Next week, Japantown's new cultural center-- “ New People” –is opening up, and the festivities are really coming together! ANN has compiled all of the recent news posts, and here's the quick wrap-up of what's happening on or around the August 15th opening:
- Prior to the Grand Opening, fashion brand Black Peace Now and rocker Hakuei, from the rock band Penicillin, will have an autograph session and lounge party at the Japantown Street Fair on August 9th.
- Yoshitaka Amano, in his only American appearance this year, will hold a discussion panel and a (limited) autograph session to talk about his Deva Loka USA exhibit, being held in the center.
- Famed mangaka Yuichi Yokoyama, best known for his unique manga like New Engineering, one of whose chapters revolves around a mountain that gets covered with fake grass, trees, and rocks. He's here to show off his latest US release, Outdoor, and will have a live painting performance as well.
- Organizers for Japan Nite at SXSW are putting on a Girls Rock Explosion mini concert featuring the noodles, TsuShiMaMiRe, Red Bacteria Vacuum, 6%DOKIDOKI Girls, and Omodaka, and a full concert on the 16th at Yoshi's Jazz Club.
- A few other guests: Hello Kitty (no, really), model Misako Aoki, designer Kumiko Uehara from Baby The Stars Shine Bright (who have a story in the center), who is also having a tea party for the first 50 customers who spend $200.
- For its inaugural screening, VIZ Pictures will show the first 20th Century Boys film-- and will continue to show all three throughout the month. The first film will run August 15th to 27th, the second film from August 21st to 28th, and the third film will actually premiere in Japan and the US simultaneously-- August 28th.
Unfortunately, I'm leaving the Bay Area on the 19th, so I'll only have time to see the first film...but Bay Area natives are super lucky. And I will be on hand for the grand opening-- ten days to go!
