UPDATE: Services for Jack Hirose will be held on Thursday, December 31, from 11 a.m. at Ashley & McMullen Funerals, 4200 Geary Boulevard (and Sixth), San Francisco.

A KTSF video showing highlights of the 2009 Cherry Blossom Festival. one of the recepients of our 2008 grants.

The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) presents Kristi Yamaguchi’s Children’s Day Festival in Japantown to be held on Saturday, May 2nd , at San Francisco’s Japan Center Peace Plaza (Post and Buchanan Street) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

At it's monthly meeting, the San Francisco Japantown Foundation board of directors unanimously elected Diane Matsuda as a member, effective immediately. Diane is Executive Director of the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco dedicated to improving the quality of life for California’s homeless children and developing policy solutions to prevent homelessness.

The 2009 “Bay Area Day of Remembrance” takes place in San Francisco on Sunday, February 22, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sundance Kabuki Theater, 1881 Post St. (between Fillmore and Webster), with a reception at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, 1840 Sutter St. The program will include speakers, performances, candle lighting ceremony and an interfaith procession. The event is sponsored by the Bay Area DOR Consortium and funded in part by the San Francisco Japantown Foundation. Tickets prices are $15 (door); $12 (advance); and group rates ($10 each for 10 or more in advance). Call NJAHS for tickets: (415) 921-5007. Visit: www.dayofremembrance.org.