Mottainai NEW

The Japanese American National Museum and Great Leap present MOTTAINAI, a fun-filled, informative day of performance, video screenings and participatory workshops celebrating World Environment Day. "Mottainai" is a Japanese word that loosely means "it's a shame to waste nature." The day opens and ends with "ORDER TO GO", a performance by members of Collaboratory, Great Leap's artist mentorship program. Directed by Dan Kwong, the show combines personal stories, poetry, puppetry and comedy to explore the conundrum of disposable containers and utensils. There will be a screening of Great Leap's music video "B.Y.O.CHOPSTIX", about the 100 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks we throw away every year and what we can do about it. In addition there will be creative and informative workshops for young and old to offer ideas of how to change our wasteful habits. Nobuko Miyamoto will lead a new Obon song and dance to help us remember, share and pass on the spirit of "mottainai" for all generations. Finally, MOTTAINAI the music video will have its premiere public screening before its internet release. A full day for a great cause!

Kenyan Nobel Prize Winner, Prof. Wangari Maathai has introduced "mottainai" to the international community and adopted it in her Green Belt Movement. Nobuko and Great Leap want to share it with the Los Angeleno community. World Environment Day is an initiative of the United Nations. In 2010 it was hosted in Rwanda and celebrated in events around the globe.