{"id":19996,"date":"2023-02-12T20:00:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/?post_type=socaljapan&#038;p=19996"},"modified":"2023-02-08T02:21:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T10:21:17","slug":"2023-02-12","status":"publish","type":"socaljapan","link":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/socaljapan\/2023-02-12\/","title":{"rendered":"February 12th 2023 O.A."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p><\/p>\n<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"> February 12th 2023 O.A.<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OOZHPBaIcSY\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2>JBA New Year\u2019s Party 2023<\/h2>\n<p>Japan Business Association of Southern California had their New Year\u2019s Party in Torrance on January 20th.<\/p>\n<p>JBA is a nonprofit organization with about 500 Japanese companies that are doing business in SoCal as their members.<br \/>\nTheir goal is for mutual understanding between US-Japan businesses and contributing to local communities.<\/p>\n<p>The New Year\u2019s Party was an annual event where members were able to socialize, but it happened for the first time in 3 years due to the impact of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>In their speeches, President Kobayashi and invited guests celebrated the event coming back in-person, and how businesses are much smoother now that COVID-related restrictions have easen up in the US.<\/p>\n<p>Consul General Kenko Sone also talked about having high hopes for US-Japan economic activities, as well as how Japanese companies can uniquely approach the water shortage and homeless issues that LA is currently facing.<\/p>\n<p>After the toast, about 500 attendees enjoyed their Japanese New Year\u2019s dish prepared by Ise-Shima Restaurant in Torrance.<br \/>\nThey exchanged their New Year\u2019s greeting along with their business cards.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s theme for the New Year\u2019s party is \u201cRestart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The event concluded with their annual raffle, and winners won prizes like a roundtrip ticket to Japan or a gift card that covers gasoline money for the entire year.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2>OAA New Year\u2019s Party<\/h2>\n<p>The New Year\u2019s Party for the Okinawa Association of America and its inauguration ceremony happened on January 15th at Carson.<\/p>\n<p>OAA is a nonprofit organization with a rich history of over 110 years.<br \/>\nTheir mission is to connect their members together and helping each other through contributing to the community.<\/p>\n<p>They also focus on spreading Okinawan culture in the US as well as entertainment. In-person event happened for the first time in 3 years.<br \/>\nTraditional Okinawan music and dance started off the New Year\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Newly appointed board members took their oath at the event, and Edward Kamiya will continue to work as the president. It will be his 7th year.<\/p>\n<p>Sake Barrel Ceremony took place after the guests stated their greetings.<br \/>\nMany Okinawan dances and songs were performed on stage as members enjoyed their meal.<\/p>\n<p>About 250 people attended the event and celebrated the New Years together as a large group for the first time in very long time.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2>Mitsuwa Northridge Store Grand Open<\/h2>\n<p>A grand opening ceremony for Mitsuwa Marketplace Northridge was held on January 21st for their new Northridge location.<\/p>\n<p>Mitsuwa Marketplace is the largest Japanese grocery chain in the US that is open nationwide. Northridge is their 12th location.<\/p>\n<p>Mitsuwa\u2019s parent company, Kamei Corporation\u2019s Director and Senior Adviser, Junichi Kamei, LA City Council member, John Lee, and Consul General Kenko Sone attended the ceremony.<br \/>\nMany are hoping that Mitsuwa will help spread Japanese culture in the Valley area.<\/p>\n<p>The doors opened after the Sake Barrel Ceremony with the invited guests. Customers that waited in long lines enjoyed their grocery shopping.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] February 12th 2023 O.A. [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text] JBA New Year\u2019s Party 2023 Japan Business Association of Southern California had their New Year\u2019s Party in Torrance on January 20th. JBA is a nonprofit organization with about 500 Japanese companies that are doing business in SoCal as their members. Their goal is for mutual understanding between <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/socaljapan\/2023-02-12\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":19998,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"socaljapan_category":[301],"socaljapan_tag":[],"class_list":["post-19996","socaljapan","type-socaljapan","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","socaljapan_category-2023-02-february"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/socaljapan\/19996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/socaljapan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/socaljapan"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/socaljapan\/19996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19997,"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/socaljapan\/19996\/revisions\/19997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"socaljapan_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/socaljapan_category?post=19996"},{"taxonomy":"socaljapan_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jhollywoodnet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/socaljapan_tag?post=19996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}