Oct 10, 2026
JANM Kokoro Craft Show 2026 at Nishi Betsuin
Friends of the Japanese American National Museum host the 18th Kokoro Craft Show on Saturday, October 10, 2026, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji, 815 E First Street. Admission is free. More than 40 artisans.
Free admission
The 18th Kokoro Craft Show is Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, Nishi Betsuin, 815 East First Street in Little Tokyo. Admission is free. JANM’s event page is the lock. More detail and parking notes sit on kokorocraftshow.com.
Kokoro here means heart, mind, and spirit. Friends of the Japanese American National Museum invite more than 40 local artisans who handcraft or design. Proceeds from past shows have funded JANM education, culture, and volunteer programs. You are buying from makers in a temple hall, not walking the museum galleries.
JANM’s own building on Central Avenue is in renovation. That is why the show is at Nishi, a block south, not at 100 North Central. Check the Kokoro site for parking. Do not assume the museum garage is open the way it was for Natsumatsuri in August.
Nisei Week already ran in August. The next full festival on that site is 2027. This Saturday is the fall indoor market for people who missed the parade weekend. The same day, ESGVJCC Akimatsuri is 12:00 to 6:00 in West Covina, and Showa Alley is 2:00 to 9:00 in Gardena. Kokoro is the morning Little Tokyo room. OC Japan Fair is the following weekend in Costa Mesa if you want a fairgrounds Japan day.
Nishi Betsuin is Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji, the Jodo Shinshu temple that has sat on First Street since the community rebuilt after wartime incarceration. The hall is a temple gym and social room, not a white-cube fair. Shoes stay on unless a sign says otherwise. The Friends of JANM volunteer circle runs the tables. Ask them about the museum’s temporary hours if you also wanted the galleries.
First Street is walkable from Little Tokyo/Arts District Station on the A Line. Paid lots sit around 1st and Central. Temple lots are small. The show is six hours. Two hours and one maker table is enough if you are also eating on 1st. Saturday lunch on First or Second is the usual add-on. Do not count on a museum-cafe seat while the building is closed for renovation.
If you want a second Saturday stop, leave by early afternoon. Gardena’s Showa Alley does not open until 2:00, and the drive south is real. West Covina is the other free option if you live east.
Our take: go if you want a free Saturday in the neighborhood and you already like JANM’s friends-of circle. It is a craft room, not a matsuri. Pair it with lunch on 1st. Save Costa Mesa for the next weekend if you want the bigger Japan fairgrounds floor.
When: October 10, 2026, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Where: LA Hompa Hongwanji (Nishi Betsuin), 815 E First St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
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