Just picked up Vol. 1 Issue 2 of Tucson Happenings at the Joel D. Valdez Main library. Never did see issue 1, which must have debuted on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. This issue 2 is dated February 21 and covers a weekly calendar from Thursday to Wednesday.

They say they are a free “weekly reference guide to what’s going on in Tucson and Southern Arizona”, website is www.tucsonhappenings.com. The Founders/Publishers are David and Carrie Francis, business address is 3961 E. Speedway, Suite 410, Tucson 85712.

Issue 2 has interesting articles about Crystalline Treasures of China, artist Nikki Bellio, the 31st Annual Peace Fair, Arizona Animal Fair, The Benefits of Thermal Imaging in Monitoring Heart Health, Alamos Torrontes (Argentinean wine), plus more. There even is a very detailed daily event calendar for the week’s happenings. The magazine is divided into these categories: Art & Culture, Events, Calendar, Health, Faith & Spirituality, Food & Beverage, Home & Garden.

From their website:

Think where to go and what to do is reserved for the weekends? Think again. Monday through Friday are now prime-time for your customers to plan where to go and what to do. Tucson Happenings will be your customers “Go-to-Guide” for arts and entertainment in the greater Tucson area. Tucson Happenings is like a “TV Guide” of local events for all of southern Arizona. Readers of all ages will be picking-up Tucson Happenings to plan their day, week or weekend. Your customers will eagerly go back for the guide they simply cannot live without. More readership means your business or non-profit stays top-of-mind.

So if you want to submit events, send them to events@tucsonhappenings.com, or an article about your special event to Carrie@tucsonhappenings.com. Call 520-620-9100 for more information.

Check out this new weekly Tucson Happenings, wherever you find it in town.

For over a year I have been on a “central council” of members from the Southern Arizona Japanese community which has been organizing in the attempt to form an inclusive group to promote Japanese culture. The group is composed of Japanese Americans, Japanese Nationals, their families, and anyone else interested in the language, arts, culture of Japan.

The Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition (SAJCC) is established to unify the greater Japanese community in Tucson and Southern Arizona. The SAJCC shall be an organization for Japanese American families and individuals, Japanese Nationals and their families, people and organizations promoting the Japanese language, arts, and cultural activities, and anyone interested in Japanese culture. The SAJCC is meant to be inclusive.

As part of the SAJCC, we have launched a website, www.southernazjapan.org, highlighting the January 2013 grand opening of the Yume Japanese Gardens at 2130 N. Alvernon Way, where our group has been meeting. We hope to be able to sponsor events at that beautiful garden created by Executive director/founder Patricia Deridder, who lived in Japan for 15 years.

The website has a directory of Japanese cultural and educational groups as a resource, a calendar of ongoing activities and flyers of upcoming events, information about Japanese culture in Southern Arizona, such as the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site on the road up to Mt. Lemmon.

I’ve posted a few of my previous articles from the www.Tucsoncitizen.com/community on this website, as I’ve been covering Japanese cultural issues for over three years now, such as the annual speech contest in April, dance & taiko performances, the monthly origami club meetings, koi association tour events. I also teach hanafuda (flower card game) at the Tucson Japanese Culture & Origami Meetup group on the 1st Saturday of the month (or when I able to attend).

Upcoming: Shakuhachi (bamboo flute) concert at the Yume Japanese Gardens on March 8, and the 11th Annual Japanese Speech Contest on April 20 at Pima Community College West campus. The latter will have booths/exhibitions from the various aspects of Japanese culture: go board game, origami, koi, temari balls, food, martial arts, kyudo (archery), calligraphy, ikebana, taiko drumming, etc. I look forward to eating arare snack crackers every year at this speech contest, and listening to the talented young people speak Japanese.

Please check out our SAJCC website and please let us know of any events or topics of interest to the Japanese community, such as movies, art shows, cultural events.

85th Annual Academy Awards
Academy Awards Host: Seth MacFarlane

Oscar Experience® Tucson 2013 is Tucson’s only Oscar event officially sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This highly coveted event will once again take place at the Fox Tucson Theatre, a meticulously restored 1930′s movie palace. This year’s theme will honor James Bond and will feature “Bond-related” adventure packages for raffle, memorabilia silent auction and “Bond Girls.” Guests are encouraged to partake in the fun by donning their glitziest glam for the stroll down the “red carpet” and enjoy the Parade of Stars fashion presentation with local celebs.

Inside, all guests will enjoy themed refreshments, a silent auction, a live band in our “Speak Easy” downstairs reception area (new this year) and the opportunity to view the 85th Academy Awards broadcast commercial free on our big screen. VIP Guests ($125 and up, see below) also get priority seating as well as access to our VIP lounge areas, including hors d’oeuvres from downtown’s best restaurants, drink tickets, dessert and coffee. Please join us.

Sunday, February 24, 2013
Local program host: Greg Gurule of KGUN9 Good Morning Tucson
5:00 pm — VIP doors open
5:30 pm — General Admission
6:00 Program Begins
Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St., Tucson. Valet parking available.

Tucson’s Exclusive Oscar Experience® Tucson 2013 event is officially sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in association with KGUN9/ABC.

To purchase tickets go to the Fox website, click here. Tickets range from $25 to $1,000. Watch the videos online of previous Oscar Nights at the gorgeous Fox Theatre.