FREE ADMISSION ALL DAY!

Ring in the New Year and the Year of the Dragon with fun arts ‘n crafts, food, and exciting cultural activities and performances.



11:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Craft and other fun activities for the entire family:
 

• It’s the Year of the Dragon! Celebrate 2012 in style by constructing a dragon hat to wear.


• Color and decorate a festive dragon streamer to wave in the New Year.


• We need a hand! Help us build a dragon by adding a cutout of your hand to our wall. Throughout the day our dragon will grow and by the end we’ll have a fun and colorful creature made by all our JANM friends who came to help us celebrate Oshogatsu!


• Toddler Room


• Ruthie’s Origami Corner: Learn how to fold an origami dragon.



 
• 11 AM - 3 PM: Learn how to make onigiri rice balls and enter the Onigiri contest. Sponsored by Common Grains
  
  11 AM – 5 PM: Special fukubukuro (lucky bag) store sale
  
  11 – 5 PM: Calling all kids, slay the dragon and jump in our dragon jumper!
  
  12 – 5 PM: Watch world-renowned candy artist Shaun Ichiyanagi make a dragon sculpture candy! (For children only. Candy Dragons will be raffled off at 4 PM)
  
  1 – 2 PM: Try osechi-ryori (Traditional Japanese New Year foods) (While supplies last. 1st come, 1st serve)
  
  1 – 4 PM: Have a balloon artist make a special pet dragon or dragon hat for you!
  
  1 – 5 PM: Zaru soba (buckwheat noodles) with Kidding Around the Kitchen.
  
  2 - 4 PM: Bring your camera and meet a real (costumed) dragon!
  
  4 PM: Three onigiri design winners will be announced. 100 of the top best entries will be on display after the selection is made.
  
  2:30 & 4 PM: Mochitsuki (traditional rice cake pounding ceremony) demonstration and performance by Kodama Taiko
  
  4:30 PM: Shi shi mai (traditional lion dance) and taiko performance by Kinnara Taiko
  
  This program is generously sponsored by Mitsubishi International Corporation, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, LA Country Arts Commission.
  
  ABOUT OUR FRIENDS:
  Onigiri Contest
  Each contestant is given one cup of cooked rice to make onigiri. We will show you how to make onigiri and provide you with ingredients to decorate the onigiri. No other ingredients and tools other than what we provide you with can be used in the contest.
  
  If you are participating in the contest as a family, only one adult and one child can participate in each section.
  
  Time: 10 minutes is allowed for each contestant.
  
  How to enter: Sign up and enter on the day of the festival.
  
  The Jury will consist of Russ Parsons, Columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Lynn Chen, food blogger, Omusubi shop owner Keiko Nakashima, Sunny Blue.
  
  Six winners!
  
  Children's section: (must be under 18)
  1 Kawaii onigiri prize
  1 Happy onigiri prize
  1 Original onigiri prize
  
  Adult Section:
  1 Humorous onigiri prize
  1 Original onigiri prize
  1 Cool onigiri prize
  
  About: Common Grains is a Japanese food and culture project to promote and celebrate Japanese grains, featuring rice and soba (buckwheat) produced by Shinmei, leading Japanese rice miller with local food writer/cooking teacher Sonoko Sakai. They are offering Angelinos artisanal rice and soba workshops, rice exhibition, soba restaurant event,
  
  Shaun Ichiyanagi
  Candy Sculpting is an ancient Oriental folk art that originated in China and has been known in Japan for over 1000 years. A dying art, only a few performers exist in the world today.
  
  Utilizing old Japanese scissors, this World Renown artist can magically transform a block of molten corn syrup into a beautiful sculpture of almost any shape and size, in 4-5 minutes.
  
  For more information about, Mr. Ichiyanagi, visit: thecandyartist.com.
  
  Kidding Around The Kitchen
  Kidding Around the Kitchen (KATK) brings a “hands on” cooking experience and lesson in which the kids actively participate in the preparation of recipes. The result of their cutting, measuring, cooking, and then eating their creations is more than simply a lesson in health. They get to see, touch, smell, and taste the fruits, vegetables, nuts, cheeses, eggs, meats, and other ingredients that they may never have previously seen in their raw form.
  
  For more information on Kidding Around the Kitchen, visit: www.kiddingaroundthekitchen.com.
  
  Kodama Taiko
  Kodama is a group of percussionists from the greater Los Angeles area who are dedicated to performing both traditional and contemporary pieces through the sounds of taiko. The group is primarily composed of working professionals who enjoy spending their "off" time learning and creating entertaining performance pieces.
  
  Kodama is well known for their unique Mochitsuki (rice cake pounding) performance which combines the age-old tradition of hand-pounding mochi (sweet rice) with the sounds of taiko. This energetic custom is typically performed during the Japanese New Year's, but has lately been expanded to include any celebratory occasion. Makoto Fujii of the Japan based group Medetaya instructed Kodama in combining the art of taiko and Mochitsuki.
  
  For more information, visit: www.kodamataiko.com.
  
  KINNARA TAIKO
  Kinnara Taiko was formed at Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles in 1969, the second such group in the America (San Francisco Taiko was founded in 1968). Kinnara was created as a way to express the group’s Buddhist beliefs through their performances. As a grassroots group, Kinnara literally built their own drums out of old wine barrels and wrote their own music which often articulated a Buddhist point of view.
  
  Under the direction of Rev. Masao Kodani, Kinnara also opened its practices up to interested visitors and even traveled around the country. The group was instrumental in helping other temples form their own taiko ensembles. Today, there are over 150 taiko groups in North America.
  
  Kinnara Taiko is known for performing the shi shi mai. Shi shi mai is the lion dance, used in olden times in Japan to scare pests away from crops or to ward off evil spirits. Regional variations use one, two or multi-person lions. As a New Year’s event, tradition states that if the shi shi mai bites you, you will have good luck the rest of the year.
  
  2012 TARGET FAMILY FREE SATURDAY SCHEDULE
  February 11: Ready, Set, Go! (Theme: Healthy Living)
  
  March 10: Folding Paper!
  
  April 14: Monster Mash!