JANM’S SUMMER FAMILY FESTIVAL SET FOR AUGUST 9

The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) will present its annual Natsumatsuri (“Summer Festival”), on August 9, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the yearly celebration featuring Japanese and Japanese American performances, crafts, and activities is free all day, and all current exhibitions will be available for viewing.

Highlights of the day will include a performance by East LA Taiko, a karaoke contest, face painting for children, and the presence of Hello Kitty for photos.

The complete event schedule for August 9 follows.

All Day Activities:

Visitors can find out what their future holds through omikuji, a Japanese fortune-telling method.

Attendees can don a traditional happi coat and have their picture taken against a faux fireworks-filled sky, a common sight during Japanese summer festivals. (One print per family. A Members’ Express Line will be available for JANM members.)

Baseball fans can design a button showing off team spirit and celebrating JANM’s exhibition Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game.

Supplies will be available to make colorful paper hats to wear while enjoying Natsumatsuri. Visitors can also create strings of paper lanterns, a popular festival decoration.

At Ruthie’s Origami Corner, a staple of JANM family festivals, visitors can learn to fold a festive origami kimono.

Kids can get in the spirit of JANM’s Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World exhibition with face painting by Party Face Magic. (For children only. Line ends at 4:30 p.m. A Members’ Express Line will be available for JANM members.)

Toddlers can have fun or relax with an adult who brought them in our Toddler Room.

Prizes will be awarded to those who follow the clues and locate items in a scavenger hunt within the museum. (While supplies last.)

Scheduled activities:

11 a.m./1 p.m./3 p.m.: Screenings of the film 42 (2013, rated PG-13), which documents Jackie Robinson’s life story and his inspirational legacy with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

11:30 a.m./12:30 p.m.: JANM docent Hal Keimi will give a basic lesson in the exciting Japanese art of taiko drumming.

1 p.m.: Rinban Bill Briones of Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple will discuss the obon festival, which honors and celebrates the spirits of ancestors, and what his temple does to prepare for obon season.

1 p.m.–2 p.m.: UGLARworks arts collective and Perseverance exhibition artists Chris “Horishiki” Brand, Espi, and Evan Skrederstu will collaboratively create a new art piece at JANM.

1:30 p.m.: Experienced docents will lead a tour of JANM’s core exhibition, Common Ground: The Heart of Community, examining the history and culture of Japanese Americans.

1:30 p.m.: Summer will be celebrated with a bon odor (traditional dance) led by Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple.

2:30 p.m.: Up to 15 contestants will sing their hearts out in a karaoke competition. Registration opens at the beginning of the festival and is first come, first served. Check janm.org/natsumatsuri2014 for contest rules.

3 p.m.–4 p.m.: Hello Kitty, the subject of a major exhibition opening at JANM in October, will be on site for photos.

4 p.m.: Blending Latin rhythms and taiko, East LA Taiko will perform. Before they take the stage, an excerpt from Maceo: Demon Drummer of East LA, the award-winning film about East LA Taiko’s leader Maceo Hernandez, will be screened. The film was produced and directed by John Esaki, director of JANM’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center.

For more details about JANM’s August 9 Natsumatsuri Family Festival, visit janm.org/natsumatsuri2014.

NOW ON VIEW AT JANM:

Colors of Confinement: Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II
Through August 31, 2014
Colors of Confinement presents 18 rare Kodachrome photographs taken in 1943 and 1944 by Bill Manbo during his incarceration at the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming. These vivid and surprising color photos show Japanese Americans engaged in activities like baseball, ice skating, and celebrating Bon Odori with a stark prison landscape visible behind them.

Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game
Through September 14, 2014
From their original roots in Brooklyn to today’s home in Los Angeles, the Dodgers are trailblazers in the world of sports, on and off the field. Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game explores the team’s storied past through four players and a Hall of Fame manager, each of whom made history in his own right: Jackie Robinson, Fernando Valenzuela, Chan Ho Park, Hideo Nomo, and Tommy Lasorda.

Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World
Through September 14, 2014
This exhibition of photographs by Kip Fulbeck explores the master craftsmanship and ongoing influence of traditional Japanese tattooing. With a unique display designed by Fulbeck to reference the craft’s roots in ukiyo-e and other Japanese art forms, the exhibition showcases both the splendor and the intricacy of modern tattooing. Curated by master tattoo artist and author Takahiro Kitamura, the exhibition presents the work of seven internationally-acclaimed Japanese-style tattoo artists: Horishiki (Chris Brand), Horitaka, Horitomo, Junii, Miyazo, Shige, and Yokohama Horiken.

Common Ground: The Heart of Community
Ongoing
Incorporating hundreds of objects, documents, and photographs collected by JANM, this exhibition chronicles 130 years of Japanese American history, from the early days of the Issei pioneers through the World War II incarceration to the present.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, the Japanese American National Museum promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories and strives to provide a voice for Japanese Americans as well as a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public, JANM has presented over 70 exhibitions onsite and traveled 6 of its exhibitions to over 30 locations, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America.

JANM is located at 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. Admission is $9 adults, $5 students and seniors, free for members and children under age five. Admission is free to everyone on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and every third Thursday of the month from noon to 8 p.m. Closed Mondays, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. For more information visit janm.org or call 213.625.0414.