May 28th 2023 O.A.
LALALA Matsuri with Ramen Yokocho
Saturday, May 14th was the “LALALA Matsuri with Ramen Yokocho” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Japanese free magazine/newspaper, Weekly LALALA.
Weekly LALALA is a free magazine that was established in 2003.
It introduces LA gourmet and entertainment as well as news information. May 14th was the day that they printed their 1,000th volume of the magazine.
Throughout the years, they have hosted many talking, concert, and food events as well.
Long lines were formed at the venue.
60 different booths participated from food, liquor, goods, games, and businesses.
At the area that was called “Ramen Yokocho”, 12 different ramen shops not only from LA but also from OC, Las Vegas, and even Japan served their noodles.
Special menu exclusive to this event were served and became one of the main attraction.
Various performances were done on stage and liven up the entire day.
After the Pom Pom Girls, a cheerleading group based in Torrance performed, their members that range from kindergarten to 8th grade gave flowers to their mothers as a Mother’s Day gift.
“Crossing Rain”, a musical group from Hawaii and “Chiken Blow The Idol”, a Japanese idol group also performed and met with their fans afterwards.
Terry Ito, a Japanese commentator who has his own column on Weekly LALALA also came from Japan to participate in this event, and the audience enjoyed listening to him talk.
Singer, Kenichi Mikawa also participated as guest.
He performed a total of 7 songs. 6 of his iconic songs including the famous “Sasoriza no Onna” and 1 chanson number which is his lifework.
Mikawa will celebrate his 60th year as a singer himself next year.
About 10 thousand people came to the event and celebrated LALALA’s 20th anniversary in a festive mood.
JFC Sake Expo
Saturday, May 13th was the JFC Sake Expo in Costa Mesa.
It is an event held by JFC International, an Asian food and beverage supplier.
The event is held aiming to expand the Japanese food market in North America.
It was an annual event where it introduced Japanese foods and sake to food businesses however, this is the first time in 3 years due to the impact of COVID.
The main focus was sake this time.
29 Japanese breweries, 6 American breweries, and 6 Japanese food manufacturers participated and promoted their products to businesses with liquor lisence that were invited to the event.
The same event was held in Hollywood on May 15th. A total of 500 food industry related individuals attended and deepened their knowledge in Japanese sake.