Whew, I was practically there all day (Noon-7:00PM) and there was a ton of stuff to see...

The Taiko exhibition was awesome and was the parade was pretty damn good as well... If it weren't for the intermittent breeze, it would been a lot hotter than the predicted 91F...

The street fair was only so-so...

Wow, after checking out the parade, I thought last year's queen and court (which I missed) was better than this years... But at least I got to see last year's... Wow...

The Taiko exhibition will be repeated next Sunday (8/17, noon - 4PM) and there's an anime exhibition (8/17) next week... I might be there again.

I'm going on Sunday for the anime/video game exhibition. There are several anime events that take place in Little Tokyo throughout the year. I go whenever there is one and am a relatively well-known photographer at events. A lot of the cosplayers know me. I'm gonna be going back and forth between that and the Taiko show.

Cool. Too bad you missed the parade. Lots of great photo opportunities. Of course, I forgot my digital camera as well... Duh.

I won't forget to bring it this Sunday if I make it there... I hope they'll let me take pictures of the flower arrangements and katana displays at the JACL center...

IMO, the Taiko group from Venice was the best: great enthusiasm and solid drumming...

Checked out the site! The queen candidates, all of em were ugly. Sorry If I was too forward about their appearance. Take a look at http://www.niseiweek.org/court.htm . Good lookings? I guess American born japanese aren't close to the native Japanese

Pemu wrote:

Checked out the site! The queen candidates, all of em were ugly. Sorry If I was too forward about their appearance. Take a look at http://www.niseiweek.org/court.htm . Good lookings? I guess American born japanese aren't close to the native Japanese

After seeing the queen and her court at the parade, I can say that the photos don't do the women justice...

That said, the women that composed last year's court were much better looking...

The queen candidates:

haha...I wouldn't say they're ugly...nor would I say they're beautiful. Actually, one or two of them don't look too bad. But that's my opinion!

I agree that they look totally different from native Japanese girls.

FYI: Three of the girls are hoppa and the other three are pure Japanese.

But I'd have to agree with your comments, hALuCin8... There were many better looking attendees at the festival.

Hopefully, there'll be more of them next weekend as well...

Hmm.. yeah, some of those girls don't look like they have any Japanese in them at all.

Super No. 1 wrote:

Hmm.. yeah, some of those girls don't look like they have any Japanese in them at all.

I think they have to be at least half Japanese to qualify...

There's been a lot of flak over the years about allowing hoppa women to compete, because many people think that the voters are choosing the more "American (Caucasian)"-looking contestants over the pure Japanese ones... And this year's winner was hoppa...

It's an ongoing battle unfortunately.

hey i was there i was there on the 10th ......good thing i didn't go to the coranation (those candtidates are not best) i have to agree with bmwracer there were very pretty ladies at the event just walking around! i'm surprised they weren't the court!........

Super No. 1 wrote:

I'm going on Sunday for the anime/video game exhibition. There are several anime events that take place in Little Tokyo throughout the year. I go whenever there is one and am a relatively well-known photographer at events. A lot of the cosplayers know me. I'm gonna be going back and forth between that and the Taiko show.

yup i'm going 2 for the anime fest and 2 see the closing ceremony.....i agree to girls don't look japanese at all

on a side note when i was there i was looking for BMW ...i felt kinda silly cuz i was walking around looking at people's shoes!
i wonder if Lakai845 whent

lovelessemotion wrote:

on a side note when i was there i was looking for BMW ...i felt kinda silly cuz i was walking around looking at people's shoes!

LOL... I was wearing my Nikes... There were a lot of people, though...

Was back in Little Tokyo again Sunday (8/17)... Man, that anime thing was a bust: I didn't see anything except for a buncha folks dressed up like cartoon characters... Disappointing...

Yeah. There wasn't much stuff for sale--some toys and model kits and a bunch of bootleg DVDs. The video gaming part of it was a joke--DDR on a TV in the trunk of a car.

It was pretty heavy on cosplay. I don't mind that too much because I like to photograph it and a lot of those people are my friends. Apparently, cosplay.com sponsored a lot of it, which explains all of that.

I was expecting a lot more variety.

Did you check out any of the other stuff?

I didn't take a look at all of those cars that looked like extras from The Fast and the Furious, especially since they wanted an admission fee... Ridiculous...

I hung out for the Taiko demonstrations... That was awesome... It clearly stood out over everything else...

'm felt so bad that missed it. I wish i lived closer.

Ren wrote:

'm felt so bad that missed it. I wish i lived closer.

Weren't you supposed to be in SoCal visiting relatives? I vaguely remember you mentioning that...

:::hALuCin8::: wrote:

The queen candidates: haha...I wouldn't say they're ugly...nor would I say they're beautiful. Actually, one or two of them don't look too bad. But that's my opinion! I agree that they look totally different from native Japanese girls.

kowai

bmwracer wrote:

Ren wrote: 'm felt so bad that missed it. I wish i lived closer. Weren't you supposed to be in SoCal visiting relatives? I vaguely remember you mentioning that...

well changed of plan.

Takez0 wrote:

:::hALuCin8::: wrote: The queen candidates: haha...I wouldn't say they're ugly...nor would I say they're beautiful. Actually, one or two of them don't look too bad. But that's my opinion! I agree that they look totally different from native Japanese girls. kowai

The girl standing on the left was the winner... She's hoppa... Just like last year's winner... Sort of odd, if you ask me...

the girl in the middle look like she from the middle east or india.