Vroman’s in Pasadena hosted a launch party for author Naomi Hirahara and her new book, Blood Hina, on March 3, 2010. The event was held on Hinamatsuri, Japanese Girls’ Day, as a tie-in to the story. Here’s a description from the Vroman’s website:
Blood Hina is the fourth installment of Naomi Hirahara’s highly acclaimed “Mas Arai” mystery series, which also include Summer of the Big Bachi, Gasa-Gasa Girl, and Snakeskin Shamisen. Mas’ best friend Haruo is getting married, and prickly, stubborn Mas has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But then an ancient Japanese doll display of Haruo’s fiancee goes missing, and the wedding is called off with fingers pointed at Haruo. To clear his friend’s name, Mas must first uncover a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.
Listen as Naomi reads an excerpt from the beginning of the novel:
Additional book signings with Naomi Hirahara this month:
Saturday, March 6 , 2010, 11 AM – 5 PM
2:30 PM Naomi reads from Blood Hina JAHSSC Authors/Artists Faire
Katy Geissert Civic Center Library, Community Meeting Room
3301 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA
(map)
Thursday, March 11 – Sunday, March 14 , 2010 Left Coast Crime
Omni Hotel
251 South Olive St., Los Angeles, CA
(map)
Note: This convention is for registrants only. Naomi conducts a Flower Mart Walking Tour, interviews Barry Eisler, and participates on panels for the LA Noir Two-Launch and Novels for the Young Adult.
Saturday, March 20 , 2010, 2 PM Book’em Mysteries
1118 Mission St. , South Pasadena, CA
(map)
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 5 PM
Akashic Noir anthology series event: Los Angeles Noir 2 Skylight Books
1818 N. Vermont Ave. , Los Angeles, CA
(map)
Today, the LA Weekly released Mr. Jonathan Gold’s awesome article “99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die.” Several dishes at Japanese restaurants around Los Angeles, including Urawasa, Matsuhisa, Wa Sushi, Kiroko, and Kiyokawa, made the list, woo! I recently created a Yelp account, and I just found out I can only make lists out of the places I’ve already reviewed on Yelp. Eh? Why can’t I create a list of the places I dream of going to, Yelp? Like everything on Gold’s list?
So forget Yelp. Or at least its listing feature. Here’s a list of everything on Gold’s 99 before you die list with corresponding links to Yelp, so you can more easily access maps and additional reviews about these eats. Enjoy!
The first time I saw the snappy trailer for White on Rice, I knew I had to see it. It simply made me laugh, and I couldn’t think of any other feature-length comedy that centers around Japanese American characters.
The line was crawling down the block when I went to a preview screening hosted by Visual Communications on September 9, 2009, at the Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. While I was in line, the director/co-screenwriter, Dave Boyle, walked over, cradling a big plastic bag of something blue. It turned out to be a pile of White on Rice ballpoint pens, and he and the lead actor, Hiroshi Watanabe, were passing out swag and chatting it up with fans.
When the movie opened later that week, it seemed to me like all the press focused on Dave and Hiroshi, as well as supporting actors, James Kyson Lee and Lynn Chen. I thought it was a bit of a shame that little attention was paid to Mio Takada who plays the main character’s brother-in-law, Tak.
Jimmy is that main character, and no way did I root for him because he’s a total stalker. But Tak? Now that’s the guy I rooted for because he straight up always wanted Jimmy to get the hell out of his house. He’s like the best korokke, stern and crunchy on the outside but a big warm softy on the inside. Some of the best bits in the film show how Tak tries to close up the growing distance between himself and his wife and young son.
During the question and answer session after the preview screening, I learned that Mio pulled all this off while dealing with medical issues, and he had a heart AND kidney transplant 14 months after the shoot ended. Say what? Major!
The q&a session also showed that Dave is a pretty funny guy, and he and Hiroshi seem to have a nice working relationship. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Dave’s work, especially since it looks like he’ll always have cameos by this hilarious actor named Pepe Serna. The video below mentions a silly scene in Dave’s previous film with Pepe, Big Dreams Little Tokyo, which you can see here.
Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra had an exhibit called “Sweet Streets: Art Inspired by Japanese Street Fashion” that opened on August 29, 2009. I think it did a good job of addressing questions like “What if someone from that FRUiTS book you flipped through a few years ago at Urban Outfitters just leapt out of a photo and onto a canvas?”
The opening was attended by Harajuku fans and models, with standouts dressed in the lolita fashion style. I dressed up … err … undercover-style, using a Mieko Mintz scarf made out of vintage kimono fabric as a belt. The refreshments at the event were dangerously good. So dangerous that I found myself acting like a straw-chewing farmer with a strawberry Pocky sticking out of the side of my mouth, camcorder in one hand, the other hand trying to steady it with the rim of a cup of plum-flavored sake.
Back on August 14, 2009, I went to the opening ceremony of the Tanabata Festival in Little Tokyo, one of the kick-off events for this year’s Nisei Week. I felt such solidarity with my people … the unemployed. I mean, how were so many other folks able to find parking in downtown and grab a seat by five o’clock on a Friday afternoon? Either they had free time being laid-off like me, or they were really excited about the first annual Tanabata Festival happening in Los Angeles. Or both. The place was packed!
Tanabata festivals are based on a folk tale about the weaver princess star named Orihime and the cow herder star, Hikoboshi, who fell in love and became so lost in their love for each other that they totally neglected their duties. Orihime’s father, the sky king, was like “Dang, you lazy kids!” and banished them to opposite sides of the Milky Way. Orihime was heartbroken and asked her father if she and Hikoboshi could ever be together again. He granted her wish by allowing them to reunite just once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month, the festival day.
The festival is celebrated by displaying a few types of symbolic paper decorations. Hanging in front of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, most of the festival decorations were the fukinagashi type with long streamers swaying in the breeze representing Orihime’s weaving threads. 230 decorations were painstakingly handmade by community members, including participation from all of the local kenjinkai, the Japanese prefectural associations. There were also ten giant decorations from Sendai, Japan, the city with the most famous annual Tanabata Festival.
The tanabata decorations were like a school of candy-colored jellyfish swimming up to the ocean in the sky. Just looking at details such as folded paper flowers, cranes, and chain links made my fingers ache. There was one with “LA” in big blue letters for the Dodgers, and one had a painting of a flaming guitar. Rock on!
I didn’t remember all this tanabata stuff from the days of going to Japanese school, but yay for this festival because now it’s ingrained in my head that when it’s summer and the L.A. Tanabata Festival rolls around, that’s when wishes come true.