Nisei Week Japanese Festival | Los Angeles

Press Release

For immediate release

For more information:
Diane Tanaka
310-962-2698

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67th NISEI WEEK PARADE TO FEATURE JAPAN'S GRAND NEBUTA FLOAT
Incredible Illuminated Nebuta to Appear in LA for the First Time!

(Los Angeles - July 16, 2007) - The Nisei Week Foundation is excited to announce a significant addition to its 2007 Nisei Week Japanese Festival Grand Parade lineup all the way from Japan. This year spectators will be able to witness an amazing Nebuta float that measures 30 ft. (W) x 24 ft. (L) x 17 ft. (H) made out of wood, special colored paper and hundreds of lights and looks like a fierce, vibrant, Samurai warrior. The special float, which was designed and developed especially for Los Angeles, is no less genuine than the many created for the Nebuta Festival held each August in Aomori, northern Japan - with 3.5 million attendees, it is noted as the largest and one of the best parades in Japan.

Dancers in native Nebuta costumes, playing tunes on flutes and drums, accompany colorful floats pulled through the streets of Aomori every early August. Here in Los Angeles also, hundreds of lively Haneto dancers dressed in traditional costume and chanting "Rasse-Ra," taiko drummers and Japanese pipers will accompany Nebuta along the parade route.

"The 2007 Nisei Week Festival is being held one week later than usual to accommodate the Nebuta float and it is a privilege and honor for us to host it in Los Angeles," said Chester Ikei, Nebuta committee chair, Nisei Week Foundation. "For the first time on the mainland U.S. people will have the opportunity to enjoy the Nebuta float - many of whom will never have a chance again to experience it either here or in Japan - which by only experiencing it can you truly understand its magnitude."

The Nisei Week Grand Parade will begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 19 - later this year to ensure spectators can experience the full-effect of the illuminated Nebuta float. The float is best viewed in the evening, when it is dark, as the colored paper and 600-plus lights and sheer mass of the Nebuta can be fully experienced. It is anticipated that the Nebuta will start its "journey" along the route at roughly 8 p.m., the parade's final float.

The Nebuta Festival is one of Japan's largest with a rich 300-year-old history. There are many theories about the origin of the Nebuta Festival, one of which is that the Nebuta Festival is derived from the Tanabata Festival, which is widely held in Japan and celebrated on July 7 ("tanabata" means seventh evening in Japanese). The purpose is for participants to purify themselves and send evil spirits out to sea with a floating "toro nagashi." A toro nagashi is a wooden frame box wrapped with Japanese paper. A candle is lit and placed inside the toro nagashi and put out to float into the river or sea. Gradually these floats grew in size, as did the festivities, until the Nebuta floats became as large - 30-feet-wide - as they are now.

Today the Nebuta floats are made of a wood base, carefully covered with the same traditional Japanese paper, beautifully colored/drawn with typically huge Samurai warriors, and lighted from the interior with hundreds of lights so the Nebuta floats look magnificent at night.

Many Aomori citizens are involved in the building of these beautiful floats. The Nebuta designers create their designs, patterned after historical people or themes. Development of themes takes place immediately after the previous year's festival comes to a close. Consequently, it takes an entire year, first in the development, then in the construction of the Nebuta float.

To register to participate as a Haneto dancer, and for more information about the Nebuta float in Los Angeles, please log onto www.Nebuta-LA.org.

The Nisei Week Festival, the longest running ethnic festival in the U.S., has been attracting hundreds of thousands of people each year since its inception in 1934 (except during WWII from 1942 - 1948) to Little Tokyo to enjoy a Japanese American arts and cultural experience and this year Nisei Week organizers - who are all volunteers - hope to draw even more to the community.

The 2007 Nisei Week Japanese Festival takes place in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo District from August 18-26. For calendar of events and volunteer information on the 67th Nisei Week Festival, please log onto www.NiseiWeek.org or call the Nisei Week Foundation office at 213/687-7193. The Nisei Week office is located at 244 South San Pedro Street, Suite 303, Los Angeles, Calif., 90012.

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