|
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Thank you for visiting the official Nisei Week Foundation and Japanese Festival website.
The Nisei Week Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is run entirely by volunteers whose
primary focus is to produce the annual Nisei Week Japanese Festival. This nine-day festival in Los Angeles'
Little Tokyo district highlights Japanese and Japanese American culture and 2008 marks its 68th year.
This year's festival will be held August 16-24.
Last year, Southern Californians came together to witness the premiere of the beautiful
Nebuta float from Aomori, Japan in the Nisei Week Grand Parade. The Nebuta float brought hundreds of
thousands of people to Little Tokyo. Everyone who saw the float with the early evening sky as a backdrop
was truly amazed not only by the float itself, but also by the hundreds of volunteers manning and dancing
around the brightly-lit, colorful float. I remember looking out at the crowd and being caught up in the
excitement of the parade. It was something I will never forget.
As this year's president, I am often asked what I am going to do to top the Nebuta float.
At first, I even wondered, "What am I going to do?" Then it came to me. The parade is just one part of the
festival and Nisei Week has so much more to offer - spectacular cultural exhibits, dynamic cultural
entertainment, delicious Japanese food, and traditional celebrations. Highlights of these include taiko,
sumo, martial arts, tea ceremony, ikebana, odori dancing, and many more. There is something for everyone
over the two weekends.
As the Little Tokyo community continues to expand, my goal as president is to focus on
making the Nisei Week Japanese Festival a means to connect the diverse communities of Southern California
by sharing the Japanese and Japanese American heritage and traditions through arts and cultural education.
My hope for this year's festival and the years to come is for thousands of people from all walks of life
to converge to Little Tokyo to celebrate and learn more about this amazing culture and community.
It is through the generous support of our sponsors and you that Nisei Week can continue
as an annual tradition in our community, so on behalf of the Nisei Week Foundation, thank you very much.
We hope that you will come out to the 68th Nisei Week Japanese Festival in Little Tokyo, August 16-24
and look forward to seeing you then!
With sincere appreciation,
Helen H. Ota
2008 Nisei Week Foundation President
|
