Japanese Cultural Institute Carnival in Gardena, CA

Japanese Cultural Institute (JCI) Carnival in Gardena, CA

My friend JustJenn and I were hanging out on Sunday and she looked at her iPhone. She said, "Oh, the JCI Carnival is this weekend."

Squeal.

That was my car and my scream. My car sprinted to Gardena to hit up the "carnival of my youth." I have so many childhood memories from this annual affair. The Japanese Cultural Institute (JCI) in Gardena (South Bay area of the Los Angeles region) has been going on forever. A few things have been added and changed, but so much of it remains exactly the same. And that's fantastic. The JCI offers Japanese language classes, senior activities, cultural classes and sport groups. 

Of course, I go for the festival foods. Chirashi sushi is my absolute favorite. It's sushi rice with a bunch of toppings. Somen salad is cold somen noodles with a dipping sauce, and the imagawayaki is a pancake filled with sweet red beans.

My peep's donut! The Okinawan Andagi or Dango is a festival favorite...just look for the long line. It is a big donut hole of goodness. I like to spend my summer visiting as many festivals as possible...all to get dangos! The Japanese American-founded Buddhist Churches in the area have annual Obon festivals and they always have dangos too. See this post for my tour of a Obon festival in 2009, and my mom's recipe for dango.

Every JA festival has a plant and vegetable section. I believe every group has a member who owns or works at a nursery. Actually, there is a long history of Japanese American gardeners and farmers in California (check out this book). My grandfather worked in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii, farmed in Central California and then became a gardener in Los Angeles. Last year, I bought a house plant at an Obon festival at a Buddhist church...and it is still alive!! I don't know if the Buddhist priest blessed it, but now I'm buying all my house plants at these carnivals!

The youth break dancing class performed too! I'm sure one of these kids will be on my favorite show, ABDC someday!

Like I said, the JCI Carnival is filled with childhood memories. All these old school carnival games. They used to have a dime toss and gave away glass cups and dishes (holy smokes, I'm sure they were filled with lead and other hazards). Anyway, I loved this game and would break my piggy bank gathering dimes. One day, my folks were at my brother's soccer game in Orange County and I stayed at home. I was doing the dishes and one of these super thin glasses broke in my hand. My neighbor was a police officer so I went over to show him my cut. Remember, I'm 40 so when I was young we had rotary phones and cell phones were only on the Jetsons. My neighbor knew someone on the force in the OC and they SENT UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICERS TO THE SOCCER GAME. Yes, they walked around the field saying, "We are looking for the parents of Mary." Holy Smokes! My mom still tells me this story and how she nearly had a heart attack right there on the field. Anyway, I got 5 or 6 stitches and still have a small scar on my finger...and great memories of the JCI Carnival. And I didn't have to do the dishes for a whole month.

I hope you are enjoying your summer visiting carnivals and festivals (and of course, participating in your library's summer reading program!!). If you are in Los Angeles and want to eat some Japanese American festival food, check out the Obon schedule!