Nisei Week Japanese Festival | Los Angeles

Press Release

For immediate release

For more information:
Diane Tanaka
310-962-2698

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67TH NISEI WEEK JAPANESE FESTIVAL ONDO STREET DANCING AND CLOSING CEREMONY TO TAKE PLACE SUNDAY, AUGUST 26

(Los Angeles - July 15, 2007) - The Nisei Week Foundation will celebrate the end of a successful 2007 Nisei Week Japanese Festival with the ondo street dancing and closing ceremony on Sunday, August 26. The ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. and feature a special performance by Zendeko Taiko, with traditional "obon" or "street dancing" following and starting promptly at 5 p.m. Nisei Week's annual raffle winners will also be drawn. Free ondo classes will take place every Tuesday and Thursday starting July 24 from 7 - 8 p.m. on the Japanese American Community and Cultural Center Plaza. Please bring sensu (fan) and uchiwa (round fan) to practices.

The 2007 Nisei Week choreographer is Madame Hanayagi Rokumine, who has choreographed two dances, "Kuroshio Taiko" by Eiichi Kamada and "Shinobu no Ichiban Matoi" by Shinobu Otoba, which she hopes everyone will enjoy and bring the joyful spirit of Nisei Week and ondo to all who participate and watch.

Hanayagi Rokumine was born in the U.S. and when she was young, was sent to Kagoshima, Japan, the homeland of her parents. She attended elementary and high school in Japan. While in Japan, she became keenly attracted to the graceful, classical dance of Japan and enrolled at the Hanayagi Rokumie studio. She married after several years of study and returned to the U.S. in 1949. She and her husband ran a grocery business while raising their children.

Her love and passion for Japanese classical dance grew stronger each day and she worked extremely hard to be successful. In 1966, through the recommendation of Hanayagi Rokumie, she was granted the Natori and Shihan credential from the Hanayagi Master in Japan, and opened her own studio.

In 1972, with 30 students from her studio, Hanayagi Rokumine first participated in the Nisei Week Festival as its official choreographer. This year is her fifth occasion as the official Nisei Week Choreographer. Over the years, Hanayagi Rokumine has had the opportunity to participate in events from entertaining the U.S. military men overseas to dancing at several Disneyland Japan Day programs. She has been a volunteer entertainer at the Keiro Nursing Home and other Japanese community events for 25 years.

The Nisei Week Festival, the longest running ethnic festival in the U.S., has been attracting hundreds of thousands of people each year since its inception in 1934 (except during WWII from 1942 - 1948) to Little Tokyo to enjoy a Japanese American arts and cultural experience and this year Nisei Week organizers - who are all volunteers - hope to draw even more to the community.

The 2007 Nisei Week Japanese Festival takes place in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo District from August 18-26. For calendar of events and volunteer information on the 67th Nisei Week Festival, please log onto www.NiseiWeek.org or call the Nisei Week Foundation office at 213/687-7193. The Nisei Week office is located at 244 South San Pedro Street, Suite 303, Los Angeles, Calif., 90012.

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