The streets of downtown\u2019s Little Tokyo will be filled with revelers Sunday for the 84th Nisei Week Grand Parade, according to organizers.<\/p>\n
Riverside Congressman Mark Takano will be the grand marshal with acclaimed mural artist Robert Vargas serving as parade marshal. Kara Kimiko Chu, 23, of Irvine, who was crowned Saturday, will preside as 2026 Nisei Week Queen.<\/p>\n
The 4 p.m. Sunday procession will begin at Central Avenue, travel west on Second Street, north on San Pedro Street, east on First Street and then south to end back on Central Avenue.<\/p>\n
JX Matsuri, a carnival-style community event celebrating Japanese entertainment, food brands and pop culture will precede the parade starting at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n
Nisei Week will continue through Aug. 23 with a variety of activities including traditional performances, cultural exhibits, an anime marketplace and a street dance party \u2014 giving visitors a chance to experience one of the city\u2019s oldest cultural celebrations, organizers said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme is Ichigo, Ichie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIchigo, Ichie \u2013 one time, one meeting \u2013 signifies that every moment is unique, unrepeatable and should be treasured,\u201d Nisei Week president Helen Ota told an audience during July\u2019s kickoff festivities. \u201cThe Nisei Week Foundation cherishes each festival as a unique experience, and with the spirit of ichigo, ichie, we carry a deep appreciation for the overwhelming support we receive from the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word Nisei means \u201cchildren of Japanese immigrants\u201d or \u201csecond generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is generally used to differentiate from the generation that came to the U.S. starting in the 1880s and established communities such as Little Tokyo, which was declared a .National Historic Landmark District in 1995 by the National Historic Trust of Preservation.<\/p>\n
L.A.\u2019s first Nisei Week was held in 1934. In recent years, the celebration has grown to include \u201cmodern draws\u201d such as anime and car culture, gaining younger crowds while linking them to the community\u2019s deep roots.<\/p>\n
Other key events will include:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Crazy Talented Asians, a musical cabaret celebrating the Little Tokyo community at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the East West Players Theater;<\/p>\n
\u2014 the family friendly Plaza Festival 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n
\u2014 and a Karate exhibition and tournament, 1-4 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n
A complete schedule is at niseiweek.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The streets of downtown\u2019s Little Tokyo will be filled with revelers Sunday for the 84th Nisei Week Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48368,48369,8,48370,27063,39462,43770,7688,52,1358],"class_list":["post-75147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tokyo","tag-84th","tag-grand","tag-japan","tag-little","tag-nisei","tag-parade","tag-steps","tag-today","tag-tokyo","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}