One for the Road

The Vixyns played a “sayonara” concert of sorts at a packed Old Towne Pub in Pasadena on July 15. The show was the last before the rock band takes a hiatus, as lead vocalist Veronica Ota (above, with bassist Vincent Nguyen) departed on the year-long Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, which is operated by the Japanese government and over the past 30 years has stationed more than 60,000 educators from over 40 countries throughout Japan to teach young people. Ota, the 2015 Nisei Week first princess, is living and working in Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. (MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS/Rafu Shimpo)