Grammy Award Nominee, Hiroshima returns to Little Tokyo for its 10th “Spirit of the Season” concert on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 7:30pm at the Aratani Japan America Theatre of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. The “Spirit of the Season” concert provides a unique and engaging program of holiday songs done Hiroshima-style, and the Los Angeles premiere of their brand new CD, J-TOWN BEAT, which is dedicated to JACCC visionary Duane Ebata. This year, Los AKAtombros featuring Scott Nagatani, piano; Taiji Miyagawa, upright bass, Tracy Wannomae, alto saxophone; David Cheung, drums will make its J-Town debut. A post-Holiday-Bowl-Crenshaw-District entity,...
Read more »

Cultural News will provide a series of programs in Tohoku from March 10, 2014 through March 13, 2014 to remember victims of Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disasters in March 2011. The programs will include attending a memorial ceremony in Miyako on March 11; a bus tour of disaster areas in Ishinomaki, Minami-Sanriku-Cho, Kesennuma, Rikuzentakata, and Ofunato on March 12 and 13; and a meeting with people in Fukushima city in the evening of March 13. The participants will meet in Morioka in Iwate prefecture on March 10, and the tour will be disbanded in the evening of March 13. ...
Read more »

  New exhibition at the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture Sept. 1, 2013, Sunday at 2 pm Opening Lecture for Simplicity and Surprise: The Utilitarian Beauty of Japanese Lacquerware will be given by Clo Pazera, Curatorial Assistant at the Clark Center. Seats are limited. Reservation required. Call (559) 582-4915. Sept. 3 – Dec, 14, 2013 Simplicity and Surprise: The Utilitarian Beauty of Japanese Lacquerware Drawing from the Clark Center’s former collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and samplings of works from private collectors, Simplicity and Surprise will explore the themes and modes of production of traditional...
Read more »

  Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena presents the new exhibition Focus on the Subject: The Art of the Harari Collection from April 5, 2013 to March 30, 2014 in the Frank and Toshie Mosher Gallery of Japanese Art. The exhibition includes a full object rotation in October 2013 to accommodate a greater number of objects and protect them from extended exposure to light. The renowned Harai Collection of Japanese Edo (1603-1868)  and Meiji (1868-1912) era paintings and drawings is one of the most significant group of works on paper at Pacific Asia Museum. Amassed in London during the 1950s...
Read more »

  Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena The Garden in Asia November 23, 2012 to January 05, 2014        Changing Exhibition Galleries      The Garden in Asia features objects from across Asia that demonstrate the role of the garden as a source of inspiration throughout the centuries. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, lacquerware, sculpture and textiles from throughout East and South Asia. The exhibition focuses on the idea of the garden as a creative space, both intellectually and artistically, but also the respite that nature, encapsulated in gardens, offers in daily life. The included artworks allow visitors to...
Read more »

Minneapolis Institute of Arts   The Audacious Eye: Japanese Art from the Clark Collections October 6, 2013 – January 12, 2014 Ticketed exhibition. Free for museum members Target Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404, (888) 642-2787, toll free www.artsmia.org This first-look exhibition of 120 highlights from the Clark Collections, recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, offers unusually rich and personal insights into the scope of Japanese art and the nature of connoisseurship.    Bill and Libby Clark amassed one of the world’s finest collections of Japanese art according to their own...
Read more »

  Ohio / Toledo Museum of Art   Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints October 4, 2013 – January 1, 2014, Free admission Canaday Gallery, Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe Street, Toledo, OH 43604     www.toledomuseum.org During the 1930s the Toledo Museum of Art introduced modern Japanese prints to American audiences with two landmark exhibitions. These seminal shows featured the works of 15 contemporary Japanese artists who had revived the traditional art of the woodblock print for a new era. Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints reassembles and reinterprets the 1930 show and adds companion objects depicted in the...
Read more »

LA EigaFest SAMURAI PIRATES 116 min / Family adventure Director / Scriptwriter: Kenichi Omori Producer: Yumiko Masuda Saturday, Dec. 7, 3:50 pm Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 461-2020 Free admission For registration, visit www.laeigafest.com The film screening will be followed by Q&A with the filmmakers. + In the 16th century, Japan was home to several samurai pirates. The Murakami Clane, said to be the strongest of all the samurai of the sea were said to have hid a vast fortune in the islands they occupied. Kaede is a sprightly girl whose town on an...
Read more »

LA EigaFest is LA’s premiere Japanese film festival. It’s devoted to: showcasing Japanese/Japanese influenced films to an American audience, promoting emerging filmmakers to Hollywood, and enhancing the relationship between US and Japanese film industries. Festival Dates: December 6-8, 2013 Venue: Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood CA Website: http://laeigafest.com Ken Watanabe remake of Clint Eastwood classic to be introduced to American Audience at Hollywood’s premiere Japanese film festival The Japan Film Society announces the line-up of the 3rd Annual LA EigaFest to be held Dec. 6-8 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. The festival will open with the US Premiere of UNFORGIVEN(YURUSAREZARU...
Read more »

Hayao Miyazaki’s latest work “The Wind Rises” will be screen on Dec. 7 at 1:30 pm and Dec. 8 at 8:00 pm at LA EigaFest. By American Mishima How far would one go to follow their dreams? This is the moral dilemma vividly told in the 2013 Ghibli / Toho Studios animated masterpiece written & directed by famed animator & filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki in what he declares to be his last film which has been described as a animated historical fantasy. The Wind Rises follows the real life aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi who developed Japan’s most famous fighter plane...
Read more »

  Japanese Language School Unified System aka Kyodo System consists of the following five schools in the Greater Los Angeles area. Valley Gakuen, 8850 Lankershim Blvd, Sun Valley, CA 91352 Pasadena Gakuen, 595 Lincoln Ave, Pasadena, CA 91103 Rafu Chuo Gakuen, 202 North Saratoga Street, Los Angeles, CA 90003 Ko Chu Gakubu, 1218 Menlo Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006 Daiichi Gakuen Irvine, 23802 Avenida de la Carlota, Laguna Hills, CA 92653  For more information, contact Kyodo System Headquarters at (213) 383-4706  office@kyodosystem.org   www.kyodosystem.org
Read more »

    Terasaki Foundation Winter 2013 Educational Tour to JAPAN December 15 – December 29, 2013 Application deadline: September 20 A once in a lifetime opportunity to explore Tohoku, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, experience Japanese culture, attend fascinating lectures at distinguished universities, create new friendships, and help bridge American and Japanese cultures. The tour fees are partially subsidized by the Terasaki Foundation in Los Angeles. The tuition for each student is $2200 which includes airfare, transportation in Japan, hotels, and some meals. Limited to 24 students. The applicants must be at least 18 years of age. To apply and...
Read more »