, based in the Akita prefecture, presents a program of traditional Japanese folk performing arts. They are recognized for its energetic dance, music and taiko.

The program will showcase works from various prefectures in Japan. Dances that celebrate the joy of life (Aomori) the daily life of fishermen (Hokkaido and Kumamoto), farmers' prayers for rain (Ishikawa) and rice planting (Hiroshima). Dances from traditional Japanese festivals that celebrate a good harvest (Miyagi), festivities from a night festival (Saitama) and an ancient performing art piece of the Tohoku region of Iwate prefecture.

Highlights include a creative dance piece as a prayer for children's growth through hardships danced in the disguise of mother lioness and her cub (Kagawa prefecture) and a traditional dance characterized by wave-like movements in Sado Island (home of the famed Kodo group) (Niigata prefecture).

Warabi-za was founded in February 1951 and has created many works based on traditional music and dance throughout Japan for 55 years. Performing throughout Japan, the company has appeared in many parts of the world, including two tours to the U.S. in 1997 and 2002.

Folk performing arts have been handed down for centuries from ancestors, providing a zest for living. A characteristics of Japanese folk performing arts is that many of them have been germinated from daily life work and resulting in strengthening of the bond of the people. Another characteristic is the appreciation for the beauty of nature or the expression of life or wishes through animals -in other words, these works depict our live-and-let-live attitude with nature. (The program of Feb. 18 performance is lasted in page 5.)

The 2006 U.S. Warabi-za tour is under the direction of Hiroshi Kuriki, with composition and choreography by Kenji Osakake and music direction by Masaru Iijima. The tour coordinated by An Creative Inc. and is sponsored by The Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japanese government.

Tickets are available for $30 orchestra, $27 balcony and $ 27 and $25 for JACCC Members and groups of 10 or more. Call the Aratani/Japan America Theatre Box office at (213) 680-3700, open Monday - Saturday from 12 noon to 5pm. The Japan America Theatre is located at 244 S. San Pedro Street in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Convenient parking is located on San Pedro Street across from the Theatre.

Photo
Warabi-za ensemble from Akita prefecture has been performing traditional Japanese folk dance and music for 55 years throughout Japan.

Manga Symposium at Pomona College, Feb. 17
Topic: Manga
Marauding Rabbits, Starry-Eyed Girls, Battling Boys, 'Ordinary Ladies':Japanese (American) Manga in Review

Friday, February 17, 2006

Pomona College
Pacific Basin Institute, Hahn 101

420 N Harvard Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
Cost: Free, Time: 1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Lynne Miyake Tel: (909) 621-8931

www.pomona.edu/pbi

Providing the plenary address will be Frederik L. Schodt, the premier scholar on manga in English and author of the seminal, Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics and Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Also featured will be Stanley Sakai, the creator of the long running and highly successful samurai rabbit Usagi Yojimbo series, providing a step-by-step demonstration of how a manga story is written and drawn. Kinko Ito, professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas, will speak to the genre of ladies comics, its emergence in the 1980s to its newest trends in the 21st century. Matthew A. Thorn, associate professor at Japan?s only Department of Comic Art in the School of Cartoon and Comic Art at Kyoto Seika University and an expert on girls sh?jo manga, will round out the program.

1:30PM
Introductory Remarks: Lynne K. Miyake (Department of Asian Languages & Literatures, Pomona College)

1:40PM
Introduction: Mage Macchione (Classics Major, Pomona College)

1:45-2:30PM
Frederik L. Schodt (Conference Interpreter, Translator, and Free Lance Writer)
“The Manga Way”

2:30PM
Introduction: Tom Bayles (Japanese Major, Pomona College)

2:35-3:10PM
Stan Sakai (Comics Artist and National Cartoonists Society Award Winner)
“Creating Comics, Making Manga”

3:10PM
Introduction: Chen Jiang (International Relations Major, Pomona College)

3:15-3:50PM
Kinko Ito (Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Gerontology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock)
“Japanese Ladies' Comics: Now and Then”

3:50PM
Introduction: Julia Fields (Asian Studies Major, Pomona College)

3:55-4:30PM
Matthew A. Thorn (School of Cartoon & Comic Art, Kyoto Seika University)

4:30-5:30PM
Open Discussion

5:30PM
Buffet Dinner (hall outside room 101)

Taiko Fest at Biola University, Feb. 11
Topic: Taiko
Biola University in La Mirada presents Taiko Fest on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at 13800 Biola Ave., La Mirada, CA 90639. This year the festival will be featuring Koshin Taiko and Kishin Daiko.

