Very interesting concept though not the first shopping mall to host one on Oahu since Shirokiya…read moreused to host a small one at the center stage at Ala Moana Center. This one was much bigger. [BON DANCE] They had a class explaining how to dance some songs before the bon dance. Then during the dance it rotated between recorded music with Koolau Sakura Odori Kai and then live music by Aiea Taiheiji Yagura Gumi. [FOOD] In addition to special items at various mall vendors the Windward Buddhist Temple sold andagi, takuan and boiled peanuts. The food sold out relatively fast. By the time I got there around 1pm they were already sold out of boiled peanuts. I know I will probably get in trouble for say thing this but something about the andagi was little bit off today and in true local fashion I confirmed this by asking friends try taste this does it seem off to you. It wasn't bad it's just not the andagi that I know and love from them. Why the 5 star review? This is their first year doing it and seeing how smoothly it seemed to go was outstanding. Hopefully it only gets better from here and becomes a tradition at the mall.

Celebrating the culture…read more.. No one does it like the Okinawan Festival as this year they've done it again and what an amazing event. Keeping at the Hawaii Convention Center is a real struggle to get to though the cool air conditioned venue with lots of seating provided to watch the entertainment and to enjoy your foodie feast does make it a fun and festive place to celebrate it all. In the past it has been outdoors at Kapiolani Park which in my opinion was much more difficult to enjoy it all so this is a refreshing chance of scenery and this year it's all in one level so you don't need to find the various rooms upstairs to shop for the merchandise and view the historic background of it all. The countless volunteers and groups made it a fun for all ages as we actually wanted to play some of the children's games shows how fun it truly was. I did get to peek in the Awamori Garden which was lovely oasis to get an adult sip along with some exclusive snacks found only in that area though with countless areas to browse including the craft section it was a great experience and can't wait for 2025. Thank you!

I purchased a one day entrance ticket online and it was easy getting scanned and in. Parked at Ala…read moreMoana and paid what I feel was exorbitant prices for parking ($16.75 for 3 hours-I miss the days of free parking). The layout is well organized but I wish the signs were bigger. Got my haul from Hapa House, Sumofish, and my andagi and okidogs. No bon dance this year, but still a fun outing!

It's begining to look alot like Christmas after attending the annual tree lighting ceremony held at…read morethe Castle Medical Center (now known as Adventist Health Medical Center) in Kailua. Folks could ride the trolley from Kailua town or park in nearby neighborhoods. Entertainment by the US Marine Band and the Makaha Sons provided a festive holiday mood. Cheerful volunteers handed out caramel popcorn, gingerbread cookies, and hot chocolate. Everyone participated in the countdown to the lighting of the giant Christmas tree and surrounding lights, followed by the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus in a horse drawn sleigh. Nothing like watching the joys of Christmas through the eyes of children! Truly an enjoyable family friendly event.

One our FAVORITE Christmas traditions We love the trolley ride from Longs to Castle Medical and the…read morefamily fun festivities with hot cocoa and popcorn! Really enjoyed the arts & crafts, games and photo booth this year!

Another JCCH fair today 04/13/24. Great vendors with a variety of wares and goods…read more Crafters, bakers, taiko drum groups, food trucks and more. Prices vary according to vendors. Antiques are sold here as well. The JCCH shop has great items old and new. Today the Boy's Day dolls are half off! Everyone I came into contact with today was courteous, friendly and full of Aloha. Picked up a few items and lunch of course.

Attended a lecture at the Japanese Cultural Center. Has a spacious parking facility. Validated…read moreparking rate for the evening was $8 - sort of high but you have piece of mind that your car will be safe. There are many homeless near the Cultural Center. One pay machine has the credit card picture wrong - card strip is faced down- not facing up like in the machine pic. Large bathrooms, nice views of the city from the second floor. Great venue for a function.

I almost dont want to write this review because this is a really great event and at the moment it…read moreis not super extremely crowded but I think it deserves MANY stars. My family hasn't pounded mochi in about 35 years and I wanted to have my daughter experience it. I wasn't really expecting much from this event. My friend invited us to go to it and I was hesitant but somewhat excited to go since it has been a while since I saw or pounded mochi. Met my sister and her family and decided that we would pound together. 10 dollars and about a 2 hour wait (eating ono food and looking at the open market) later we were pounding mochi. It was pretty amazing to have that many people able to pound mochi (100 families). And it went pretty smoothly too. There was about 5 usu going at the same time and it was a sight to see. From smashing the rice all the way to pounding and shaping the balls (haha), it was really amazing. I would say go early, before the 9am opening. But wait, like all YELP reviews I gotta talk about the food! Yaki Mochi - 2$ (yes, 2 dollars) - big piece of mochi and nori! WIN! Sweet Red Bean Mochi - 2$ - again, lots of sweet red azuki beans and huge mochi! WIN again Oden - 5$ - 3 piece soft beef, egg, 3 daikon, konyakku, etc... oh man, this one was a super win. Chicken Yakitori - 2 for 5$ - my daughter inhaled them and loved it. Must have been good. There was also other food choices that I didn't try but all of the things we tried were GREAT! Bathrooms were plentiful and the parking on the grass was availiable. Pounding the mochi with my family really was a bonding experience. I loved it and it really brought me back to a simpler time of family, friends, and togetherness. LOTS and LOTS of props to the Honbushin Church for offeing this to the public. I will be coming back every year if at all possible. Hope to see you all there! Ok, wait, not ALL of you. haha! Happy NEW Year!

