Favorite Japanese Expressions Make an Origami Sumo Wrestler
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Free shuttle from the Festival in front of City Hall to Langley Senior Center and Mark Keppel High School. The City of Monterey Park C h e r r y B l o s s o m Fe s t i v a l 19th Anniversary CHERRY BLOSSOM Welcome! FESTIVAL COMMITTEE Chairperson: The 2016 Cherry Blossom Festival Committee would like to welcome you to Karen Ogawa Performance: this year’s Festival. The Cherry Blossom Festival has a long history of being David Ikeda held in Monterey Park since the early 1970s. Discontinued shortly after, the Gary Kanemoto Cherry Blossom Festival was resurrected by a group of community volunteers Guy Higashi in 1997. Their efforts were realized through the successful reestablishment of Lila Leong-Iizumi the Cherry Blossom Festival in April 1998. Exhibits & Demonstrations: Colleen Ishibashi Sandy Hidalgo The Festival which is held every Spring in April coincides with the National Craft, Commercial & Community Annual Festival held in Washington, DC to celebrate the 1912 gift to our Booths (Marketplace): Nation’s capital of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Ozaki of Tokyo. Gwen Kishida Food Court: Organized completely by community volunteers, the Festival’s goal is to Karen Ogawa Kids’ Crafts: showcase the Japanese culture through a number of exhibits, demonstrations Carli Ohara and traditional performances all at no cost to the public. Donations & Sponsorships/ Publicity and Marketing: Our thanks to everyone who participates in and supports this community event. Lorran Yano Karen Ogawa Sincerely, David Ikeda The 2016 Cherry Blossom Festival Committee Cindy Kuranushi Poster Design: Kurt Ogawa Program: Gwen Kishida Special Thanks: Volunteers & Information: Margaret Endo The Cherry Blossom Festival Committee wishes to express its gratitude to Kurt Ogawa Executive Committee Members for designing the poster/program cover for the festival for so many years. His dedication, Agnes Arakawa effort and creativity have produced colorful, evocative and eye-catching designs that have garnered much positive attention for the festival. Thank you Kurt! Peggy Shindo Shihoko Tatsugawa Vickie Sill-Ohashi Support the Festival! Special thanks to the City of Please stop by the information booth to purchase a raffle ticket for $2.00 each. All proceeds Monterey Park staff, especially Recreation Superintendent will go to fund next year’s festival and you may win a great prize donated by our sponsors. Robert Aguirre and Recreation Prizes include a Grand Prize of $1,000 and restaurant, salon and car wash gift certificates. Senior Clerk Typist Cristina Drawing will be held on Sunday, April 17th. Winner need not be present. Castillo FESTIVAL SPECIAL GUESTS HARRY H. HORINOUCHI The Honorable Harry H. Horinouchi, 56, is the newly appointed consul general of Japan in Los Angeles. He arrived in Los Angeles on August 7. Consul General Horinouchi was born on November 12, 1957 and graduated in 1980 from Tokyo University Faculty of Law, the same year he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). He studied overseas at Nanjing University in China in the Faculty of Chinese Language and Literature, and at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science. Prior to his posting in Los Angeles, Consul General Horinouchi served from 2011 to 2014 as the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Japan in Beijing. His postings include minister at the Embassy of Japan in Beijing (2010-2011); deputy director-general of MOFA’s International Legal Affairs Bureau (2009-2010); and director of the China and Mongolia Division, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, MOFA. An academic, Consul General Horinouchi has published several major papers and was a lecturer at the Graduate School of Law at Waseda University in Tokyo from 2000 to 2002. RODNEY KAGEYAMA An accomplished actor, Rodney has appeared in films such as “The Next Karate Kid”, “Pretty Woman” and on television shows such as “Home Improvement”, “Quantum Leap”, “Married with Children” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” We are honored to have him join us for another year as our Festival’s emcee. SHIN ITO Shin is a long-time supporter of the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival. We are happy to have him back again this year. PHYLLIS CHANG Phyllis Chang is a Korean American singer/songwriter from Los Angeles. She is best known for her “smooth-jazzy” vocal sound. She began performing for the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom festival over ten years ago. Her earliest performances were “Pinky Paws” sing-along songs for children and the “Young at Heart.” With hand gestures, puppets and musical props, children and adults would sing-along and dance-along with her on stage. Over the festival years, Phyllis has also performed her contemporary pop/jazz music with her band on the main stage. Phyllis received her MA from USC in Art