Nu Chic Boutique celebrates the art of crochet with handmade clothing, accessories, and playful keepsakes crafted by family, friends, and talented students. From colorful koi and festive oni to charming dolls and keychains, each piece is made with love and creativity—blending tradition, imagination, and modern style.
Handmade Clothing & Accessories
Nu Chic Boutique
From the forests of Japan to the heart of San Diego, Kodama Forest shares the art of kokedama—plants cradled in hand-shaped spheres of moss, like tiny green planets. Each kokedama is a celebration of harmony, balance, and the quiet power of nature to bring peace into our homes.
Founded in 2014 by Kanako, a Yokohama native inspired by her bonsai-teaching uncle, Kodama Forest has grown into a beloved source for living art. Beyond creating one-of-a-kind kokedama, Kanako leads hands-on workshops at the Japanese Friendship Garden, San Diego Botanic Garden, and more—inviting participants to shape their own little world of moss and roots.
Every kokedama is unique, just like the people who nurture them—a perfect gift, a meditation in green, and a reminder that caring for nature means caring for ourselves.
B
ring the art of Japanese gardening into your home with this elegant kokedama, a handcrafted moss ball plant inspired by the spherical beauty of our Earth. Shaped like a miniature planet, each kokedama celebrates nature’s simplicity and harmony while adding a unique touch of greenery to your space.
The lush moss sphere cradles a thriving plant, creating a living art piece perfect for hanging, displaying on a decorative tray, or placing on a shelf. Minimal care is required, making it ideal for homes, offices, or as a meaningful gift for plant lovers and those who cherish the connection between nature and the Earth.
Founded by designer Julie, Kamyi.Art blends traditional Japanese washi paper with modern fashion. Inspired by childhood origami cranes and a transformative study-abroad experience in Tokyo, Julie began crafting origami earrings in 2020.
Starting with a small table at Balboa Park in 2021, Kamyi.Art has grown into a full artisan brand with an online shop and features at 80+ juried craft fairs across California, including the Cherry Blossom Festival, 626 Night Market, and Coronado Art & Wine Festival.
Each piece is handmade in San Diego with handpicked Kyoto washi, glazed for durability, and set with hypoallergenic metals. Kamyi.Art continues to celebrate East Asian culture, bringing creativity, peace, and good fortune to every design.
O
rigami, from the Japanese words ori (“to fold”) and kami (“paper”), is the traditional art of paper folding. Practiced in Japan for centuries, it transforms a simple square sheet of paper into intricate forms—animals, flowers, geometric shapes—without the use of scissors or glue. The essence of origami lies in its simplicity: through precise folds, flat paper takes on three-dimensional life.
Early forms of paper folding in Japan date back to the 17th century, when folded shapes were used in religious ceremonies and as decorative tokens. By the Edo period (1603–1868), origami had become a popular pastime, with models such as the crane (orizuru) symbolizing peace, longevity, and good fortune. The crane remains one of the most iconic designs, with the practice of folding one thousand cranes (senbazuru) carrying special significance as a prayer for health and peace.
Modern origami expanded in the 20th century through the work of innovators such as Akira Yoshizawa, who developed new techniques and established a system of diagram notation that made origami accessible worldwide. Today, origami bridges art, mathematics, and science: its principles are applied in architecture, engineering, robotics, and even space exploration.
Whether practiced as a meditative art, a cultural tradition, or a scientific tool, origami continues to embody the Japanese ideals of elegance, creativity, and transformation through simplicity.
LKW STEM FOUNDATION is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization (EIN# 87-1549968) that was created to help address the significant underrepresentation of students pursuing college degrees in Science, Math, Engineering, and Technology (STEM). Each year, our program exposes children to STEM content, experiments, and activities. The majority of our students come from a diverse representation of students throughout San Diego County. The specialized programs run throughout the year (Winter Break, Spring Break, Summer Break, and Every 1st and 3rd STEM Saturday), providing students the opportunity to participate in STEM enrichment summer camps, hands-on programming, and a competitive robotics team.
