75th annual nisei week festival | los angeles, california

after we were officially announced as nisei week queen candidates, we still had a few more events, trainings, and dance rehearsals to attend before our big night, coronation. dress rehearsal the day before seemed so surreal, in less than 24 hours the theater would be filled with hundreds of people and only one of us would be crowned as the nisei week queen.

jao -- one of our last events before nisei week

night before coronation at dress rehearsal

i could barely sleep that night because i was so worried i would drop my fans during odori, forget a line in my speech, fall down the steps for modern dance, and choke on my q&a. the next morning we checked in at the doubletree hotel and headed to the aratani theatre to prepare for our interviews with the judges. surprisingly, i wasn’t that nervous to meet the judges considering it was the first time i met them. we spend 5 minutes with each of six judges where they can ask us anything and get to know us better. during this time, we also voted for miss tomodachi. after our interview, we had to start getting dressed in kimono for coronation.

this year for the odori and speech portion, each of us wore a past nisei week queen’s furisode.  i was fortunate enough to wear my friend and former miss geo 2013, lauren’s, furisode which was a beautiful white and purple. once we were all dressed, it was time for the big event. just before our performance, our odori sensei's younger group did a dance, which directly flowed into our performance. i was so nervous, but as i walked out on stage, the loud cheers helped calm my nerves and i couldn’t help but crack a smile. i completed the dance without dropping my fans! after, we were all swept away in a sound proof room while each of girls gave their speech.

just before we went on stage to perform our odori dance!

we began working on our speeches back in may and i knew immediately what i wanted to talk about, but i was nervous to share my story. in my two minute speech, i talked about being adopted from japan by a loving, japanese-american family and growing up in the japanese-american community. while i was in college, i studied abroad in tokyo for a year where i learned about my roots first-hand and got a glimpse on what my life could have been like if i had never been adopted. this was the first time i openly shared my story and i couldn’t be happier to have been given the opportunity to tell my story on stage in front of my friends, family, and community. 

right after i gave my speech. photo courtesy of john fujinami

after our speeches, we had to immediately change out of furisode and into our modern dance costume. little did the audience know what would be in store. as we stood behind the large screen, images from the first years on nisei week played and as the screen rose, we began performing to “sparkling diamonds” from moulin rouge. immediately after our dance, nsu modern from ucla performed to “they don’t care about us” by michael jackson with images of japanese-americans going to internment camps played in the background. then, sarah from the 2012 nisei week court danced a beautiful number which portrayed the rebuilding of the ja community and nisei week following the war. the last part of the performance was in celebration of the last 75 years — photos from 1950 displayed in the background, all the performers, and special guests from the nisei week board performed to “celebrate” by pitbull. it was fun practicing with everyone and see the number all together! it was definitely a performance to remember. it was worth all the hours of practice to heard everyone in the audience cheering for us.

one of the last poses for our modern dance. photo courtesy of john fujinami

final pose of the dance with everyone! photo courtesy of john fujinami

once the celebration was over, it was time to change into evening gown. we each took a solo walk on stage before heading back to the sound proof room during the question and answer portion of the night. the emcees, tamlyn tomita and david ono, start off the question and answer portion by first asking a funny question then the serious question. my funny question was from david, “which alien do you think should play tamlyn? e.t., chewbacca, or alf?” i replied back, “i would have to choose the last one because I have no idea who that is.” i think i got a few laughs with that one. i can’t quite remember the serious question in full, but they basically asked what will be my generation’s legacy? i replied back saying our legacy would be to continue sharing our stories and the stories of the nisei; with many of the nisei passing away, it is our duty to give back to the community they worked hard to build for us. i ended my answer my challenging everyone to share their stories and to give back to the community. as i was walking back to the sound proof room, i couldn’t help but feel relieved that it was over. i didn’t drop my fans during odori, forget a line in my speech, fall down the steps for modern dance, and choke on my q&a. all we had left to do was the final glimpse before the queen, first princess, miss tomodachi, and princesses would be announced.

my walk in evening gown. photo courtesy of john fujinami

the first person to be announced was our miss tomodachi, karen mizoguchi! next was the first princess, veronica ota! last, but certainly not least, was the queen, sara hutter! michelle hanabusa, kelsey kwong, tamara teragawa and i were selected as princesses. i’m so honored to be part of this court and i know it will be a great year with all of them. coronation was just the beginning! we couldn't celebrate for too long following coronation since the following morning we had to be up bright and early for our first visitation as a court.

one of our first photos as a court! photo courtesy of john fujinami

the next morning we had to be ready by 9:30 a.m. for our first visitation to japanese american veterans memorial court where we met some japanese american veterans including hiroshi miyamura who received the medal of honor. we also got to briefly learn some history and meet the other courts from san francisco and hawaii. after, we viewed some of the exhibitions at the jaccc. we ate lunch at st. francis xavier church with the other courts, hospitality communities, past nisei week court, and their families. we couldn't stay the whole time and went straight to the tanabata festival at geffen moca and the queen's reunion at janm. then we had to head back to the hotel to change in kimono for the parade. luckily for us, the parade was a little later this year for the nebuta float. we were pretty early on in the parade so after we were done, we changed out of kimono at the hotel, then went back to see the nebuta float. it was even more amazing to see in person than in the photos! hundreds of people were dancing in front of the float and about 20 guys were pushing it along the street. after the parade, we ate in n out in the hotel with the visiting courts -- it was so fun getting to know them better.

