2015-08-01 - The Nihonmachi Street Fair

• The Nihonmachi Street Fair  
• The purpose of the fair 
• What to expect at the fair

This long-running fair takes place today and tomorrow

Everyone loves a good festival with delicious food, great music, and fun activities. San Francisco's Nihonmachi Street Fair, sometimes called the "melting pot" of street fairs, combines these ingredients with much more.

City officials started the event in 1973 as a way to offer opportunities to young people in Japantown. This historic region of San Francisco was beginning to lose its cultural identity. But festival leaders encouraged the area's Asian-Pacific American youth to staff, produce and organize a street fair. The goal was to help young people develop leadership and communication skills while honoring their cultural heritage.

The first year, the all-volunteer effort drew only a few participants. Today, however, the festival averages around 30,000 people! Festival participants enjoy many aspects of Asian-Pacific American culture. The festival's two stages feature music ranging from rock to jazz. Diverse cultural entertainment, including Chinese Lion dances, Hawaiian music and traditional Japanese drummers, in on display  as well. Along with Asian food, Asian-inspired crafts can be purchased. Japantown's youth, with their energy, passion and creativity, remain an important part of this successful event.

Editor's Summary
Today, we looked at the Nihonmachi Street Fair which is held in San Francisco.

This street fair is sometimes called the melting pot of street fairs because it combines delicious food, fun activities, and great music with much more.

The event was started in 1973 by city officials as a way to offer young people in Japantown opportunities.

Japantown is a historic area, but it was beginning to lose its cultural identity, so festival leaders encouraged the Asian-Pacific American youth to produce and organize a street fair, and also to provide the staff for it.

Developing leadership and communication skills and honoring their cultural heritage were the goals.

It started out with only a few people attending the first fair, but they didn't give up.

And now, the average attendance is over 3000 people.

What can a person expect?

Two stages with music that ranges from rock to jazz, diverse culture entertainment including Chinese Lion Dances, Hawaiian music, and Japanese drummers.

Crafts that are Asian inspired can be purchase right along with Asian food.

The energy, passion, and creativity of Japantown's youth still play an important part of the successful festival.

Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Historic vs. Historical Historic 和 Historical的差別
historic adj.
a historic place or building is very old
historical adj. 史學的
relating to the past
有時可以同時用, 例如:
historical/ historic times 古老的時期

Language Lab
melting pot n.
a place (such as a city or country) where different types of people live together and gradually create one community — usually singular
- New York City is one of the great melting pots of America.
- Singapore is a cultural melting pot of multiple races.

ingredient n.
one of the things that are used to make a food, product, etc.
- The ingredients of the cake are eggs, flour, sugar, butter and yeast.
a quality or characteristic that makes something possible
- Mutual trust and passion are vital ingredients for a successful marriage.

entertainment n.
things such as films, television, performances etc that are intended to amuse or interest people:
- There's a wide variety of entertainment offered at the resort.
- The musical is great entertainment for audiences of all ages.

purchase v.
to buy something:
- Tickets for the show can be purchased online.
- We purchased the TV with our credit card.
purchase n.
something you buy, or the act of buying it:
- The product can be refunded within seven days after purchase if you're not satisfied.

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