Taiko Fest is an event that was originally started on the campus to expose students and the community who are not familiar with Taiko to it's beauty and energy. It is now an event open to the public. For more info call (562) 944-0351 ext 5832.

The 8th Annual Shikishi Exhibit Extended
Topic: Event
The 8th Annual Shikishi (Japanese Greeting Card) exhibit at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) is being extended through Sunday, February 26, 2006.

The exhibit in the JACCC's George J. Doizaki Gallery includes work from of a former Prime Minister of Japan to school children in America, and everything in-between. The theme for this year's exhibit is Hatsu-hanashi (First Story).

Seen as a way to ring in the New Year (2006, Year of the Dog), the exhibit includes over 70 Shikishi from Japan and Korea, making the total on exhibit over two-hundred Shikishi. The exhibit also includes a colorful variety of Japanese kites and tops.

8th Annual Shikishi Exhibit
George J. Doizaki Gallery (JACCC)
244 So. San Pedro St., L.A., CA 90012
Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 12 noon-5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Jan. 8, 2006-Feb. 26, 2006
Admission: Free

California Association of Japanese Language School Conference, Feb. 18
At East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Communty Center.
ESGVJCC Gakuen: 626-337-6174

New Year's Dance by Wakana Hanayagi Conservatory, Feb. 11
Topic: Buyo
Free admission

Saturday, Feb. 11, 1:30PM

Maryknoll Catholic Center
222 South Hewitt Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Mme. Wakana Hanayagi: (310) 822-9193

LACMA: Contemporary Project 9
Topic: Art
Los Angeles County Museum, Oct 27 – Feb. 12

Contemporary Project 9: Gajin Fujita and Pablo Vargas Lugo


Ride or Die by Gajin Fujita. 2005. 83 x 126 in.

Gajin Fujita’s vibrant paintings are inhabited by fearsome warriors, lusty geishas, and others legendary figures that derive from his interest in Japanese tattoos, screen paintings from the Edo period (1603-1867), nineteenth century erotic ukiyo-e woodblock prints and cartoons.

This exhibition also features for the first time several of the artist’s preparatory drawings for his large-scale paintings.

Born in Los Angeles of Japanese parents, Gajin Fujita grew up in Boyle Heights, a predominantly Latino section of East Los Angeles. A member of the West Coast graffiti crew K2S (Kill to Succeed), in the 1980s, Fujita did numerous “taggings” and murals in downtown Los Angeles.

His smooth surfaces are the result of a painstaking process. After priming the panels with gesso and polishing them, he covers the surfaces with gold leaf, following traditional Japanese methods.

Some of his large-scale paintings are based on screens with several partitions, a format that he also borrows from Japanese art.

Fujita then invites friends from his graffiti crew to tag the shiny surfaces. By bringing graffiti into the studio, Fujita attempts to validate this form of guerrilla street art, which he views as creative and nonviolent.

In Fujita’s works, the urban chaos of L.A. and the imaginary world of the Far East collide and somehow miraculously coexist.

According to the artist, “I kind of look at myself as a hip-hopper, the way of a DJ would sample all sorts of great music from the past – sounds and beats. I’m just doing it with visuals.”

Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday noon - 8 pm; Friday noon - 9 pm; Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 8 pm; closed Wednesday. Call (323) 857-6000, or visit our web site at www.lacma.org for more information.

Tickets: General LACMA Admission: Adults $9; students 18+ with ID and senior citizens 62+ $5; children 17 and under are admitted free. Admission (except to specially ticketed exhibitions) is free the second Tuesday of every month, and evenings after 5 pm.

Peruvian Japanese band to perform for Okinawan benefit, Jan. 22
Topic: Okinawa
The Okinawa Association of America, Inc. will sponsor Alberto Shiroma and the Diamantes Benefit Concert in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2:00 p.m. at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Theater, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. Tickets are $25. All general seating.

This will benefit the OAA Elevator Fund for senior citizens and disabled members and to celebrate Peru’s 100th Anniversary of Japanese Immigration. The Diamantes will go to Peru to participate in the 100th Anniversary Celebration after this concert in Los Angeles.

Alberto Shiroma and the Diamantes are third generation of Peru-born Japanese who sing in Japanese and Spanish. They currently live and perform their music in Japan.

