2017 / Corporate-sponsored program sends 20 students from Fukushima to Rose Parade on Jan. 2 and Little Tokyo concert at Aratani Theatre on Jan. 4
The TOMODACHI Honda Cultural Exchange Program: Twenty high school students from Fukushima will visit Los Angeles from Dec. 26 – Jan. 9. (Photos by Kacey Takashima, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.)
Twenty high school students from Fukushima, Japan will share the stage with six-time Grammy award-winning musician Daniel Ho and members of the Grateful Crane Ensemble at the Fukushima Honda Tomodachi Concert on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 at 8 p.m. at the Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo.
Presented by American Honda Motor Company Inc, in association with the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, the free concert will feature musical numbers by the Tomodachi Honda Cultural Exchange members from Fukushima, fresh off their performance at the January 2 Rose Parade in Pasadena.
Daniel Ho, who traveled to Fukushima in November to work with the youth, will accompany the group on piano. Members of Grateful Crane’s 2016 Goodwill tour to Tohoku, Japan will sing songs that they sang for seniors in Fukushima temporary housing complexes, and for children and youth at the Fukushima Aiikuen orphanage.
The purpose of the concert is to welcome and support the youth from Fukushima, and to hear their stories of resiliency, strength and hope five years after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Two members of the U.S military’s Operation Tomodachi will also be on hand to share stories of their 2011 Tohoku rescue operation.
Los Angeles audience members will also be updated on the current situation in Tohoku and Fukushima, and will be given an opportunity to donate to Japan-based non-profit charities who are providing ongoing support to Tohoku’s recovery efforts.
The Aratani Theatre is located at 244 South San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles. Admission is free, with RSVP. To RSVP and for more info, go to www.jaccc.org
