New Year's Ohana Festival

At some point they should have just opened the doors to the ballroom since it was creating a bad situation with people crowding outside the doors and those getting off the elevators headed to the craft fair skirted around them. This made it very difficult for those leaving the craft fair to find a way to get around them. Heaven help you if you're disabled like me because there was no aloha from the people trying to get into the craft fair to those trying to leave it or that is what it felt like for me until I gave up and just started to walk.

FOMO...Everything happens for a reason and with my new (going on two years) job I do now have Sundays off which is a curse and a blessing as some businesses are closed but some events are happening!!!This is the 30th!! Yup 30th Annual New Year's Ohana Festival celebrating the year of the Rabbit and all things the local loves along with Japanese traditions all day from 10am to 4pm at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i.Let me tell you I've NEVER and couldn't attend any of these events and I believe it did spill over much more than this years event but it was HUGE! Filled with so much entertainment with Taiko, Sumo demonstration and a bunch of keiki crafts what fun event for all!Lined up outside on the ground floor was a few food vendors and some entertainment and up on the 5th floor was more entertainment (had some keiki taiko which was super adorable!) and a room of crafters even a final appearance from Ban Daisuke of Kikaida was the showstopper.There was SO much going on much more that I realized and could describe that you must visit their website https://jcch.com and it has all and it's the complete details of this event including complimentary shuttle bus service and a must visit event to go next year is the Dragon!Thank you!

I've been a craft vendor at this event for years now (I'm a small business owner - Kawaii Mono)! It's a great family friendly event filled with lots of yummy food, local businesses, fun activities, amazing performances and entertainment. Most of the craft vendors are located on the 5th floor and a few more located on the first floor. It's always great to support small local businesses!The food is paid with scrips. My favorites to get is the okonomiyaki, grilled mochi, and andagi! Lines can get really long so I always go right at 10am to get my okonomiyaki! It's so much fun to watch them make the food too! Last year I didn't get my grilled mochi, so I was lucky to get it this year although they told me they forgot the kinako :( The parking situation... I haven't actually experienced this since I'm a vendor, but I know they have parking available at UH Manoa and they offer a free shuttle service to JCCH!

My wife and I have been coming to this Ohana Festival for years and were happy to see it return again this year. Parking near the old Stadium, we walked in but there was a shuttle from Washington Middle School with ample parking. As we entered the grounds the first thing we did was to purchase hot fresh andagi, it was delicious. We mainly come for the food and we weren't disappointed. We bought an order of fresh soba noodles that were stir fried instead of soup style. You had to wait at least 20 minutes for your order because they make one order at a time and there were only three fryers going. It was very good though. We also purchased sekihan, assorted desserts and some zensai. The crafts and vendors was a smaller venue this year but the Kikaida line was pretty long. I also noticed that the ballroom where the Cherry Blossom program was filled to studying room only. It has always been a fun festival and we will continue to attend.

1/12/20 thank you to the awesome volunteers that are working in the rain to direct traffic, answer questions, hang out in the UH Manoa parking lot, drive the bus to JCCH to provide free parking and access to the JCCH New Years Ohana Festival.It's pouring rain and windy conditions...so far we've been told that the bus from UH Manoa runs every ten minutes and the mochi demonstrations have been cancelled due to the rain in the field :/.

I'm so glad we happened to be here for this! There was so much to see, the dancing, taiko drummers, Mochi pounding, the museum, the food, the tea ceremony. I haven't had andagi for a long time & enjoy one hot & fresh. My favorites were the sumo wrestling and the tea ceremony. The boys from Aloha State Sumo Assn were great, the 12 year old was taller than me and looked much older! They all did. The tea ceremony was really interesting and I loved that everything was explained as the ceremony was happening. This is a great way to spend the day, and there were plenty of activities and bounce houses for kids too.

Every year this festival is crowded and appears to grow in size. The problem with crowds is long lines for food. It might be a good idea to have an online preorder or mobile preorder. This could shorten the lines and make things more enjoyable. I love the okanomiyaki, mochi, and andagi. I would like them to serve takoyaki balls and mochi ice cream. I liked that this year had a kimono dress up for children. My child isn't old enough but hopefully she can do it next year. Another thing was that parking was far out. They could have rented the large shinnyo-en lot for handicap customers. There was also a lack changing tables to change an infant. No place for nursing moms. Most of the activities were for older children so my baby was bored. An infant play area filled with Japanese toys would have been nice.

