NATIONAL MUSEUM SETS OSHOGATSU FAMILY FESTIVAL FOR SUNDAY, JAN. 3

The Japanese American National Museum will celebrate its 25th anniversary since its incorporation in 1985 with a series of events in 2010, beginning with its annual Oshogatsu Family Festival set for Sunday, January 3, 2010, from 11 to 5 p.m. Admission to the National Museum is free that day and open to the public.

Among the activities set will be two taiko (Japanese drumming) groups performing, a hands-on drum circle in which members of the whole family can participate, arts and crafts including making a tiger to celebrate 2010 as the Year of the Tiger, and other New Year’s activities. Also available is a special workshop by the Sushi Chef Institute, teaching how to make traditional Japanese New Year’s food. This workshop requires a fee to participate.

Highlighting the day’s activities will be the appearance at 4 p.m. of Kinnara Taiko, the oldest taiko group in Southern California, who will perform their signature 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 bites you, you will have good luck the rest of the year. 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 performances.

Kodama Taiko will perform their annual mochitsuki (pounding of sweet rice) ceremony right after Kinnara Taiko. 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.

Drumtime will begin the live performances for the day at noon outdoors with their famed drum circle. The Drumtime drum circle, no matter how large or small, literally transforms a gathering of people—most with no prior musical experience—into a percussion orchestra. Instead of just witnessing a performance, participants become part of the event and since anyone can play a drum, all members of a family can take part. The drum circle will be repeated at 2 p.m. Drumtime has done work for festivals, youth programs, corporate outings and private parties. For more information, go to www.drumtime.net.

At 1 p.m., Chef Andy of the Sushi Chef Institute will teach those who sign up for his workshop how to cook o-zoni, a traditional Japanese New Year’s soup with mochi (steamed sweet rice). He will also instruct on how make other mochi desserts. Fees for this workshop are $10 for National Museum members and $15 for non-members. The size of the workshop is limited to 30 people. For more information on the Sushi Chef Institute, go to www.sushischool.net.

From 11 a.m. to closing, visitors will be able to make a variety of crafts connected to New Year’s include koma or Japanese spinning top and negajo or Japanese postcards. Other activities include creating your own daruma doll and making your own kagami mochi fukuwarai game. Kagami mochi is a traditional Japanese New Year decoration and fukuwarai is a Japanese game similar to pin the tail on the donkey.

Ruthie’s Origami Corner will teach visitors how to make their own flapping crane, and participants can try their luck at omikuji, or sacred lottery, which can help predict the kind of year it will be.

The National Museum free Oshogatsu Family Festival coincides with other events in Little Tokyo on Sunday, January 3, 2010, including at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. For more information on the events at JACCC, go to www.jaccc.org.

This event is free to the public, thanks to support from the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, and the Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. For more information on the Japanese American National Museum and its 25th anniversary, call (213) 625-0414, or go to www.janm.org.