BIJAC Mochi Tsuki
Saturday, January 11, 2025, 11am – 4pm
Woodward Middle School, 9125 Sportsman Club Rd NE, Bainbridge Island
For more than 30 years, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community Mochi Tsuki celebration has been an important traditional event to bring good fortune in the New Year. Once again, the public is invited to participate in making mochi the traditional way – steaming sweet rice over an open fire, then pounding the rice by hand with traditional, handcrafted cherry wood mallets (kine) in a granite bowl (usu). Visitors can get in on the action by trying their hands at pounding the mochi, forming it into cakes by hand, and eating it while it’s still warm and sticky! This event is enjoyed by adults and children alike. All activities are Free to the public — donations are welcome!
More information available at the BIJAC website.
Olympia Chapter JACL Oshogatsu & Lunar New Year Celebration
Saturday, January 25, 2025, 2:30 to 4:30 pm
The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St NW, Olympia
Olympia Chapter JACL hosts their annual Oshogatsu New Year celebration. The family-focused event includes interactive cultural activities, “make & take” crafts, demonstrations, Japanese food, and an Art Exhibition of Japanese traditional crafts.
Puyallup Valley JACL Day of Remembrance Program
Saturday, February 8, Time TBA
Washington State Fairgrounds
Commemorate the signing of EO 9066 that authorized the US Army to remove all persons of Japanese descent from the West Coast in 1942. Visit the newly opened Remembrance Gallery documenting the nearly 8,000 people detained in horse stalls, livestock exhibition halls, and tarpaper barracks on the Puyallup Fairgrounds in 1942. And learn how history may be repeating today.