photo with the other courts, la county major, nisei week president, consulate general, and supervisor solis. photo courtesy of john fujinami

on a float! photo courtesy of john fujinami 

the nebuta float! photo courtesy of john fujinami

monday morning we officially started our visitations to our sponsors in little tokyo after we ate breakfast with our president. we started the morning with california bank & trust, union bank, rafu bussan, and miki seki before we headed to lunch at little tokyo nutritional services in little tokyo towers. the little tokyo nutritional services makes lunch for senior citizens for $2.50 and if you're not a senior citizen then you can pay $5 and they also deliver meals. we each sat a different table and i met this woman from japan who adopted her daughter in japan and i told her my story and she said, "it doesn't matter if you are born from your mother or adopted. it's about the connection." she really touched my heart. i hope to visit her again. after lunch we visited the japanese village plaza, little tokyo cosmetics, bunka-do, pacific commerce bank, and kyoto drug company. after our visitations we went to the awards dinner, which honored our sponsors, parade marshals, etc.

breakfast with terry :)

california bank & trust

union bank 

rafu bussan

miki seki -- where our matsuri necklaces are from!

little tokyo nutrional services lunch

little tokyo cosmetics 

bun-ka do 

pacific commerce bank -- the man in the middle's mother was the first nisei week queen!

kyoto pharmacy

on tuesday we visited the los angeles county board of supervisors, took a tour of city hall, met the manager of the japanese village plaza, made cranes at the jaccc, ate ayce sushi at sushi gen, had dessert at frances bakery, visited j. morey insurance, miyako hotel, and s.k. uyeda. we ended the night attending kizuna's youth can culmination where we heard about some of the projects kizuna participants did this summer. it's so amazing to meet such a wide array of people from government officials to high school students, all whom have a common goal of bettering little tokyo and the greater community.

received beautifully hand-painted certificates from los angeles county

rang the bell at city hall!

japanese village plaza

taught sara how to fold a crane :)

one of the best meals i've ever had

with the sushi chefs!

frances bakery -- really yummy desserts!

j. morey insurance -- it was cool to hear about the company's history

miyako hotel! 

s.k. uyeda! -- one of the first japanese american stores to reopen after the war

wednesday we had to be up extra early again to go to the southern california flower mart a.k.a. the actual original flower mart, pioneer luncheon, and rafu shimpo. for dinner we ate with our parents at oiwake where we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company -- they also got to take home a lot of things for us! i remember visiting the flower mart when i was in middle school for camp musubi, so when it came time for them to show us the mongoose, it immediately brought back memories. if you don't know what i'm talking about then i highly recommend taking a tour! the pioneer luncheon honored influential japanese americans in the community. unfortunately, the lunch was cut short due to an emergency evacuation from a "suspicious package," which just ended up being a duffel of clothes. at rafu we learned about their history and also got a tour of their facility. it was so refreshing to be able to see my parents for the half way mark of the week and it was even more fun seeing how well all of our parents get along -- i know they will all have a great time in japan together!

beautiful flowers

with scott from the flower market

thursday was one of our more chill days. we spent the morning at the los angeles police academy with our president and deputy chief, terry. since the academy is under construction, we didn't really get to see much. although, i did see my second cousin there, which i was not expecting at all! we also got to shoot some fake guns during a simulation. after the academy, we headed to lunch to jack n the box before our two visitations to mutual trading company and umeya rice cake company. after our visitations, we were able to rest at the hotel for a bit before we did a "patrol" of little tokyo with brian kito and little tokyo safety patrol. we even got to eat some mochi from fugetsu-do! we ended the night with dinner at suehiro.

watch out

pretending to break a sake barrel

owner of umeya rice cake company

in front of the koban

one of the oldest shops in little tokyo!

a classic 

uh oh, hope terry doesn't see this photo!

friday -- we're in the final stretch! we started our day with breakfast at mitsuru grill before we headed for a tour at the japanese american national museum and hal taught us how to do some taiko! after our taiko lesson we headed just down the street to east west players and visual communications. the coolest part was getting to hold a real life oscar! then we had cafe dulce for lunch -- they have the best salads in LT! after lunch we headed back to jaccc and took a tour of the building and also visited some of their tenants -- kizuna and a3m. we ended the night with a get together at our queen chair's house.

breakfast time!

we love hal!!

it was heavy!

east west players

visual communications

lunch time!

shizu

LTSC

terry got us personalized happi coats!

jaccc japanese garden

a3m!

kizuna

the crowds were back saturday morning for the last weekend of nisei week. we headed back to the jaccc and visited the vendors and practiced some calligraphy. after was the gyoza eating contest which we will be participating in next year! matt stony who's also half japanese took the title this year! after the contest we visited a couple of the keiro senior living homes where we sang songs and handed out flowers to the residents.

sashiko

writing sora :)

matt stony!

keiro boyle heights

sunday -- the last day of nisei week! we started the day by eating lunch at al & bea's where i had a huge burrito all to myself. after, we had to start heading to the closing ceremony, but before that, we had some mochi ice cream and shaved ice from mikawaya. the closing ceremony consisted of two rounds of bon odori dancing and some performances.

best burritos!

a must see in LT

dancing in front of my work :)

the end

i can't believe nisei week was over a month ago and we'll be traveling to japan in less than 2 weeks! the week in little tokyo was a once in a lifetime experience and i had the best time with all the girls. i know we're going to have an amazing time in japan! if this coming year is going to be anything like nisei week then it is going to go by so fast and i'm going to enjoy every second of it!

xoxo,
camryn