Little Tokyo Connected!

Higashi & Nishi Obon Videos

Check out these short films from this years Obon Festival at Higashi and Nishi in Little Tokyo





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Planning and Cultural Preservation Meeting

Last week thursday I attended the Planning and Cultural Preservation Committee Meeting. It was held last week Wednesday at the JACCC in Little Tokyo. The Planning and Cultural Preservation Committee or PCPC is part of the Little Tokyo Community Council.

The meeting began with an update on the Little Tokyo Parking study, the parking study is nearing completion and should be coming out in the next few months. Data from summer festivals in Little Tokyo will be included in the parking study then the final report will be released. Some changes to parking in Little Tokyo may include the parking meter time limit changing from one hour to two hours, metering on Sundays, extending the operation time of meters to 8pm, and more signage.

There will be a Regional Connector meeting on August 5th, but I do not currently have the time and location, I will post that information when I find out.

Representatives from MTA also announced that last friday the MTA board voted on packaging the the Little Tokyo regional connector with another project to help increase the chances of receiving funding from the federal government. Instead of the two projects competing against each other, they would be competing with each other.


The bulk of the meeting consisting of critical discussion on the regional connector through Little Tokyo. The discussion was intense and many serious questions where asked. Members from all over the community where able to voice concerns and help clear up confusions they had about the regional connector.

A regional connector in Little Tokyo deal, its impact to Little Tokyo will be huge. There are currently 4 proposals for different configurations of how the regional connector will function in relation to Little Tokyo. Different versions include on street level, below street level, a shuttle system, and no build.

The topic of the regional connector is a large and complex story, as my first time attending the meeting, it took great effort to try and keep up with what they are talking about. Please let me know if any of the posted information is incorrect, or anything you may want to add.

Disclaimer: The information presented here is accurate to the best of my knowledge, if you notice anything incorrect or have any concerns or suggestions please contact me at moguro@ltsc.org. Thanks.

The Party Pix - TNKAT

Kudos to the Tuesday Night Cafe Project and everyone who worked the 10th anniversary celebration of THE PARTY last Saturday night at the JACCC Noguchi Plaza in Little Tokyo. Big props to Traci Kato-Kiriyama, woman extraordinaire, Mama Kat, for her dedication to the project for the past 10 years.

Having attended fairly regularly in the early days, even sharing some of my own poetry back in the day, it was nice to go a few weeks ago to see that they are still community minded, fun and talented group of artists, activists, and young folks really committed to community artists and sharing an arts space that continues to be relevant, cutting edge, irreverent (I saw Kristina Wong streaming from home last month) and cultural (I went to see Emily Lawsin a few weeks ago for my first time back at Tuesday Nite in over a year). Anyways, here's a piece written about the event in the Pacific Citizen and some pictures from the evening's fundraiser and celebration.

HIgashi 50th Annual Obon - This Weekend!

 
This weekend Higashi Honganji is having their 50th annual Obon Festival.  Begins Saturday and runs until Sunday from 12-9 PM.  The festival will include exhibitions, games, food, cultural performances, farmers market, flower market, tea ceremony demonstration.  The entertainment schedule is full of performances from June Kuramoto with Keyboardist Kimo Cornwell, Brooke Taylor, Taiko Project, hereandnow, happyfunsmile, Bombu Taiko, Kistune Taiko, and more.  

There will be a Hastubon Obon Service July 26 @ 11 AM.

Manto-E Services will be held both days @ 6PM

The Bon Odori Dancing begins at 6:30 on both days.  

Higashi is located at 505 E. Third Street, La, Ca, 90013

Parking Information (As Taken from Higashi's Site) For a Map click here:

OBON PARKING -Parking will be available at the Medical Building on 3rd Street, across from the temple at 420 E. 3rd Street, LA 90013.  The lot entrance is on Boyd Street.  Higashi Honganji Obon visitors will receive a discounted maximum daily fee of $5.00, plus a complimentary Obon raffle ticket valued at $2.00.  In order to receive your discount voucher and raffle ticket, please bring your stub to the Raffle Booth at the entrance to our Obon Festival.PLEASE BE AWARE OF PARKING LOT CLOSING TIMES!The Medical Building parking lot closes at 10:00 P.M. and other parking lots in Little Tokyo close earlier!   

It will be alot of fun, so see you there!