{"id":129792,"date":"2026-01-12T02:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/129792\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T02:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:53:16","slug":"happy-crowds-enjoyed-the-oshogatsu-family-festival-in-historic-little-tokyo-district-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/129792\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy crowds enjoyed the Oshogatsu Family Festival in historic Little Tokyo district \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Japanese American National Museum in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles hosted its popular Oshogatsu Family Festival on Sunday, drawing happy crowds who enjoyed the traditional mochitsuki performance by drumming group Kodama Taiko, where sweet sticky rice is pounded into a smooth and elastic dough to the beat of taiko drums.\u00a0Mochitsuki is a cherished tradition symbolizing gratitude, hope for prosperity, and strengthening community bonds through shared effort.<\/p>\n

Another drumming group, Prota Taiko, was a favorite for its innovative, high-energy taiko performance.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Esaki performs for the crowd during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Dendra<\/p>\n

Dendra Campos works on a paper crane during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"(L-r)<\/p>\n

(L-r) Hannah Garduno, Kendra Campos and Diana Figueroa make paper cranes during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"(L-r)<\/p>\n

(L-r) Sadie,4, and Amara Takanashi,6, pose for a photo for their mom during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Prota<\/p>\n

Prota Taiko performs as the Japanese American National Museum celebrated the New Year on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Children<\/p>\n

Children work on craft projects during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Shan<\/p>\n

Shan Ichiyanagi made these candy sculptures during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The crowd applauds during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

John Esaki performs for the crowd during the Japanese American National Museum New Year celebration on January 11,2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

New Year\u2019s Day, or Oshogatsu, is one of Japan\u2019s longest and most important holidays. The 2026 festival in Los Angeles included free crafts, performances, and cultural activities to ring in the Year of the Horse. The festival is part of \u201cJANM on the Go,\u201d the museum\u2019s schedule of special exhibitions, public programs and family festivals.<\/p>\n

JANM\u2019s Pavilion is closed for renovation until late 2026. But programs will continue on the JANM campus and other locations at janm.org\/OnTheGo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Japanese American National Museum in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles hosted its popular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[12611,48,52,51,47,50,49,6607,100,136],"class_list":["post-129792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-fairs-and-festivals","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-museum","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}