The 2026 Nisei Week queen candidates took center stage today for their first official public appearance at the 84th Nisei Week Festival Opening Ceremony, held at the Japanese American National Museum Democracy Center on July 12, 2026.
The seven candidates will vie for the prestigious title of Nisei Week Queen on Saturday, August 15, at 6:30 p.m. during the Coronation and Awards Celebration. The event will take place at the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Tom Bradley Theatre (514 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles). Tickets are available for $105 (orchestra) or $75 (balcony) per person. For ticket information, visit NiseiWeek.org.
Upon official coronation, the 2026 queen and court will represent the Nisei Week Foundation at this year’s festival and other community events locally and nationally throughout the year.
Ai Grace Kusayanagi (Japanese Restaurant Association of America) is 23 years old and received her bachelor’s degree with a concentration in neurodevelopmental disability care from Kyushu University and a post-baccalaureate in speech-language pathology from San Diego State University.
She’s an aspiring speech-language pathologist and will attend graduate school in the fall. She currently works as a behavior interventionist and is an advocate for individuals with disabilities.
Ai hopes to join research laboratories to publish papers on the connectivity between brain music and therapy. She previously worked in Japan and hopes to go back to serve as a speech-language pathologist.
Ai enjoys scrap journaling, bead embroidery, painting, Zumba, musical theater, yoga, traveling and learning new languages.
She chose Seinan Koreisha Senior Care as her platform.