2012 Tanabata Festival & Nisei Week

Below are images we took at this years Tanabata (Star) Festival in Little Tokyo. It so happens there is to be a large meteor shower taking place tonight. We would have loved to stick around for this year's Nisei Parade but with the heat our baby was done by one. Despite our early departure we were treated to some cold soba, tea, enchanting music of Okinawa and that sights and sounds of Little Tokyo that make every Tanabata Festival special. Please enjoy!

 

二世ウィークリトル東京 - Nisei Week 2011

Little Tokyo in Los Angeles is the heart of the Japanese-American Community. This year Little Tokyo celebrates the 71st annual Nisei Week & Tanabata Festival. No summer is complete without this generations long tradition that has survived both wartime and economic turbulence. Throughout the years, this ever growing festival has grown and continues to be a popular event in the City of Angeles. Within the Nisei Week festivities is the traditional Tanabata Festival 七夕 aka Starlight Festival which brings about some of the most colorful tanabata streamers outside of Japan.

During Nisei Week one can sample Japanese food, take in beautiful Ikebana Displays, Samurai Yoroi Displays (from the Samurai Store), Martial Arts Demonstrations (including Shinkendo), Edo-Period Re-enactors, Cosplayers, Lolitas, scores of people in Yukata, and of course the Grand Nisei Week Parade featuring the proud surviving veterans of the 442 Infantry Regimental "Go For Broke" Combat Team of WWII. We didn't stick around for this years parade in consideration of Tinahime's health in the summer heat while carrying our unborn child but we can at least show you what we experienced in the photos below. Enjoy!