Japan Society President Dana Lewis and New People Executive Director Paul Osaki welcomed the crowd to the center first, along with a special guest-- Hello Kitty!
Next on the guest list was Ross Mirkarimi, City Supervisor for District 5 of San Francisco (in which Japantown sits, of course).
After that, the Consul General of Japan, Yasumasa Nagamine, offered some thoughts from the motherland about the growing international fascination with Japanese popular culture.
Finally, actress Tomoko Tokiwa and producer Nobuyuki Inuma, of 20th Century Boys, joined the cacophany. Their translator is none other than Tezuka expert Fred L. Schodt!
Somewhere in here, a representative for San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom came up and read from a document pronouncing August 15th to officially be Japanese Pop Culture Center Day in San Francisco, CA. Seiji Horibuchi, founder of VIZ Media and one of the strongest forces behind New People, proclaimed that he wanted it to be worldwide! Unfortunately I was busy trying to juggle my phone to tweet AND the video camera, so my footage is kinda worthless viewing wise. But it was a cool pronouncement anyway.
And last but not least...the grand finale!
I was there too, but I didn't see you anywhere! I was keeping an eye out for folks from the anime blog-o-sphere, too... hoping to say "Hi!" and "Thanks Millions!"... I guess Whiskey issues you guys Cloaking Devices, ne? Did you get a chance to see any of the bands? TsuShiMaMiRe ROCKED IT!!! Happy Times.
I thought about staying late (I know there were movie and boozing plans), but I had tentative plans to go see Ponyo with my parents, and it's a long drive, so I decided against it :)
Sounds like Good Times were had all around... Well, since I didn't get a chance in person, I will instead type, "Hi, and Thanks Millions!", and imagine shaking hands.
P.S. Could you finish the opening sentence because it just ends suddenly?
EDIT: Alright, that simple ending worked.
My buddy got some RAD photos, plus one of the Fashion Show, I made an attempt to send you a link on your facebook, but I have no idea if it will work. The album is at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27053&id=1553614928&comments=
I dunno, I guess I'm willing to forgive minor errors when it's the result of real human beings writing stories that are interesting and flavorful. I only insist on grammatical perfection from sites presenting all their news as if it's being written by drone robots.