Nisei Week Grand Parade

This was the parade that closed the Tofu Festival on Sunday night. It began at 6pm around 3rd St. and Central Ave., when up to 2nd St, then did a “loop” around 1st St. and came back down Central (giving us two views of each entry in the parade).

The parade had some very interesting floats and cars, and at the same time, had some very boring ones. Crappy cars with some politician / council member that I don’t know nor care to know waving from the back of a new Mustang “rental car” is not entertaning.

But there were some very pretty ladies- winners of various contests, etc, and some very cool cars too, so it balanced out. But we were all waiting for the “special” float which was sent from Japan as a ”loaner” for this parade. And close to 8pm, it appeared in front of us, unlit. I asked a police officer if this was really “it”- it did not look like much at all. But suddenly the lights were turned on, the drummers began pounding out a cool beat, and all was great!

My friend and I were ready to go home at that point as we had been at festival for 3 hours and parade for 2 hours, but sidewalks were packed at this time, so we jumped into the street and followed the float as it went- what a fun way to see the parade!

Here’s some pics from parade and a short video clip of us following the float- it was very hard to shoot as people were wall-to-wall and bumping me, so I apologize for the “shaky-ness” of the video.

INFO ON FLOAT (I apologize to who I quoted this from as I can’t find the website.. )

The Grand Parade on Aug. 19, starting at the intersection of Third Street and Central Avenue, features illuminated floats from the Nebuta Festival in Aomori, Japan. Presented as a gift from Aomori to Los Angeles, the floats resemble giant lanterns with wood bases covered in translucent Japanese paper, which hold hundreds of colored light bulbs. The floats are pulled through the streets accompanied by drummers and dancers.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see these floats in the United States,” Inatomi said. “They have never been in Los Angeles before.”

According to Aomori’s official website, the floats have several different origin stories. But Joyce Chinn, a Nisei Week organizer, said they are based on the ships that the ancient people of Aomori constructed to defend their city.

“When Aomori was being attacked from the sea, they didn’t have a lot of soldiers, so they painted their boats with devils and warriors, back-lit them and sent them down to sea,” Chinn explained. “The ships that were coming into the harbor got scared off and they still celebrate to this day.”