On October 18th, 2008, we were invited to volunteer at and participate in the celebration of Kimochi Home’s 25th Anniversary of Sansei Live! at the Presidio Officers’ Club, San Francisco. We enjoyed the entertainment and seeing so many people from the Cherry Blossom Queen Program family and others! Thanks for having us!
We also appeared in AsianWeek’s ‘Asian Nights’ section: http://www.asianweek.com/2008/10/24/asian-nights-102408/
On Sunday, October 12th, 2008, we volunteered at the Japanese Chamber Of Commerce of Northern California’s Golf Tournament held at the Coyote Creek Golf Club in Morgan Hill, near San Jose. It was a great opportunity to see/meet many contributors from the Japanese community in California.
On the second day of the Aki Matsuri Fall Festival held in Japantown, San Francisco, we had the opportunity to volunteer at a few game booths (bean bag toss and ping pong throwing).
Towards the end of our service, we participated in the dancing/odori in front of the Peace Plaza pagoda with other people.
Queen Ali Kagawa attended the Oakland A’s Game Japanese American Day on September 20th, 2008.
(more info to be posted later).
On September 19th, 2008, we volunteered at the Kimochi Home’s 27th Annual Golf Tournament at the Richmond Country Club. We were honored to serve Kimochi in their great fundraiser.
The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) had its special, 35th Anniversary Celebration: “Salute to a Vision,” honoring Mr. Paul Osaki and his 20 years at JCCCNC, on 9/13/2008. This event was held at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in Union Square, San Francisco.
Surrounded by many distinguished guests, we volunteered selling sweepstakes tickets to help fundraise for JCCCNC. We enjoyed the many inspiring words presented by the speakers, as well as the performances and videos that we had the opportunity to see. In addition, meeting Ms. Kristi Yamaguchi was like a dream come true for us!
with Consul General of Japan, the Honorable Mr. Yasumasa Nagamine
with Ms. Kristi Yamaguchi, USA Olympic Gold Medalist Ice Skater
with Ms. Betty Hsu, Miss Chinatown USA, 2007
with Mr. Paul Osaki, JCCCNC
We conducted our first trash pick-up in Japantown!!!!!!!! About 90% of the trash consisted of cigarette butts, and we also found many things like dirty diapers, a shoe, and a pink t-shirt. We wish to keep Japantown a clean environment and hope to organize an even bigger trash pick-up event in the near future.
We had the opportunity to represent the Matsuyama-Sacramento Sister City Corp (MSSCC) at the California State Fair in Sacramento. We were in the parade in Corvettes! We got to see the whole fair without walking on feet! This was our third time in a parade together, but it was quite different this time without floats. We believe it was an interesting experience for everyone, as this was the first time the Northern California Cherry Blossom Court was invited. Thank you, MSSCC! This was a great way to further outreach outside of the Bay Area, as Sacramento is inclusive of Northern California.
Los Angeles was our second Royal JA Sister City trip destination where we visited the 68th Annual Nisei Week Japanese Festival in Little Tokyo. We made connections with the Japanese American community in Southern California by learning and observing both differences and similarities between our Japantown and Little Tokyo.
After our visit to Old Pasadena, we were warmly welcomed by the Nisei Week Hospitality Committee members in Little Tokyo. It was great seeing our friends from Seattle, Hawai’i, and LA.
The next day, on Saturday the 16th, we visited the Japanese American National Museum where we were all touched by the great importance of our heritage.
We also attended a lunch with our representatives from our sponsor, Union Bank of California.
Later that evening, we attended the grand dinner and coronation of the 2008 Nisei Week Japanese Festival Queen Pageant. At the dinner, we met many distinguished guests from such locations as the city of Nagoya, Japan, the Sister City of Los Angeles. We also got to meet the MCs of the special night: Ms. Tamlyn Tomita and Mr. David Ono.
This was taken prior to the Nisei Week Parade on the 17th (2008 Nisei Week Court included):
This was our second time on a float in a parade and it reminded us of our own Grand Parade back in April. We were able to see more of Little Tokyo and the visiting people who waved back at us with smiling faces.
The next day, we spent the whole day at Disneyland and California Adventures in Anaheim. The fun continues!
Having dinner right by Disneyland and spending the rest of the night riding fun rides in Disneyland was an awesome way to end our second trip. We miss everyone so much and are very grateful for everyone’s love, support, and efforts in making this trip also memorable.
MAHALO! ALOHA! …Until we meet again in Hawai’i! 
Congratulations to the new 2008 Nisei Week Queen & Court! For more info on the Nisei Week Japanese Festival, please visit: http://www.niseiweek.org/
It was a warm day in San Francisco’s Japantown- a great day to volunteer at the Nihonmachi Street Fair!