In 1985, Shiroma won the best vocalist award in Peru’s singing competition with a prize of a trip to Japan. A year later, he started to perform his music in Japan. In 1991, he formed his group “Diamentes” (diamonds in Spanish). In 1993, they debuted with their first album and have since released 6 albums through 1999.

Shiroma received his Grand Prix award with his “Kono Aoi Sora O Kimini” at Manila International Music Festival in the Philippines.

In August 2000, Shiroma released his first solo album in the U.S. His second solo album was recorded in New York in collaboration with Latin artist Marc Anthony.

Shiroma’s popularity grew when he composed the theme song “Kata Teni Sanshin Wo” for the Second and Third Worldwide Okinawan Festival in Okinawa which was attended by thousands of Okinawans who came from overseas.

He has gained his popularity among all ages because his songs bring powerful messages of love, dreams and encouragement.

Tickets are sold at: OAA Office, Gardena (310) 532-1929; Restaurant Kotosh at Kamiyama, Lomita (310) 257-1363; Mickey Seki Jewelry, Little Tokyo (213) 617-2662; Mario Peruvian Sea Food Restaurant, Hollywood (323) 466-4181; Uyehara Travel, Little Tokyo (213) 680-2499.

For more information about the concert, call OAA Office at (310) 532-1929 or Helene Shimane at (310) 323-7965.

(Photo)
Third generation of Peruvian Japanese “Alberto Shiroma and the Diamantes”

Kotohajie, celebration for beginning of new year, Jan 8
Topic: New Year's Day
Both solemn and festive, the closing of an old year and the beginning of a new one are viewed as a time of reflection as well as festivity. Kotohajime is the annual celebration of traditional and contemporary performances in observance of the New Year, presented by Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles.

This year's celebration includes the performance "Messengers from Forbidden Mountain" on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006 from 1 p.m. at JACCC Plaza and a Shikishi (card) exhibition at Doizaki Gallery in the JACCC Building. This year's Shikishi theme is Hatsu-hanashi (First-story) will be exhibit from Jan. 8 through Jan. 29. The celebration is open to public and free admission. Shikishi exhibition is also free admission.

Viewing Los Angeles as the contemporary Silk Road: where the routes for commerce, culture, language, and arts, intermingle as they migrate, "The
Messenger from Forbidden Mountain" performance features an eclectic blend of traditional and contemporary arts.

"Messenger" features Masakazu Yoshizawa's expertise with Japanese wind instruments, Shakuhachi and Nohkan, Yuval Ron's unique mix of traditional
and contemporary Middle Eastern music, and the Japanese archery group Ikkyu.

Yoshizawa, along with his group Kokingumi, set a strong foundation with their blend traditional and contemporary Japanese music for this performance. Joining Yoshizawa in Kokingumi are Hiromi Hashibe on the Koto and Takeo Takahashi on the Tsugaru Shamisen.

Ron is an international composer, performer, educator and record producer. His ensemble includes Arabic, Israeli and Jewish musicians as well as
Christian Armenian artists. Ron is dedicated to building musical bridges between people of Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths.

The Shikishi exhibit, running from Jan 8 through Jan 29th at Doizaki Gallery, will feature works from all walks of life: from dignitaries on both sides of the Pacific to children, from Prime Ministers
to teachers. The only guideline imposed were the Hatsu-hanashi theme and the use of ones' imagination.

Fist fire rite according to Esoteric Buddhism at Koyasan Temple, Jan. 1
Topic: New Year's Day
Visiting a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine to offer a prayer on New Year’s Day is called hatsu-mode in Japanese and it refers the New Year’s Day service (Shusho-e) according to the Buddhist tradition in Japan.

Koyasan Buddhist Temple of Los Angeles will hold the annual Hatsu-goma ritual, the first fire rite of the New Year at 10:00 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 1, 2005 at the Koyasan Temple, 342 East First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Bishop Taisen Miyata officiates the rite of the New Year, the year of the Dog (inu) according to the Shingon esoteric Buddhist tradition.

The fire ceremony of the New Year starts with chanting mantras and beating a taiko drum and concludes with toasting sake (otoso). The distribution of mochi to those who were born in the year of the Dog will follow.