Dr. Lavar J. Watkins and Mrs. Kristina H. Watkins created LKW STEM FOUNDATION, the 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization (EIN# 87-1549968) to create, develop, and deliver stimulating “STEM” educational programs, cultivating “STEM” experiences and invigorating “STEM” activities, workshops, and camps for diverse, multicultural, historically underrepresented and disadvantaged populations. Through “STEM” concepts, students will discover and ignite a passion to pursue any, and all things “STEM” in an environment where “STEM” exploration, innovation, and critical-thinking is implemented through interactive engagement, project-based learning, and real-world applications that are designed to foster and equip a growth mindset in “STEM EDUCATION” within the context of a global perspective. LKW STEM FOUNDATION exists to provide opportunities through “STEM Education” that will inspire “Future STEMologists” at a critical juncture along their K-16 STEM educational and career pathway development to “sySTEMically” impact our world as the next generation of innovative thinkers, creators, and developers! Their motto is: Let’s Change The WORLD… 1 STEMtastical Experience At A Time!
Educational Demonstration
Children’s Activities
Dr. Lavar J. Watkins
Mrs. Kristina H. Watkins
During the campaign, through the generosity of our partner organizations, every Japanese riceball-related post on our global campaign website or your social media channel with #OnigiriAction will provide five school meals to children in need around the world(*). World Food Day on October 16 was established by the United Nations as a day for everyone to think about food problems in the world. To celebrate World Food Day, TABLE FOR TWO (TFT) holds “Onigiri Action” with the goal to deliver 1 million meals to children in need every year. TFT first started in Japan featuring onigiri (riceballs), which celebrate rice as one of the major Japanese agricultural products, and showcases the Japanese tradition of making onigiri for loved ones.
Since its launch in 2015, the Onigiri Action campaign has provided over 10 million school meals.
The TABLE FOR TWO initiative was initiated by and is an official affiliate of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. As a non-profit organization which started in Japan and is expanding globally, TABLE FOR TWO USA has started the unique programs, Onigiri Action, Edamame Champ and Wa-Shokuiku -Learn. Cook. Eat Japanese!- featuring Japanese food culture to tackle critical health issues.
I
n our world of 8 billion, 750 million suffer from hunger while another 2.5 billion suffer from obesity and other health issues related to unhealthy eating. TABLE FOR TWO USA (TFT) is a 501(C)(3) organization that rights this global food imbalance through a unique meal-sharing program. TFT partners with corporations, restaurants, schools and other food establishments to serve healthy TFT- branded meals. For each one of these healthy meals served, $0.25 is donated to provide one school meal for a child in need.
On one side people are eating healthier meals, and on the other children in East Africa and low income neighborhoods in the US are receiving healthy school meals. It is in this way that TFT has served healthy meals to both sides of the “table” and helped to right the global food imbalance.
The TABLE FOR TWO initiative was initiated by and is an official affiliate of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. As a non-profit organization which started in Japan and is expanding globally, TABLE FOR TWO USA has started the unique programs, Onigiri Action, Edamame Champ and Wa-Shokuiku -Learn. Cook. Eat Japanese!- featuring Japanese food culture to tackle critical health issues.
CleanUp Kitsune (kit-soo-nay) is a volunteer, Japanese inspired, environmental performance art designed to generate waste awareness through culture and creativity. CleanUp Kitsune can be found at parks, events and various gatherings, collecting trash and littering kindness. We hope we inspire you to be more mindful about the waste you make and kindly ask for your help to keep our shared space clean.
Environmental Activism
C
leanUp Kitsune is a volunteer, Japanese inspired, environmental performance art designed to generate waste awareness through culture and creativity. CleanUp Kitsune can be found at parks, events and various gatherings, collecting trash and littering kindness.
