FREE!
Join JANM for a week of virtual, kid-friendly activities to celebrate Oshogatsu (New Year’s Day)! From interactive, offline festivities for all ages to multi-lingual story times and play performances, welcome the Year of the Ox with JANM!
Celebrate with us on social media
Use our special Oshogatsu Instagram filters (search “JANM Oshogatsu”) and tag us with your results or use the hashtag #JANMOshogatsu to share how you’re celebrating with us from home!
#JANMOshogatsu
FREE!
Join JANM for a week of virtual, kid-friendly activities to celebrate Oshogatsu (New Year’s Day)! From interactive, offline festivities for all ages to multi-lingual story times and play performances, welcome the Year of the Ox with JANM!
Celebrate with us on social media
Use our special Oshogatsu Instagram filters (search “JANM Oshogatsu”) and tag us with your results or use the hashtag #JANMOshogatsu to share how you’re celebrating with us from home!
#JANMOshogatsu
Activities
Year of the Ox Scavenger Hunt
Explore your neighborhood and our website with a scavenger hunt! Email us a picture of your completed scavenger hunt and get entered into a raffle for free passes to visit the museum when we re-open or other ox-themed prizes!
Email your completed pages to publicprograms@janm.org along with your first name by January 10, 2021, to be entered in a raffle to win a prize!
Year of the Ox Coloring Page
Print your own JANM Year of the Ox design and color it in!
Share your designs with us on social media using the hashtag #JANMOshogatsu.
Oshogatsu Community Photo Activity
In conjunction with Oshogatsu Virtual Family Festival, JANM’s Discover Nikkei project is compiling photos to share its global Nikkei community’s New Year traditions. We want to see your favorite dishes, family gatherings, or special traditions that you use to welcome the new year! Photos can be from past years or to share how you are finding ways to celebrate this year despite the pandemic.
To participate, photos must be submitted with descriptions from now through January 8, 2021 to editor@DiscoverNikkei.org or uploaded directly to the Nikkei Album.
Click here for complete submission guidelines and to see more photos that have been submitted.
Fuku-bOX-uro 2021
Traditionally at New Year’s, stores in Japan clean their inventory of slightly imperfect merchandise and otherwise intact items missing packaging or with dented boxes in fukubukuro, or lucky grab bags. To continue this tradition and start the year off with lighter spirits and a glimmer of hope, we are launching our first ever FukubOXuro!
From January 3–8, 2021, a limited number of lucky boxes will be available at janmstore.com for only $25. Boxes will contain $50 (or more!) of JANM Store merchandise! This year we are including many items that we cannot easily sell online, including one-of-a-kind items, discontinued products, blind box toys, and display samples.
While supplies last! On-site pick-ups begin Tuesday, January 5.
Schedule
Sunday, Jan 03 | 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Sunday, January 3 - Oshogatsu Kick-Off
Join us on our YouTube channel to kick off our week of Oshogatsu festivities with highlights of New Year-themed activities and an interactive overview of the week of celebration!
Monday, Jan 04 | 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Monday, January 4 – Education Craft Corder
Create a cute ox to celebrate the New Year using only supplies found around your house!
At Home Activity: Check out our interactive activities, like this origami frog (kaeru)(recommended ages 13+) or an origami kori basket (recommended for all ages)!
Tuesday, Jan 05 | 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Tuesday, January 5 -Oshogatsu, Unboxed
Take a peek into the Japanese American National Museum’s permanent collection to see artifacts related to celebrating the New Year with this special behind the scenes video!
At Home Activity: “Tell Your Story: Create a (mini) Collection”
Take inspiration from the storytelling in JANM’s exhibition, Common Ground: The Heart of Community, to choose and display objects, images, and documents that hold meaning to you and your family’s story.
Wednesday, Jan 06 | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday, January 6 - Storytime with JANM
Join us for a multilingual storytime in English, Spanish, and Japanese of a traditional Japanese folk tale!
In this traditional Japanese folktale, although Issun-boshi is only one-inch tall, his bravery and wit take him on adventures both big and small!
At Home Activity: Read your favorite story out loud to your family, pets, stuffed animals, or plants and, with an adult, explore more Japanese folk tales and Japanese American stories from the JANM Store or your local library!
And catch a special reading of Thank You Very Mochi with our friends at Kizuna at 4 p.m. (PST)! RSVP required.
Thursday, Jan 07 | 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, January 7 - Question 27, Question 28
Part of JANM’s mission is to share the Japanese American experience in all of its complicated details. Join Artists at Play LA for a virtual performance of Question 27, Question 28, a play by Chay Yew and directed by Jully Lee about struggle, courage, and resilience during World War II. They will be presenting an abridged version which has been shortened and edited for families.
Friday, Jan 08 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Friday, January 8 - Member Exclusive: Behind the Scenes at Azay!
Current JANM Members are invited for an exclusive, behind the scenes tour of a restaurant during the busiest holiday of the year! Azay Little Tokyo, with Chef Akira Hirose, will show the process of developing and preparing their special Oshogatsu menu. RSVPs are required using link below.
Friday, Jan 08 | 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Friday, January 8 - Friday Food!
Join us for a conversation around traditional Oshogatsu food, like osechi-ryori and ozoni, and a space to share about your food-related traditions! Then, join special guests from local businesses and restaurants in Little Tokyo to chat about how they share Oshogatsu recipes and traditions today!