Mar 25th 2018 O.A.
Japan Tourism Event
March 12th was the PR event of the tourism organization, JNTO at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood Highland. JNTO is an independent administrative corporation in charge of promotional activities for foreign travelers coming to Japan. According to the JNTO, 28 million foreign travelers visited Japan last year. The expenditure was a record high of 4.4 trillion yen. The Japanese government announced its goal is to welcome 40 million travelers and accomplish the expenditure of 8 trillion yen by the year 2020 for the Tokyo Olympics. They will be starting a campaign “Enjoy My Japan” in the US and promoting to the demographics that are not considering Japan as their tour destination. The JNTO LA division stated that they will be working with the Japan House that’s opening in Hollywood Highland this year, and attract customers to Japan through public elations and events.
JBA General Assembly
March 16th was the general assembly for the JBA and Asahi Gakuen ran by the JBA, as well as their reception party at the Miyako Hybrid Hotel in Torrance. The 2018 JBA executive director was announced. Satoshi Okawa of Sumitomo Corporation of America was chosen and will take office. This is his 2nd term since 2016.
Imperial New Year’s Poetry Reading
March 18th was the celebration dinner at the Miyako Hybrid Hotel in Torrance for the Utakai Hajime poetry contest. This year, Atsuko Suzuki of OC won. The Utakai Hajime is an Imperial New Year’s poetry reading that has a history of over 750 years. The Emperor visits and poetries from the same topic is read. The theme for 2018 was “Go (Word).” Suzuki wrote about how Japanese words sometime get misunderstood by the kids raised in the US, and was chosen as one of the top 10 poems out of over 20 thousand poems. Suzuki is active as an essayist and holds poetry gatherings, too. At the dinner, she talked about the Utakai Hajime and how she met the Emperor to the community representatives and her friends, as well as the members from her poetry gathering.
Onizuka Space Science Day
Saturday, March 10th was the Onizuka Space Science Day at the El Camino College in Torrance. As always, kids enthusiastic about space gathered to the event. This event is annually held by Honda. It is to honor the achievement of astronaut, Ellison Onizuka who died from the accident of the spaceship Challenger 32 years ago. NASA astronaut, Shane Kimbrough attended this year as the keynote speaker. Kimbrough stayed in space through the mission held by the ISS from 2016 to 2017 for 189 days. He spoke about his interesting experience in space and taught how to make a sandwich in space. Afterwards, the kids asked their questions to Kimbrough at the Q&A session. At the experience room after the lecture, the kids worked on what interests them and learned science while having fun.