Omikuji (fortune telling slip), hama-ya (good luck arrows), oma-mori (amulets), ema (picture tablet) and consecrated ofuda (charm) are available for visitors on the occasion of hatsu-mode. The Koyasan Temple opens 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for the first three days of the New Year. A few thousands people are expected to visit the temple. For further information, call Koyasan Temple at (213) 624-1267

(Photo Caption)
Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo will hold Hatsu-goma, the first fire rite of the New Year on Sunday, Jan 1. Bishop Taisen Miyata conducts the annual ritual. (Photo courtesy of Koyasan Buddhist Temple)

Japanese New Year's Day Celebration in Little Tokyo, Jan 1
Topic: New Year's Day
A very colorful New Year’s Day (Oshogatsu) celebration is coming to Little Tokyo very soon. Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California has sponsored the 8th annual New Year’s Day event in Little Tokyo, in conjunction with the similar gala events also held at the Hotel New Otani and Japanese Village Plaza.

The New Year’s Day events will take place on Sunday, January 1 from 11 a.m. through 3 p.m. at Weller Court Shopping Center at the corner of Second and San Pedro Streets in Little Tokyo. Admission free.

The celebration starts with the powerful beating of taiko drums, followed by lion dance, Japanese calligraphy demonstration, koto performance, Japanese karuta-card playing and mochi-pounding.

Also planned for presentation are the Samurai Action Show which is very popular to children and the demonstrations of martial arts such as Swordsmanship, Kendo and Shorinji Kempo. Colorful New Year’s Kimono Show is also presented by L.A. Kimono Club at 2 p.m. at Weller Court Shopping Center.

Tables will be set up to teach children and adults the Japanese arts of paper-folding, kite-making and other cultural handicrafts. The day’s event will conclude with the opportunity drawing of many prizes including a grand prize roundtrip economy class ticket to Japan.

Some traditional New Year’s Day activities such as mochi-pounding and karuta-card playing are no long practiced commonly in modern day Japan. But the New Year’s Day event in Little Tokyo will give Japanese children and Americans an excellent opportunity to experience the old-time New Year’s day traditions still kept alive here in the United States.

The events in New Otani Hotel, 120 South Los Angeles Street, start at 7 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Japanese Village Plaza, located between First and Second Streets, presents stage shows from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, call Japanese Chamber of Commerce at (213) 626-3067 or check www.jccsc.org.

(Photo Caption)
Japanese New Year’s Day Celebration will take place in Little Tokyo on Sunday, Jan. 1. Various entertainments are scheduled at Weller Court Shopping Center, Japanese Village Plaza and New Otani Hotel. All outdoor events are free. (Cultural News Photo)

"Let's go to Kyoto" Campaign Poster Exhibit, Dec. 20-31
Topic: Geisha
“Let’s go to Kyoto” Campaign Poster Exhibit at North Gallery of Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Little Tokyo.
Tuesday –Friday Noon to 5 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission Free.

Eight mural size photographs (three feet by nine feet) from Katsuji Takasaki’s Japan Rail Tokai “Let’s go to Kyoto” campaign posters including: Gion, Yasakajija, Ryoanji, Kinkakuji, Kotoin, Sanju Sangendo, Shokokuji and Shorenin.

LACMA: Pavilion for Japanese Art
Pavilion for Japanese ArtLos Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
for further information call (323) 857-6565

Japanese Painting: The Landscape
through January 31, 2006

Scrolls and screens from LACMA’s permanent collection featuring landscape paintings created between the 16th and 20th centuries, showing the proliferation of patrons and painting types that occurred during that time span.


Japanese Prints: Defining the Land
through January 31, 2006

Focusing on prints from the 18th to the 20th centuries which show the shifting priorities of collections. Landscape prints through time show a slow shift from famous sites of literature or history, to popular tourist destinations, to curious and beautiful locations with no prior associations. In the twentieth century one witnessed a strange m?lange of all these locales in landscape prints.


Netsuke of the Meiji Period, 1868-1912: Carvings in Transition
through December 6, 2005

Beginning the middle of the 19th century, Japan’s increasing interaction with the West and its participation in the world expositions had a great influence on the art of netsuke carving.

The expanding Western market and the diminishing use of netsuke by the Japanese themselves prompted a shift from functional to decorative; from forms suitable for wear to work designed for Western tastes.

On display are examples of favored subjects, designs, and decorative techniques used.

In addition, throughout the installation are a number of 18th century works whose juxtaposition with later pieces shows the marked differences in similar subjects created one hundred years apart.

