Shin-Sen-Gumi Charity 5th Annual Summer Festival!

Unless you go, look and participate, you cannot understand how much fun a “matsuri” (“festival”) can be. In speaking of August, that is the time of the year in Japan when matsuri festivals are held in individual regions. And here in Los Angeles as well, many summer festivals are planned. The grandest one held in North American on the largest scale is that sponsored in Little Tokyo, the “Nisei Week Japanese Festival,” this year celebrating its 67th anniversary.
In Southern California, the Shin-Sen-Gumi Group, which develops such things as ramen and yaki-tori chicken on skewers restaurants, in 1992 launched a Japanese cuisine restaurant chain centered around “Yaki-Tori Shin-Sen-Gumi” Restaurants with the aim of not only attracting members of the Japanese community in Los Angeles, but also introducing the greater American society at large in Los Angeles to the wonderful attractions of Japanese culinary culture.

Shin-Sen-Gumi is holding its 5th Summer Matsuri Festival at the “Shin-Sen-Gumi Yaki-Tori Restaurant” in Gardena on August 26th. This year in particular will be a grand affair since it will be combined with the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Shin-Sen-Gumi Restaurant. The first year the Shin-Sen-Gumi Summer Matsuri Festival was held was during the third year anniversary of the restaurant’s founding in 1995. The second time was during the fifth year anniversary in 1997. The third time was during the seventh year anniversary in 1999. And the fourth time was during the tenth year since the opening of the restaurant, when it was held in 2002.

Wondering why the Shin-Sen-Gumi Summer Matsuri Festivals have been held from the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 10th years since the founding of the restaurant, we asked Kamiya Norio, head of the organizing committee of the summer matsuri festival this year, about it. “In Japan, the numbers 3,5, 7 and 10 represent an auspicious division and so we have brought them together in holding it. Actually, when we held it five years ago, we planned for the fourth time to be the last, but many of our regular customers expressed their desire to have us to hold it again, so we organized this ‘15th numerical division’ now,” he explained. “From the start, Shin-Sen-Gumi aimed at creating a restaurant that was a part of the area, creating a restaurant that made a contribution to the area. That was also the reason behind starting the summer matsuri festivals,” Kamiya continued. We asked him a number of other questions.

S&S: Please tell us what the festival was like the first year.
Kamiya: The first year that we held it, we used two or three parking spaces in the lot in front of the restaurant and just had scooping for goldfish and we roasted yaki-tori chicken skewers. It was a very small affair. Now we are using the whole parking lot and it is the second time that we are doing so. I have only been involved since the third time in 1999, but at that time we constructed a stage and invited performers from Japan to provide entertainment.

S&S: Do you have plans for a stage this time?
Kamiya: While the festival is being held, the stage will be used for things like dance and taiko drum performances. This time, Amami (Islands located between Okinawa and Kyushu) island songs will be sung by five performers we have invited. In addition, Midori Kenji, director of the Shin-Kyokushin Kaikan karate organization will present a karate demonstration. Besides that, dance, Japanese folk dance, one of Japan’s cultural treasures, what is called Eisa Amami regional dancing and the like will be performed. There will also be performances by live bands which will be produced with the aim of supporting young musicians who are active in the area and plan to become professionals.

S&S: How many attendees to you expect to come?
Kamiya: We are holding it in the same place as the last time, but there has also been an increase in the number of yatai booths, so this time we anticipate 10,000 people coming to the event.

S&S: What is the main attraction for the summer matsuri festival this time?
Kamiya: The entertainment on the stage, the yatai booths that will be set up and so forth, the entire festival will be the main attraction. The Shin-Sen-Gumi Summer Matsuri Festival watchword will be “Yuwa” (“Harmony”) for the people in the area and ourselves to enjoy. When speaking of harmony, everybody becomes as one, while the matsuri builds in intensity. I daresay that intensity exhibited by the attendees and us from the restaurant will be the main attraction.

S&S: There will be many yatai booths. Will they all be manned by personnel from the restaurant?
Kamiya: No. We will serve the yaki-tori chicken skewers and the ramen, but the goldfish scooping and the yo-yo booths and those sorts of things will be taken care of volunteers.

S&S: Besides the entertainment on the stage, there will be a drawing held. What are the prizes?
Kamiya: We have received donations from co-sponsors, things like a liquid crystal television and roundtrip tickets to Japan and Las Vegas.

S&S: Is there anything about this summer matsuri festival that you would like to appeal to the public about?
Kamiya: We have planned this 15th Anniversary Shin-Sen-Gumi Summer Matsuri Festival as a place where everyone can have fun and return home with great memories. Besides that, all of the profits from this year’s festival will be donated to the Japanese Educational Resource Center and the Kagoshima Foundation. We hope that many people turn out to enjoy the festivities.

The last event was held five years ago in 2002, with many attending, including women and children in bathing suits. Just seeing things like the festival booths transported you into a “Japanese matsuri.”

There were many spots available for families bringing children to enjoy themselves, scooping goldfish, playing with yo-yos, trying on masks, testing their skills at the ring toss or tasting candy treats, there were various and sundry booths lined up to fill you with nostalgia. For Japanese living here separated from Japan, there was the complete illusion of being in Japan and the feeling was there could be no more enjoyable place on earth to be. At the location of the event, there were not only Japanese people, but local Americans, as well as Japanese Americans who appeared to be thoroughly enjoying the summer matsuri festival.

You would run across things like “California rolls,” the epitome of Los Angeles and other tempting foods lined up that you would find yourself eating in spite of yourself. I remember that the taste and the presentation was so enticing that I couldn’t stop from overeating.

This year, too, by going to the Shin-Sen-Gumi Summer Matsuri Festival, you can enjoy “summer in Japan” right now, having as much fun as your heart desires.