BayAnime.com

The Holiday Anime Faire is a one-day celebration for Holidays, Anime, and Arts and Crafts! Join us for our fourth year of family fun!

NEW for this year is a Bay Area-wide Art Contest! Details on the Holiday Anime Faire website: http://www.holidayanimefaire.com/art-show-contest/

Activities include:

* Manga Artist Demonstrations
* The Finest in Bay Area Anime Shopping
* Arts and Crafts
* Gift-making – Cards, Plushies, and Ornaments
* Anime & Holiday Music

Pre-register online for only $5!

Website: http://www.holidayanimefaire.com

Location: SF Japantown, benches outside Kinokuniya bookstore, 2nd Floor of the mall

Organization: BAAU
Website: http://baau.org

Location: San Francisco, Asian Art Museum, North Court
FREE with general admission

Japanese artist Natsusaka demonstrates and presents his original narrative sculpture work “A Carved Strip,” inspired by traditional samurai stories. Natsusaka mixes contemporary art, storytelling, kitsch images and text to create this crossover art form.

About the artist:

Born in 1971 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Natsusaka Shinichiro graduated from Tama Art University in 1996 with a degree in oil painting. He started creating a series of sculptural works with characters and typography he calls Kambanart (“billboard” in Japanese plus the English word “art”) while he was in school. Since 1997, he has created more than 300 figurines as characters from popular animated movies like Princess Mononoke and Nightmare before Christmas.

Natsusaka relocated to France in 2000 and presented an installation that combined sculptural figures and storytelling titled Bande Sculptée (A Carved Strip). In 2004, La Planète des Samouraïs (English title: Planet of Samurais), a part of the installation Bande Sculptée won the Excellence Prize in the Manga division of the 8th Japan Media Arts Festival.

He also participated in Totoro Forest Project at Pixar Animation Studio, California in 2008 and currently working on continuation of the story La Planète des Samouraïs.

AsiaAlive is a free, interactive, drop-in program for all ages featuring live artist demonstrations, hands-on activities, and information on rotating themes.

Fridays through Sundays, August 7 through 23
12:00 noon–4:00 pm, North Court.
FREE with general admission

In conjunction with Lords of the Samurai, AsiaAlive showcases three Japanese martial art forms.

August 7-9 (Friday through Sunday): Northern California Kendo Federation and Northern California Iaido Association demonstrate kendo kata, fundamental techniques of attacking and counter-attacking with swords.

August 15-16 (Saturday and Sunday) : Northern California Kyudo Federation presents Kyudo, Japanese archery.

August 21-23 (Friday through Sunday): Japanese sword polishing demonstration by Jimmy Hayashi.

Source: http://www.asianart.org/asiaalive.htm

This post was submitted by Larushka.

Location: SUPERFROG Gallery, New People (3rd Floor)

His only appearance in the U.S. this year!

Best known for his character designs for Final Fantasy and Gatcha-man, Yoshitaka Amano brings his newest works to NEW PEOPLE! To celebrate the grand opening, Amano will attend a free public panel discussion for the J-POP SUMMIT Festival 2009, to be held on the SUMMIT stage at 12p.m. on Sat, 8/15, in front of NEW PEOPLE. Also later on the same day at 4:00p.m., there will be a special autograph session at SUPERFROG Gallery.

Due to the limited time of his appearance, tickets to the autograph session will be distributed to the first 50 customers who purchase Amano’s books or T-shirts at NEW PEOPLE The Store. Don’t miss the excitement and rare opportunity to meet the legend in person!

Source: New People

All under one roof, come and enjoy the cinema, retail, art, and food at NEW PEOPLE. Get lost, meet new people, stop for a sip of coffee, and dream a dream. With the gallery on top and cinema down below, we’re sure that you’ll have a wonderful journey in-between, so take your time to savor it all.

The celebration will be accompanied by the J-POP SUMMIT Festival 2009, a pop culture-themed street fair that covers the grounds of Post Street from Webster to Buchanan to the Peace Plaza of Japantown, San Francisco. This year’s festival is hosted by NEW PEOPLE in cooperation with the Japantown Merchants Association, and centered around the grand opening of the NEW PEOPLE building. It all starts with the official tape cutting ceremony, and after the traditional Kagami-wari (breaking of the sake barrel), NEW PEOPLE will open its doors to the public for the very first time.

The grand opening finale is a glamorous red carpet premiere event of the Japanese hit movie 20th Century Boys at VIZ CINEMA, after a series of pop culture panels with a variety of guests from Tokyo and the local community, at the J-POP SUMMIT Stage co-presented by Yelp! in front of NEW PEOPLE.

Source: New People

BAAU (Bay Area Artists Unite!) is having a meetup in SF Japantown on 7/11, from noon till whenever.  Meeting place is the usual — benches outside the Kinokuniya store.  Come draw with us!

Japantown
Post & Buchanan Streets
San Francisco

http://www.nihonmachistreetfair.org

This vibrant two-day Asian American and Pacific Islanders celebration is held annually in San Francisco’s Japantown. Among its many events are arts and crafts, children’s activities, and a food bazaar. The popular festival is particularly well known as a venue for contemporary bands and ethnic and performing arts groups. From jazz to hip hop, from reggae to rock, catch one of the best free shows in town. This year’s line-up will be announced here as soon as it becomes available.

The Fair also is an important outreach tool serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities by providing valuable information about AIDS, senior care, children and youth programs, newcomer services, and more. And it continues to be a platform where Asian American and Pacific Islander community nonprofit organizations can build awareness and raise much needed funds.

Everyone is invited and Festival admission is free. Mark your calendar…and bring your friends and family!

Gathering of Bay Area artists! Come draw with us!
Meeting Place: Great Mall Food Court, between the Cinna-Bon stand and Great Khans.

More info: http://baau.org

Gathering of local Bay Area artists! Come draw with us!
Exact location is to be decided, tentatively, let’s make it the park at the Farmer’s Market (1 block west of Downtown Berkeley BART on Center Street) could be a good one if the weather is nice. It’d be nice to do some outdoor drawing for a change.

More info: http://baau.org