Bushell Netsuke: The Allure of China
December 9, 2005 through February 7, 2006

Raymond and Frances Bushell Netsuke Gallery
The netsuke as an art form was derived from the roots worn by Chinese Daoists to counterweight gourds suspended from the belt and filled with elixir. The curative association with materials and subject of netsuke gradually waned, but fascination with China as the source for great knowledge remained.

Lecture and film screening to reveal real world of Geisha, Dec. 18
Topic: Geisha
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles presents The World of Geisha, lecture and film screening event on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. at Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Little Tokyo.

Andrew Maske, lead author of the book Geisha: Beyond the Painted Smile, will give his talk entitled, "Behind Teahouse Walls: Geisha and Japan's Traditional Entertainment Culture." This lecture is sponsored by the Japan Foundation Los Angeles Office.

Maske has held positions at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Harvard University. The lecture begins at 1 p.m.

Following the lecture, classic Japanese film Gion Festival Music will be screened in Japanese with English subtitles at 3 p.m.

Set in Kyoto and Tokyo in the early 1950's, Mizoguchi Kenji's Gion Festival Music (Gion Bayashi) stars Wakao Ayako as a young geisha, training in traditional Japanese arts and challenged by the culture she enters.

General admission is $7 for one ticket covering the lecture and the screening. For JACCC members, tickets are $5. For reservations, call Box Office at (213) 680-3700.

Geisha evokes wrong images
For more than a century, the word "geisha" has evoked for Americans tantalizing images of the Exotic East. Nevertheless, ask someone on a street corner in the U.S. what a geisha is, and the person probably will be hard-pressed to answer.

Most may agree that a geisha is an Asian female who provides some kind of services for men. What those services might be is an issue that is less clear. Some will assert that she is a prostitute, pure and simple, but dressed in traditional clothes and makeup. Others are sure that she is a highly trained performer of Japanese traditional arts who sings or dances for an elite clientel, but never has an intimate relationship with a customer.

The truth, of course, is somewhere between the two extremes, and like other people, no two geisha are exactly alike.

Andrew Maske was an art history student in Fukuoka when he was introduced to an elderly former geisha who eventually became his teacher in kouta singing and shamisen playing. Inspired by the story of her life and by the traditional arts she practiced, Maske set out to explore the role of geisha within Japan's entertainment culture.

"It's important for people to realize that geisha were very different from the licensed prostitutes who practiced legally in Japan until the 1950s. A geisha is first and foremost a performing artist, and her status and reputation is based primarily upon her artistic skill," Maske explains.

According to Maske, a geisha who is beautiful may well be popular with customers. However, if she does not strive to perfect her performance abilities or sleeps around with customers, her reputation within her geisha community will suffer. Such women usually quit the geisha life and become bar hostesses, since that profession offers more freedom and does not require the intensive, life-long training undergone by geisha.

Gion Festival Music

Gion Festival Music (Gion Bayashi) B&W / Standard / 1953 / 84 min / Daiei
Cast: Kogure Michiyo as Miyoharu, a geisha; Wakao Ayako as Eiko, a young geisha; Shindo Eitaro as Sawamoto, Eiko's father; Kawazu Seizaburo as Kusuda, a businessman; Sugai Ichiro as Saeki, Kusuda's employee; Koshiba Kanji as Kanzaki, a bureaucrat.

The film explores the clash of pre-war traditionalism in the pleasure quarters with the new atmosphere of individual liberty and equal rights for women in post-war Japan.

After her mother's death 16 year-old Eiko (Wakao) seeks out the help of a family friend to become a geisha. This beautifully shot black and white film follows the difficult life of a geisha by focusing in on Eiko and her mentor Miyoharu, played by Kogure Michiyo, as the two battle societal and inner-pressures.

While based on a different source, Mizoguchi Kenji's Gion Festival Music is for all intents and purposes a remake of his own 1936 classic, Sisters of the Gion (Gion no kyodai), the two in fact written by the same screenwriter, Yoda Yoshikata, Mizoguchi's frequent collaborator.

The first film was a revolutionary realist condemnation of the place of women in Japanese society, but the second, perhaps due to the market abroad opened up for Mizoguchi's films by his success in international film festivals, too often seems like a tourist guide to the Gion district. A solid work supported by Mizoguchi's masterful camerawork and excellent acting.

(Japanese family names appear first in this article.)

(Photo Caption)
Historian Andrew Maske

(Photo Caption)
A scene of Gion Festival Music (Gion Bayashi) ? 1953 Kadakawa Pictures, Inc.