#nisei week

[mysticdragon3md3]

Went to Tanabata and the Nisei Week Grand Parade in Little Tokyo this past weekend!

(Maybe I'll post more photos/video later.)

[mysticdragon3art]

Miku at Nisei Week / Tanabata LA 2024's second of 2 weekends.

8/18/2024. Did some lighting adjustments thru my phone.

Nisei Week (more than Los Angeles Tanabata) 2024, in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

Nendoroid Hatsune Miku natsutsubaki version.

[mk-otro]

With Summer comes festivals.

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I made this piece months ago and it's a little something different from what I usually slap down, but I feel it's appropriate since Nisei Week normally starts this weekend, falling in line with the Tanabata and Obon fests thrown by every known Japanese-American community in the months preceding. Then again, Nisei Week combines everything since Tanabata happens in July and Obon takes place in the middle of August. I mean, it's very much its own thing and has a very long history, it's pretty neat.

Since it was an illustration for the summer edition of our museum's volunteer newsletter, this was basically the theme. I included the elements that stuck out to me the most like the fish-catching games, the Tanabata kusudama decoration and the bamboo poles for hanging wishes, the strings of paper lanterns and the summer sky (which is normally not as cloudly most days in burning hot SoCal). I was going to add the fire tower in the background, but I felt like it would have made it more cluttered? I'm not sure, maybe I should've experimented more.

Anyway - being half Japanese-American, I've been to many of these events downtown growing up. Due to the crowds and because of everything happening within the past year and eight months, I haven't been going as much lately, but I remember how fun it is. How deep the history goes. And sometimes you just have to put on the songs they play for the ondo/Bon odori and try dancing to it.

[davetada]

This was years back during Nisei Week

Little Tokyo, LA, CA 

[yanderekun]

I sewed together matching yukatas and obis for First Place and me for Little Tokyo’s Nisei Week festival c: We’re both rockin’ that clamshell knot!

Made a little food stall set for First Place since he couldn’t come to the festival with me.

[amandaishighlypredictable]

Impatiently waiting on my Tanabata wishes to come true .

[meliecho]

Fue goddess. Waiting for the parade to start.

[themiracleon1ststreet]

Throwback to Nisei week 2015.

Little Tokyo. Los Angeles, California.