NATIONAL MUSEUM TO BEGIN 2009 WITH OSHOGATSU FAMILY FESTIVAL JANUARY 4

The Japanese American National Museum will kick off 2009 with its annual Oshogatsu (New Year’s) Family Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 4, 2009, at its facility at 369 E. First Street, in Little Tokyo. This event is free and open to the public.

Highlighting the day’s activities will be the appearance of Kodama Taiko, who will perform their annual mochitsuki (pounding of sweet rice) ceremony at 1 and 3 p.m. in the National Museum Plaza (weather permitting). When the Issei immigrant generation came from Japan at the turn of the 20th Century, they brought the tradition of pounding steamed sweet rice into cakes to form mochi, an important food for Japanese New Year. Kodama Taiko engages in a more contemporary tradition of ensemble taiko (Japanese festival drums) performance and combines that with the pounding of the mochi to mark the New Year.

Besides mochi, there are many foods traditionally prepared and eaten for Oshogatsu. At 2 p.m., osechi-ryori or traditional Japanese New Year foods will be available for sampling. Many of these foods are connected to hopes of good health or good luck for the upcoming year.

Other highlights include We Tell Stories performing "New Year’s Stories" at 12 noon. We Tell Stories is a multi-ethnic theatre troupe that educates, nurtures, bonds, and strengthens our artists and communities by enriching the art and summoning the power of storytelling and theatre. The troupe performs original adaptations of classic stories, myths, fairy tales and legends with the hopes of making the presentations relevant to today.

Throughout the day, visitors will be able to take part in hands-on arts and crafts. Staff and volunteers will aid all family members in the creation of origami (paper folded) crane ornaments, which can be embellished individually. Also, participants can create their own postcards to be sent with New Year’s greetings or construct their own daruma dolls and make a wish for 2009. Traditionally, darumas are depicted as having faces with no eyes. Individuals can make a wish or set a goal and then paint in one eye of the daruma. When the goal is reached, the other eye is painted.

Sunday, January 4, will also be the closing of the custom vinyl show, "Dreams to Dreams", which includes the works of over 40 artists, who have taken traditional darumas and decorated them in imaginative and colorful ways. This show, organized by the National Museum in collaboration with Chocolate Soop with sponsorship, in part, from Daruma Asset Management, opened on December 6. All the works in the show are for sale and many have already been sold.

For more information on the National Museum’s Oshogatsu Family Festival program, call the Japanese American National Museum at (213) 625-0414, or go to www.janm.org.

Also on this day, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) in Little Tokyo will be holding its annual Oshogatsu programs with Kotohajime: Hatsu Shibai in its Aratani Japan America Theater. Kotohajime means "the beginning of things" and represents the first program of the New Year. The JACCC will present classical Japanese dance by Wakana Hanayagi U.S. Conservatory and Bando Mitsuhiro Kai. Also, the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai Archery Group will participate in a rite of purification and students from the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute at the Colburn School will perform as well. Tickets for this event are $20 for general admission and $18 for JACCC members. For more information, go to www.jaccc.org.