2nd Annual Nikkei Community Day

The Second Annual Nikkei Community Day will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2008, in Little Tokyo's JACCC Plaza, from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Nikkei Community Day will bring together Japanese and Japanese American community groups and people scattered throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area for a one-day celebration of Japanese and Japanese American heritage, culture, and community.

This year, with the theme, "Changing Landscape: From Redress to Redevelopment to Redefinition," Nikkei Community Day will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japanese American redress bill and highlight the issues beyond redress that are now of concern to the community. In a symposium entitled "The State and Future of the Nikkie Community," community leaders and interested individuals from both the English-speaking and Japanese-speaking sectors will address the significance of the bill and its impact on the community, as well as where the community is now--with the gentrification and changing land ownership in Little Tokyo and San Francisco's Japantown--and where it is going--as Japanese American community centers consider the changes they need to make in order to survive and prosper in the future.

Community groups will share information, provide games, display crafts and sell food at booths throughout the day. Community people will display their unique cultural talents by performing on stage. Community advocates will speak at a health forum on topics to increase awareness of health issues of concern to the Nikkei community. Here's some footage of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles: