The Hollywood Christmas Parade

Following Thanksgiving Day, the next famous event is the Hollywood Christmas Parade. Celebrities from movies and TV show such as Danny Trejo joined the parade. Also 14 marching bands and more than 30 horses paraded on Hollywood Boulevard. Kids had fun watching the Giant balloons of their favorite characters.
There were 55,000 people who gathered to see the parade. It was 40 degrees outside on that day, and the maximum wind velocity reached 27 km/h. The strong wind gave them a hard time controlling the giant balloons. At the end of parade, Santa Clause, who all the kids had been waiting for, appeared. Which started the Los Angeles Christmas Season.

JBA Business Reception

November 17th, Torrance Chamber of Commerce and Japan Business Association (JBA) held a business reception.The Mayor of Torrance, Frank Scott was invited to the reception, and about 30 companies that operate their business in Torrance also joined the event. This event is held annually to fundraise for JBA. It has been 12 years since they started this event.
When JBA was established, there were only 45 companies affiliated. But over the years the number increased, currently 450 companies are involved. JBA will celebrate their 50th anniversary next year. They are planning an anniversary event this coming February.

Docomo Support Desk Open

December 1st was the grand opening day for NTT Docomo’s support desk at the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance. After the opening of their NY store, this is their 2nd store in the U.S. Customers are able to receive services in Japanese, and the store offers them an advance reservation service for cell phones that can be used after returning to Japan.
Until December 12th, customers will receive a LA limited edition Docomodake while supplies last. All this is in order to make Docomo better known in the community. They would like to expand the Docomo Brand and increase the U.S. market share in the future.

Ukiyoe Woodcut Workshop

November 21, Ukiyoe Woodcut Print Workshop was held at JACCC in Little Tokyo.At the workshop, two experts from the Adachi institute of Woodcut Print showed traditional reproduction of Ukiyoe prints using the same skills, techniques, and materials that were handed down from Edo era (18th and 19th century).
The experts demonstrated Hiroshige Utagawa’s “Wild Geese and Full Moon.” The woodcut print is Japan’s traditional way of printing. It has been continually used since the Edo era. Because the woodcut print was created for mass production prints, productivity and efficiency were demanded from the craftsmen.
The 2 experts completed their demonstration pieces with precision.Their goal in the future is to reproduce woodcut prints by foreign artists, and pass the magic of woodcut prints on to future generations.