Who would have thought that this church was all the way nestled up in the hills of Mililani! Their…read moreannual New Years Mochitsuki festival had so much to do! They have family mochi pounding, a farmers market, cotton candy, home made fruit drinks fresh from their garden, and great music! although the selection of food is not very big, you don't need to have a big selection when everything tastes so great! The home made Oden was unlike any other oden i've eaten and it was probably my favorite one i've had. The Tonjiru (pork based soup with veggies) was full of flavor and this was my kids' personal favorite. The fresh mochi was super soft and came with a variety of flavors like Yaki (shoyu with nori), azuki, kinako (peanut powder), or peanut butter and honey. But the best thing about this event is the family mochi pounding! If you dont get here early though the spots can fill up quickly. But it was great to have my kids try pounding their own fresh mochi from scratch. They all had a lot of fun and we will definitely make this an annual tradition!

So fun! Support local! Love that they now have time frames…read morefor entry - got in super fast! No long line. Hope they continue with this practice next year. They do offer shuttles and a perpetuity pass if you purchase the priority pass bundle (ticket and pass), but it doesn't include cost of parking and parking isn't guaranteed. Just a separate entrance when you get to the event. Tip if you are going on Saturday, is go in the early afternoon on Saturday instead of later in the afternoon. (We had the 1pm-2pm time slot.) It was crowded and busy but not too bad. Plenty of vendors, good variety of goods being sold. Clothing, jewelry, food, pet clothing, art, and more. They added more vendors on the 3rd floor, so there was an abundance of choices. Did some Christmas and birthday shopping, also got some omiyage to send to the mainland. Happy! Was well worth the cost of the entry ticket. Will go again next year!

While there were a lot of vendors, the ticket/guest management side of this event wasn't well…read moremanaged. The supposed "VIP" experience was anything but that-- incredibly long line to get in, long lines inside, and limited inventory. There was absolutely nothing special about this $25 entry. The regular entry days were less crowded and the inventory was restocked on those days as well. I was incredibly disappointed and frustrated.

Gooood, I love this annual event. It's a great free festival for all ages…read more Free shuttles from Honolulu Community College are avaiable so you don't have to look for parking. Terrific restaurants like Nico's and Uncle's are opened to the public and of course there are smaller vendors like KC hot dogs. You gotta have a KC hot dog. Great demonstrations throughout the festival but the best are inside the "block". Tons of different fishes on ice to show what type they are and "Let's Go Fishing" had a nice presentation as you walk in. You have to drop by and visit Master Naoki Nayashi, yes he is the Master of gyotako. No ones does it like Naoki Nayashi. Bring an umbrella, it's always hot out there and bring lots of water or you can purchase bottle water or sodas for $2.

This was the first time I attended this event. I expected the festival to be much larger, given…read moreHawaii's fishing tradition, so I was a little disappointed. Still, the fish display inside the auction building was very impressive. I saw a few of the local fishing show celebrities and got a chance to say hello to one of them, so being smaller has its advantages as well. The shuttle buses were a great idea, but parking at the community college was tight.

Ric's- short attention span review:…read more 2017 was their 8th annual festival. Small in terms of what one would expect of a festival. Mostly food trucks, snacks with a sprinkling of service booths with information. (Yelp had their booth, yay!) There was a small entertainment stage area on the mauka side of the fest. Auahi street was blocked off roughly from between Nordstrom Rack and Agu Ramen. Area was really packed, hard to maneuver. No place to sit and eat in the fest. footprint. Most people ate standing up or took their goodies and sat by the Nordstrom/TJ Max area. A little more space with a couple of portable tables and benches would have been nice. Most interesting food offering: the pineapple fried rice with shrimp topping. A half pineapple boat stuffed with fried rice and topped with shrimp. Big enough for two, $13. Not a festival I would go out of my way for. But if in the area, why not?

Parking was horrendous, we spent maybe 20 minutes circling around the parking garage floors before…read morewe got lucky. At least it was free. Rice fest was set for 3-9 pm. We arrived around 5 ish & it was still dreadfully hot. Dozens of vendors were there so I was excited to explore, it was pretty lively with entertainment and games to support Meals on wheels. Some vendors accepted card purchases & some were cash only...luckily I had a $20 What's disappointing was a few booths had "sold out" signs & it was only 5 pm. My favorite booths: I can't recall the name but it's the booth with rolled ice cream? The strawberry mochi was amazing!!! The horchata ice cream was yummy too & im usually not a fan of the drink. Lines were long for the corn booth, I got the Mexican corn & it was delicious! Corn came from the bulk packs you get from Costco. We got our BBQ plate at Chamorro grindz around 6 ish & they ran out of their signature red rice, definite bummer. If I knew before I ordered, it would have definitely impacted my decision to eat there. Kelaguen was good, BBQ ribs were ok. Ulu's lemonade: refreshing as always. Favorites are rob's special (favorite?) and blue hawaii. To be completely honest, I don't know if I'll return next year. This was my first year and it was just way too hot and pricey. Major plus was there were dozens of dogs, win!!!