January 18, 2016
Community / A.C.E.
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11
Mochitsuki celebrates its 20th-
anniversary event January 31st
Mochitsuki — the Japanese New
Year celebration — is returning to
Portland
State
University
in
downtown Portland for its 20th
anniversary event. The celebration
takes place Sunday, January 31.
Mochi is a sticky rice cake that
symbolizes starting the New Year
with a full belly in hopes of
abundance in the year ahead. In the
Asian zodiac, 2016 is the Year of the
Monkey. Visitors to Mochitsuki 2016
will see steamed rice pounded into
mochi with huge mallets and taste
samples made from the humming
electric machines popular in Japan
today.
The celebration includes a wide
array of performances, and again this
year, the entertainment stage is
emceed by storyteller Alton Chung.
Performers and musical guests
include the Minidoka Swing Band,
Portland
Taiko,
Utsuki
Kai,
Takohachi Taiko, Oregon Koto Kai,
Sahomi Tachibana Dancers, Unit
Souzou, Mitch Iimori on shamisen,
Larry Tyrrell on shakuhachi, and
others.
Cultural experiences abound at
Mochitsuki, including a traditional
tea ceremony, a food court,
calligraphy,
origami,
ikebana,
Fukuwarai (a Japanese New Year’s
game),
go
(Japanese
chess),
children’s bento cooking classes, and
much more.
The 20th-anniversary edition of
Mochitsuki is presented by the
Portland Chapter of the Japanese
American Citizens League and
co-produced by Konko Church of
Portland,
the
Oregon
Nikkei
Endowment, and Portland Taiko.
Mochitsuki 2016 takes place
Sunday, January 31 from 11:00am to
4:00pm at Portland State Univer-
sity’s Smith Memorial Student
Union, located at 1825 S.W.
Broadway in Portland.
Tickets purchased in advance are
Aɸɗ Sɭhoɼɗ Oȼʑɚ Hʝuȿɏ
Saturday, January 30th 10am—1pm
2 1/2 years—6th grade
Check out our website for more informaƟon.
www.portlandmontessori.org
205 NE 50th Ave. 503-688-2992 info@portlandmontessori.org
C o m pre he nsive Educ a tio n
fo r To m o rro w’s
G lo b a l C itize ns
O pe n Ho use : Ja n 28, 6- 8pm
IB C urric ulum Info Nig ht: Fe b 25, 6- 7:30pm
p e rso na l to urs a lso a va ila b le
•
La ng ua g e Imme rsio n in Sp a nish,
Ja p a ne se , o r C hine se
•
Inq uiry-b a se d , Inte rna tio na l
Ba c c a la ure a te PYP Wo rld Sc ho o l
•
Sma ll c la sse s; e xp e rie nc e d te a c he rs
Pre K-5th
intlsc ho o l.o rg
503-226-2496
TWO DELECTABLE DECADES. Mochitsuki — the Japanese New Year celebration — is
returning to Portland State University for its 20th anniversary event. The celebration, which features
food, art, performances, demonstrations, and hands-on cultural experiences for all ages, takes
place Sunday, January 31. (AR Photos/Jan Landis)
$10 for adults; $7 for students with
identification and seniors age 62 and
older; and $4 for children four to 12
years old. Children three years of age
and younger are admitted for free.
Tickets bought on the day of the event
are $12 for adults; $9 for students and
seniors; and $5 for children.
To learn more, or to volunteer, call
(503) 224-1458 or visit <www.
mochipdx.org>. To buy tickets, visit
<www.boxofficetickets.com>.
WANT TO KNOW WHAT
EVENTS ARE HAPPENING
THIS MONTH?
Check out our Community and A.C.E.
calendar sections, on pages 10 and 12.
Record-breaking Star Wars movie opens in China
By Louise Watt
The Associated Press
EIJING — The record-
breaking Star Wars film
opened earlier this month in
China, where it is far from certain to
draw enough moviegoers to knock off
Avatar as the world’s all-time biggest
grossing movie.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is
the highest ever grossing film in the
North American market, where it
was released December 18.
But internationally, it still has a
long way to go to beat Avatar, James
Cameron’s science-fiction movie with
blue aliens. The international box
office of the latest Star Wars movie
stands at $1.86 billion, compared to
the $2.8 billion Avatar made in 2009.
Richard Huang, an analyst at
Nomura Securities, expects the
movie to roughly match the $229
million in Chinese box-office sales
that Jurassic World generated last
year.
Not many Chinese are familiar
with Star Wars. The franchise’s three
prequel films released from 1999 to
2005 were shown in China, but at a
time when there were much fewer
screens in the country.
Promotional events organized by
Disney in the months leading up to
B
6
1 4
7
3
4
4 5
9
4
8
7 5
7
STORMING THE EAST. A man takes a smartphone photo of his son at a Star Wars promo-
tional display at a shopping mall in Beijing. The record-breaking Star Wars film opened this month
in China, where it is far from certain to draw enough moviegoers to knock off Avatar as the world’s
all-time biggest grossing movie. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
the release included the placing of
500 Stormtrooper figures on the steps
of the Great Wall and the
illumination of the movie’s Chinese
title on the guard towers for a light
show in October.
It enlisted the marketing power of
actor and singer Lu Han, who
appeared in promotional videos and
released a music video called “The
Inner Force” with images from the
film.
In an overt bid to appeal to Chinese
audiences in the next Star Wars film,
Rogue One, bosses have cast Hong
Kong martial-arts actor Donnie Yen
and Chinese actor and director Jiang
Wen in it.
China is expected to surpass North
America as the world’s largest movie
market as soon as next year, and
Hollywood is casting Chinese actors
and incorporating Chinese elements
to appeal to the massive audience.
1 9
Difficulty
MEDIUM
1 6
7
3
1
4
8 1
6
5
3
level: Medium
#64531
# 14
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last week’s
puzzle
Puzzle #79243 (Easy)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
6
2
9
8
1
4
3
5
7
1
3
4
5
9
7
2
8
6
7
5
8
6
3
2
4
1
9
9
1
3
4
7
8
5
6
2
2
8
7
1
6
5
9
4
3
4
6
5
9
2
3
1
7
8
3
7
6
2
4
1
8
9
5
8
4
2
7
5
9
6
3
1
5
9
1
3
8
6
7
2
4