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For nine days every August, Little Tokyo gets a little louder, a lot more colorful and wonderfully crowded as dancers, drummers, food vendors, families and generations of Japanese Americans come together for one of Los Angeles’ most enduring cultural traditions. The Nisei Week Japanese Festival is back August 15 through 23, 2026, filling the historic Downtown Los Angeles neighborhood with parades, performances, food, cultural traditions and plenty of reasons to spend the day wandering around J-Town.

But Nisei Week was never created simply to throw a party.

The festival began in 1934, during the depths of the Great Depression, when Little Tokyo businesses were struggling and a younger generation of Japanese Americans was beginning to come of age. The word “Nisei” refers to second-generation Japanese Americans, the American-born children of the Issei immigrants who had established Little Tokyo as the center of Japanese life in Southern California.

Those young Nisei had an idea: bring people back to Little Tokyo.

The original festival was designed to stimulate business, promote goodwill and give the emerging generation a greater role in the community. There were cultural exhibits, radio broadcasts, contests, a fashion show and ondo, the traditional Japanese street dancing that remains one of Nisei Week’s most recognizable traditions today. Eiji Tanabe served as the first chairman, and in 1935 Alice Watanabe became the first Nisei Week Queen.

There was even a little Hollywood mixed into the story. Charlie Chaplin was among the guests during the festival’s early years, beginning a long tradition of celebrities appearing at Nisei Week events and parades. Decades later, stars including Shirley MacLaine, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain would join the festivities.

Then history interrupted the celebration.

The eighth Nisei Week was held in August 1941. Months later, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated during World War II. In 1942, families carrying suitcases gathered near First Street and Central Avenue—the same neighborhood where they had recently celebrated Nisei Week—before being sent away. The festival disappeared for eight years.

When Nisei Week finally returned in 1949, its revival meant much more than bringing back a summer festival. Japanese Americans were returning to Southern California and rebuilding their businesses, families and community. Nisei Week became a declaration that Little Tokyo was still here.

That history gives the celebration a little more weight every time the taiko drums start pounding.

Today, Nisei Week is produced entirely through volunteer efforts and continues its mission of preserving Japanese and Japanese American heritage while sharing those traditions with Southern California’s many communities.

The 2026 celebration kicked off Saturday, August 15, with the Coronation + Awards Celebration, continuing the longtime tradition of recognizing the Nisei Week court and community leaders.

Sunday, August 16 brings one of the festival’s biggest days. Weller Court hosts JX Matsuri from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., a carnival-style celebration inspired by Nisei Week’s historic carnival and featuring Japanese entertainment, food and community activities.

Then comes the event that practically announces Nisei Week to all of Downtown Los Angeles: the Grand Parade.

Beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday, the streets of Little Tokyo fill with dancers, community organizations, dignitaries and performers for a tradition stretching back generations. The parade runs until 6 p.m., bringing the sights and sounds of Japanese American culture directly into the streets.

The celebration returns in full force the following weekend.

On Saturday, August 22, the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center plaza becomes festival central when the Plaza Festival takes over from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with food, games, booths and live entertainment.

That evening brings a decidedly modern addition to the Nisei Week lineup. Crazy Talented Asians: Nisei Week takes over East West Players at 7:30 p.m. Hosted by AJ Rafael, the musical cabaret brings performers together for a show celebrating both Asian American talent and the Little Tokyo community.

Sunday, August 23 offers one last chance to make a day of it. The Plaza Festival returns to JACCC from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., including the Nisei Week Taiko Gathering and its unmistakable thunder of Japanese drums.

And then Nisei Week ends the way a festival should: everybody gets to dance.

The Ondo Public Street Dancing and Closing Ceremony takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. on August 23. Ondo has been part of Nisei Week since the earliest days of the festival, turning the street itself into a community celebration where generations can dance together.

That may be the real magic of Nisei Week. What started in 1934 as an idea from young Japanese Americans trying to breathe new life into Little Tokyo survived the Depression, wartime incarceration, redevelopment and nearly a century of change in Los Angeles.

More than 90 years later, people are still coming back to Little Tokyo to eat, dance, shop, watch the parade, hear the drums and celebrate the neighborhood.

Which means those young Nisei had a pretty good idea after all.

Nisei Week Japanese Festival runs August 15–23, 2026, throughout Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles. Festival information and the current event calendar are available through the official Nisei Week Japanese Festival website.