July 9th 2023 O.A.
Anime Expo 2023
Anime Expo LA was held for 4 days from Saturday, July 1st through Wednesday, July 4th at the LA Convention Center.
Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in North America held by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation.
This year is their 32nd time with over 350 companies and vendors, and more than 500 artists participating.
Latest news of the newest series and exclusive goods were available.
Fans dressed in their favorite characters and went on a scavenger hunt to find that one special item they were looking for.
Booths promoting Japanese culture were also there.
The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) participated for the first time selling goods and food unrelated to anime.
Customers made purchases via the Japan Store Amazon shop.
JETRO showcased the appeal of various aspects of Japanese culture beyond anime.
Special guests from all over the world attend every year.
This year, all eyes were on illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.
Amano started his career as a character designer.
He later became an illustrator and worked on many projects.
He is most known for designing the characters of “Final Fantasy” series, a popular game and has fans all over the world.
2 projects were announced at the panel discussion that Amano attended.
First one is a Greek mythology themed grand-scale artwork larger than 100 meters in size.
The entire process will be shown as a documentary.
The second project is the production of his animation movie, “ZAN”.
This movie is based on Amano’s “DEVA ZAN” which consists of more than 300 pieces that he made.
ZAN is a samurai spending his day in endless warfare.
One day, he is guided into another world by a mysterious girl and fights in a battle of light and dark as he searches for who he really is.
The illustrations were made into an artbook and sold in the US in 2013.
“Greek Mythology Project” will be released 2024 onward and “ZAN” will be released in 2025 onward.
Musician YOSHIKI attended the panel as a surprise guest.
This was made possible because Amano worked on the artwork for YOSHIKI’s newest song and surprised everyone who was there.
The four day event sold out every day, and more than 100,000 people attended this year’s Anime Expo.
Sakura Gardens’ Annual Residents Picnic
Friday, June 2nd was the Sakura Gardens’ Annual Residents Picnic, an event of a retirement home in Boyle Heights.
This is an annual event held for the residents of Sakura Gardens.
Staff and volunteers work together so residents can enjoy a picnic-like atmosphere.
There was entertainment on stage after lunch. It started with a group of residents performing their ukulele.
Then, Kotobuki no kai Minyo Group performed their Japanese dance.
Lastly, everyone exercised along with the radio calisthenics.
The event ended with the annual raffle, and 100 residents had a great time.