Mitsuwa Summer Festival 2009
-Local Annual Festival Comes to Town-

Mitsuwa Marketplace’s annual summer festival was held on August 15 and 16, 2009, at the Torrance Mitsuwa.

Visitors enjoyed the various food booths such as the yakitori and takoyaki booths. There was also a game corner where families enjoyed traditional Japanese games such as shooting games and goldfish scooping.

At the main stage, families enjoyed contests such as the watermelon splitting contest, where parents verbally guide their blindfolded children to split a watermelon.

JSN Summer Festival
-College Students Share Japanese Festival with Locals-

Japanese Student Network, or JSN, held its fifth annual summer festival at the JACCC Plaza in Little Tokyo on August 24, 2009.

This festival which is held during Nisei Week, started as a way for Japanese college students to introduce the local community to the Japanese culture.

Local community members enjoyed the students’ handmade game booths such as yo-yo fishing contest.

Gyoza Eating Championship
-Chestnut Attempts to Break Own Record-

The Third Annual Gyoza Eating Championship was held on August 22, 2009, at the JACCC Plaza in Little Tokyo.

Nineteen competitive eaters from all over the U.S. participated in this ten-minute race to prove who can eat the most gyoza dumplings. Last year’s Nisei Queen and princesses also participated in the event.

The crowd pleaser was Joey Chestnut, who is also known as the world’s hotdog eating champion. Chestnut is last year’s defending champion, with a record of 231 gyoza dumplings.

There was not one single person who could keep up with Chestnut’s pace—he devoured 30 dumplings in one minute.　Although he ate 181 dumplings and did win the title, he could not beat his previous record.

However, he went home with the prize money of $1,000. He says he will try for 250 gyoza dumplings next year.