Space Science Day

On April 30th at El Camino College in Torrance, lecture about working in space was held at the Honda Science Day event.

This year, Astronaut Soichi Noguchi was invited to speak about the 163 days that he spent on the International Space Station starting from December 2009. Children listened intently as he spoke about exercising and having Christmas parties in zero gravity. Noguchi showed children and parents in attendance photos and videos of the Earth taken from the International Space Station that he had sent down by Twitter.

Noguchi also spoke about astronaut Ellison Onizuka, who died tragically in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. This event followed through on Onizuka’s intent to support the dreams of children.

Over 700 children and parents enjoyed the scientific displays set up around the campus during the event.

TomoNeko Maid Café

The TomoNeko Maid Café was in full swing at the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo on May 1st.

Comedians kept the event lively on stage, while maids and butlers worked the floor. For $3, customers could take pictures with the maid or butler of their choice, or for $1 you could challenge them to a videogame battle.

But this Maid Café was only open for one day! That’s because this even was actually a charity event put together to raise funds for the relief efforts in Japan. Donation boxes were placed throughout the café and Maids also walked the floor taking collections.

There were 22 maids and butlers on hand for the 75 customers that attended. Funds that were collected were donated through the Yoshiki Foundation America to the disaster victims in Japan.

IDA “Dance for Japan”

A loud crash and the dancers on the stage fall to the ground, followed by news reports of the worst earthquake in Japan’s history…

This was part of the performance that took place at the “Dance for Japan” relief event that was held on April 30th. This particular dance, entitled “Wherever You Are” portrays people who were injured by the quake that rise up to walk again.

Within this group, one particular dancer was dancing with all of her heart. Sakie Fujii. Her home is in the area near the Fukushima power plant whose future still remains in question.

The end of the event, everyone involved took to the stage and appealed for the continued need for support to Japan. The entire $1790 in proceeds from this event were sent to the Japanese Red Cross.

Fan Workshop

On May 1st, at the Pacific Asian Museum in Pasadena, a fan-making workshop was held. Ishizumi Naomi from the Ishizumi Fan Company in Kyoto led the workshop in an effort to promote the art of fans in cities around the world.

Material for the fans cost about $10. Specially crafted folded paper and Japanese bamboo “bones”, or frames, for fans and must be used and is difficult to find in the United States.

First, participants paint their artwork on the fan paper in watercolor. Then, they carefully insert the bamboo “bones” through thin holes made within the paper. Finally, the outside bones are glued to the fan and when the glue is dry, the fan is complete.

Ishizumi is scheduled to give the workshop in England following after finishing the workshop in Pasadena.

The Dali Lama at USC

Tibet’s spiritual leader, the 14th Dali Lama, was at USC on Tuesday May 3rd, giving a speech entitled “Global Ethics and Universal Responsibility”.

The stop was part of a 3 day Southern California College tour.