History/Museum Studies and her BA in art from CSULA. With a background and passion for art and music, she ventured off to write and perform music and freelance in the art field. In 1995, Phyllis started Pinky Paws Productions as an indie label music production studio. Since then she has recorded and produced six CDs of children and contemporary pop/jazz songs. Later in 2006, Phyllis founded Be Studios Enhancing Wellness Through Creativity and offers workshops and events to enhance healing and wellness through art and music. Currently Phyllis is writing songs for her next CD release. www.phyllischangmusic.com USA SUMO WITH SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY YAMA USA Sumo has produced several hundred live sumo events, worldwide, with numerous World Sumo Champions. We also host the US Sumo Open, the largest annual sumo competition on the planet (outside of Japan) since 2001. The 16th annual US Sumo Open will be on Saturday, May 21 at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California. At the Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival, USA Sumo is happy to produce a rare sumo demonstration with special guest Yama, 6'4" and the heaviest Japanese human being in recorded history at 600 pounds. Yama competed for years in the top division of Japanese Pro Sumo (fighting name “Yamamotoyama”), and had previously won multiple World Sumo Champion titles. Yama will be exhibiting sumo with Takeshi, 5'8", 220 pounds, multi-time University Sumo Champion. Both are alumni of Nihon University, the perennial #1 sumo program in Japan. These Japanese Champions will be joined on stage by some of their American sumo trainees. For more information on USA Sumo and Yama, visit www.usasumo.com. FESTIVAL SPECIAL PERFORMERS JUNE KURAMOTO June Kuramoto (born in Japan but raised in Los Angeles) has been playing okoto almost her entire life with the remarkable Kazue Kudo Sensei receiving her ‘natori’ (classical degrees of koto) authorized by the Miyagi School of Koto in Tokyo, Japan. Her love for the koto grew into a dream of playing with contemporary western instrumentation with a hope of sharing this beautiful instrument with a wider audience. She, too, is one of the principals of the group Hiroshima, a songwriter and producer. Her heart is always with children, Mother Earth and dignity of all human beings. She has three solo CDs, “Spirit and Soul”, “The Way of Tea” (with Derek Nakamoto) and “Under the Stars”. She is forever grateful for the support from her wonderful fans, the Hiroshima family, her friends & family, and the multitude of communities. KIMO CORNWELL Kimo (Hawaiian for James) Cornwell was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Blessed with the love of music, he began his classical studies at the age of 8, and that continued for 6-1/2 years. He is renowned as one of the best keyboard players from the islands. His many credits include performing and/or recording with such artists as Al Jarreau, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Ronnie Laws, John Klemmer, Cheryl Lynn, Rick Springfield, Julio Iglesias, Howard Hewitt, Shari Belafonte, Hubert Laws, Peter White, Charo, Michael Paulo, Pauline Wilson (Seawind), Don Ho, and Kalapana. Kimo has also been involved with writing and performing music for several TV movies, cooking shows, and documentaries. He has been one of the principals and heart and soul of the Los Angeles-based group Hiroshima as keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer. June and Kimo are both extremely honored to again be part of Monterey Park’s Cherry Blossom Festival. Joining June and Kimo is long-time Hiroshima bandmate Dean Cortez. LOCAL MOJO LOCAL MOJO is a band of professional Los Angeles freelance musicians with the goal of performing great dance music of the past from artists such as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chi- cago, Tower of Power, Motown etc. LOCAL MOJO is one of the most versatile performing acts around with an emphasis on "Old School" Rhythm & Blues / Motown Dance Music - with a twist of Jazz! If you love to dance to old school R & B and SOUL, then LOCAL MOJO is defi- nitely the band for you! KOKORO In Japanese, “kokoro” is used to signify “heart” or “soul”. In music, the drums keep the beat, or the “heart” of the music. The keyboards, bass and guitar represent the body of the music, and the vocals embody the “soul”. The band Kokoro is a music group consisting of almost all Asian-Americans, and covers music from Motown to country, rock and pop; from the hits of the 60’s to current Billboard chart toppers. Though Kokoro has only been together a short time, individually the members of Kokoro have had the good fortune to work with many celebrities in the industry, including Gladys Knight, Jessica Simpson, Hi- roshima, and Gene Simmons, to name a few. Additionally, throughout their own individual careers, they have played high-level venues such as the Palladium, the Sunset Strip, the Fla- mingo Hilton Las Vegas and the American Music Awards.