Getting in touch with my Japanese culture! First off, parking. My boyfriend and I decided to park at UH and take the free shuttle to the Japanese Cultural Center. Parking at UH was a $6 flat rate. It was really easy and convenient! When we got there, it was definitely a cultural experience. We came around 12:45pm and got to see many different demonstrations. First, we saw a karate demonstration at 1pm. There were students of all ages from kids to adults. Even whole families that were doing karate together. It was also super interesting to hear about the history of karate.We then went to grab food! There were tons of booths that were run by high schools and various Japanese organizations. We needed to get scripts for food but I loved that we could get any amount of scripts. You don't need to be stuck with one or two scripts at the end of the day. We ended up getting a teri burger, corn on the cob, shave ice, fried rice, sushi, and a couple of canned drinks for $20 or 40 scripts. Everything was super yummy and reasonably priced. Next, we saw a kendo demonstration at 2pm. That was a bit more exciting than the karate because it's a way faster pace! I loved that they let the audience get involved towards the end. They let kids and adults cut newspaper with a sword! Super cool!! Lastly, we checked out the other vendors. We really liked the shirt designs at SumoFish and my boyfriend bought two shirts! We also signed up for the Vacations Hawaii Vegas give away! Fingers crossed!!Overall, it was a super fun and educational experience! We'll be back next year!

I love this festival because it's a time to celebrate my heritage. Lots of Japanese culture, food, and activities I can enjoy. Today I was able to do a little bit of shopping on the 5th floor. I was also able to write some Japanese calligraphy. I really need to practice more of that. They also had mochi! I love mochi. The bonsai display was beautiful too. I wish they would put the price of each one by it even though it wasn't for sale. LoL. They also had lots of Japanese crafts.The entertainment was Japanese too! They had taiko when I was there. I think this is a great festival for the whole family.

It was time to take in a bit of culture and celebrate the new year 2013 with the Japanese Cultural Center. It was a nice change of pace and a joy to be here, since my weekends were filled of training, shopping, and television, so it was good to be out and be productive for a change. I thought that this festival was very well run, especially when I haven't been to one of these things yet. Probably the last festival I have been to was the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown more than a few years ago. With that said, it was nice to be out here watching and observing.There were 2 main staging areas for the New Years celebration. One being held at the Japanese Cultural Center grounds and the other at the adjacent park across the street next to the Longs Drug Store in Moilili. The day was warm, but I didn't mind. Plenty of people out here that day and that was pretty cool. There was various food booths, but you would need to buy scripts to access the food stuff. Kinda like a carnival or a circus when you have to use scripts or coupons in exchange for food. There were also various dancing and performances by various members of the community to celebrate the new year.I particularly enjoyed the young kids who wore elaborate taiko wear and performed in front of a circle of people.It was particularly amazing and reminded myself why I didn't do this kind of thing when I was that age. There was a large tented seating area for folks to eat and dine. I also met a friend of mine there and I didn't know he was going to be there. Just a spur of the moment thing, I guess. It was a nice afternoon to just do something else for a change and just reclaim some Japanese culture and language that I had learned in high school and college, but lost during my work career.There was access to the mini museum at the Japanese Cultural Center, which was great. They had a Japanese saying on the wall, that said "Everything that I am, is because of you." Something to that effect. There was also a bonsai tree display, as well as book sales and other Japanese treasures available for purchase. Not sure if those bonsai trees were available for purchase, but it was a probability.For me, it was reminding myself that it was good to surround myself here and remembering those years of learning Japanese language and those hours immersing myself in the culture and partaking in the food. Omg. So much food stuff that was just simply amazing. With that said, I would simply tell everyone to check this event out. It's only once a year, do make plans to celebrate the new year with Yelp and the Japanese Cultural Center in Moilili. I'm not sure how parking is, since I took the public bus down from Kaimuki.Support local!A+