Contents: Year of the Ox, Little Tokyo New Year, ALA 09 Winner, Get Published!, Contests and Freebies, PMX on Facebook/Twitter

Chinese New Year (also known as Lunar New year or Spring Festival) is one of the most important holidays celebrated in the Chinese tradition. It is also commonly celebrated in other Asian cultures such as Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. In 2009, Chinese New Year is celebrated on January 26. The celebration starts on a New Moon and ends with the Lantern Festival on the Full Moon fifteen days later.

The Chinese calendar has a 12-year cycle. All 12 signs of the Zodiac are represented by animals. The year 2009 is the Year of the Ox. The Ox is the symbol for prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Traditionally, people born under the influence of the Ox are thought to be kind, caring souls, logical, positive, and filled with common sense and security.

The holiday is celebrated with big family gatherings, gift giving, the eating of symbolic foods and display of festive decorations--all focused on bringing good luck for the new year and celebrating the coming of Spring. It is common for adults to give red envelopes (or packets) to young children. The red envelopes usually contain money in the amount of an even number. The number 6 or 8 are considered very lucky in terms of wealth. Wearing red clothing during the New Year celebrations will scare away evil spirits and bad fortunes

New Year parades are celebrated with fireworks to drive away evil spirits. The dragon and/or lion dances on the streets also are performed to scare away evil spirits. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City are some of the U.S. cities that have annual New Year celebrations.

PMX wishes everyone a Happy New Year!

Oshogatsu in Little Tokyo New Year Celebration
by Paula Angeles, PMX Staff

On January 1, 2009, Little Tokyo in Los Angeles was hopping with celebration. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California sponsored the annual event "Oshogatsu in Little Tokyo" which brought out thousands of people from all over the Southland for a day of Japanese culture immersion. Many locations throughout Little Tokyo hosted various performances and demonstrations, from karate and taiko drum performances to the ever popular mochi-pounding square. Even the Koyasan Buddhist Temple, a hidden jewel tucked away under the shadow of the Miyako Hotel, opened its' doors to the public. This was where you can get annual lucky arrows and talismans for a donation.

There were so many wonderful things to see and do during the Oshogatsu that four hours weren't enough to take it all in. With that, we will let the pictures do the storytelling.

Folk songs being sung. (Click to enlarge photo.)	Food vendors at Weller Court (Click to enlarge photo.)
Weller Court main stage (Click to enlarge photo.)	Wishes at the Koyasan Buddhist Temple (Click to enlarge photo.)
Study talisman (Click to enlarge photo.)	Take your aggression out by pounding mochi! (Click to enlarge photo.)

Winner Announcement! PMX Survey at Anime Los Angeles 2009
Michelle Krumm won two PMX 2009 Full badge memberships by taking our survey at ALA 09 in early January! Congratulations, Michelle! :D

Get Published! PMX Monthly Newsletter Submission Guidelines
Are you an aspiring writer, photographer, manga or graphic artist, or videographer/reporter? Contribute to our monthly newsletter! Build your writing/artist porfolio or clip file with PMX! If you want to get published, you have to start somewhere, right? Not only that, if your piece is chosen, we'll give you five of our limited edition PMX buttons! These buttons are never for sale. They are earned! :D

We are looking for articles about the following subjects in Asian and Asian American pop culture:

- Country profiles (i.e., Korea, China)
- Celebrity sightings (with photos - not at a convention)
- Book reviews
- Movie reviews
- Album reviews
- Artist reviews
- Concert/club performances/live reviews (not in a convention)
- Restaurant reviews
- Community profiles (i.e., Little Tokyo, Koreatown)
- Festival reports (i.e., Nisei Week)
- Fashion reports
- Trend reports
- Asian holiday/celebration/tradition reports (i.e., Midnight Mass for Filipinos)
- Anime/Manga/Pop culture news (i.e., Spanish translation of classic anime in Equador)
- and many others!

Just submit your article to our editors and we'll pick the best ones. If we pick your piece, congratulations! You are now a published writer/artist!

Submissions must be 250-350 words in length. If you're submitting a video, please make sure it is under 10 minutes long. If you're submitting an image, please make sure you have legal rights to distribute this image. No anonymous submissions will be accepted. If you want to become a regular contributor, please let us know! We'll be more than happy to support your dream!

Please send your submissions to editors(at)pacificmediaexpo(dot)com.

Contests and Freebies

Freebies for February only: PMX is currently giving away pocket calendars in packs of 10 for individuals and 25 or more for anime or Asian culture clubs! Hurry! Calendars are limited and when we run out at the end of the month, we won't get them again until January 2010! Email marketing(at)pacificmediaexpo(dot)com your name, club name, and mailing address. Please indicate if you're an individual or getting calendars for a club.

Freebies for the rest of the year: Does your club need stuff to raffle off during special meetings/events? PMX gets all sorts of stuff from anime companies. Let us know when your special meeting/event is and we’ll see what we can give you. Give us a two week leadtime though. Email us at marketing-at-pacificmediaexpo(dot)com and we'll send you stuff right away!

Contest deadline March 31, 2009! PMX is having our first ever Button Design Contest! One stipulation: your design must fit in a one-inch round button. Send us your name and your design by email at marketing(at)pacificmediaexpo(dot)com and we'll post your design on our forums so that everyone can judge which design is the best. The winner gets 25 buttons with their design (because buttons are never for sale, only earned) and a pair of PMX 2009 Full badge memberships! Send all submissions to marketing(at)pacificmediaexpo(dot)com.

Last Call! We also have a monthly raffle that ends at midnight, January 31, 2009. This month's prize is a framed, autographed Suicide Ali postcard! Go to http://www.PacificMediaExpo.com to enter.

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