Global Stage Hollywood 2024

From Friday, November 1, the “Global Stage Hollywood” film festival was held in Hollywood over three days.

This event, now in its sixth year, introduces a variety of Japanese content to the U.S., with a focus on film. This year, works from Canada and Taiwan were also featured, fostering interaction between Japanese representatives and other participants.

This year’s opening film was the Japanese movie Six Singing Women.
It is a surreal suspense film about two men who wander into a mysterious village deep in the forest, inhabited by six peculiar women. Director Yoshimasa Ishibashi and actress Asami Mizukawa traveled from Japan to attend the festival and participated in a Q&A session after the screening.

During the festival, in addition to film screenings, an event was held to promote Kyushu as a location for film shoots. Representatives from Kyushu attended the event, along with Kengo Oishi, the Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture, who was visiting Los Angeles.

In addition, at the film festival, many works were screened, including feature films, short films, documentaries, and animations, including world premieres.

Community Health Fair

On Sunday, October 26, the Community Health Fair was held at the Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center in Little Tokyo.

This event offered free health consultations for the Japanese American community and was organized in collaboration with Koreisha Senior Care & Advocacy (KSCA) and the Japanese American Medical Association (JAMA).

The fair featured 25 specialists, including those in internal medicine, surgery, orthopedics, gastroenterology, dermatology, clinical psychology, and chiropractic care.
Each specialist provided careful consultations in Japanese or through Japanese interpreters for the participants.

Additionally, blood tests and prostate exams were offered to those who wished, for a fee.

This Health Fair originally started in 1971 as an event by the Taisho Club, an association of hobbies, and had been held for many years as an opportunity for health consultations in Japanese.
However, due to the aging of its members, the event was discontinued.
It was resumed last year by KKSCA and others.

KSCA and JAMA have expressed their intention to continue this event annually in the future.