CleanUp Kitsune is nonverbal, creating a unique experience for the senses. They utilize gestures to
communicate kindness, which can be understood in any language. Equipped with kitsune (ki-tsu-neh)
masks, bamboo basket backpacks and armed with trash pickers, they walk around events in costume,
cleaning up litter, pushing down trash bins, applauding for proper waste disposal, sharing sustainable
stickers, taking pictures with people & interacting with polite tomfoolery. Following most events, CleanUp
Kitsune details the experience, trash collections and recommendations for litter mitigation of each location on social media and includes posts of selfies with friends made along the way.
Since their launch in June of 2023, CleanUp Kitsune has since grown to encompass environmental
media, waste organization stations, The Happi Helpers Volunteer Program, host local cleanups like
Cosplay Cleanup, created up-cycled goods and have began partnering with businesses and organizations to generate consumer awareness. At the time of writing, CleanUp Kitsune has removed, sorted and responsibly disposed of approximately 45,900 pieces/282 lbs of litter and diverted over 2,000lbs of trash from landfills through their collection and waste organization stations. These two have cleaned up events like Comic Con, Renaissance Faires, Farmers Markets, Oktoberfest, Holiday Markets, Japanese Festivals, Environmental Events and can be found at Nisei Week LA, OC Japan Fair, Taste of Japan, and of course at their home location, The Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum in San Diego and all throughout Balboa Park, cleaning up litter and helping make outdoor events more waste aware.
Behind the masks. Creators Lila & Corey Cleary-Stoner are both full time environmentalists in San Diego
California. They are the co-founders of Allgoods, a 501c3 environmental media company. They are both
actors and have backgrounds in theatre, film, voiceover, music and education. With an affinity for
Japanese culture, they initially created elements of these costumes for Renaissance Faires. While
attending, they noticed how commonly trash was left behind and walked over by the public. Inspired by
their environmental nonprofit Allgoods, they further developed this creative solution that could speak to
consumerism in ways words cannot reach.
“Each of us have a responsibility to one another & our environment to keep our shared spaces clean. But
personally, we are happy to clean up after others. We are grateful we are able to give back in such a
unique way. People see us for the first time and we certainly capture their attention. They don’t quite know what to expect but often the moment they see us cleaning up trash, we capture their heart. It’s like
smiling, if you see someone smile aren’t you likely to smile back? Litter collecting can be contagious in
that way too.” -Lila & Corey
KAMISHIBAI (STORYBOX) brings international folk tales and other stories to life for people, from toddlers to teens and beyond. In this Japanese storytelling tradition, a professional storyteller reveals a series of illustrations as the narrative unfolds.
K
amishibai was invented Tokyo in 1929 to present stories to children on street-corners. Little wooden “theatres” were mounted on the back of bicycles which storytellers rode from corner to corner (and in the countryside, from village to village). The kamishibai-man clapped his wooden hyoshigi to announce his arrival. Children rushed to enjoy his stories…and to buy his candies. Those who purchased his candy sat in the front row. The stories were free.
Kamishibai grew rapidly nationwide, spawning competing syndicates that produced a steady supply of stories to thousands of kamishibai-ya (kamishibai storytellers) in every corner of Japan. It has been estimated that by 1938 there were as many as 50,000 kamishibai storytellers entertaining a million children a day.
During World War II, kamishibai was used by the government to disseminate propaganda. Because it moved easily even into bomb-shelters and devastated neighborhoods, kamishibai provided information and entertainment for both adults and children.
After the war, kamishibai remained robust until television reached Japan in 1954. In fact, television in Japan was called denki-kamishibai (or “electric kamishibai”). Suddenly kamishibai audiences dwindled. But as the number of street kamishibai decreased, the use of kamishibai in classrooms and libraries increased.
Today kamishibai in Japan is experiencing a resurgence. Many Japanese people have made it an avocation. They regularly perform kamishibai stories outdoors in parks and festivals. Others take kamishibai right into department stores to find an audience. This renewed energy is not limited to Japan. In more than 50 other countries – as diverse as Slovenia, Morocco, and Peru – kamishibai is being used to entertain and educate.
