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SAN JOSE — It’s that time of year again. With Jan. 1 fast approaching, Wesley United Methodist Church, 566 N. 5th St. in Japantown, is having its annual mochitsuki fundraiser.

Those who would like fresh mochi to celebrate a traditional Japanese New Year should get their orders in early. The church will be making the traditional komochi along with noshimochi and osonae this year.

Orders will be taken from Dec. 8 to Dec. 29 — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call the church office at (408) 295-0367.

"Bits of Paradise," a work-in-progress adapted by Marian Warren from the Crusaders' scrapbook, will be presented Monday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh Theatre, 1062 Valencia St. in San Francisco.

The play, part of a Monday night series of new works, is based on the work of teenage Japanese American girls in the internment camps who wrote letters to the Nisei soldiers fighting in Europe and the Pacific to keep their spirits up.

Nikkei and Retirement will usher in the holiday season with a luncheon on Saturday, Dec. 13, at 12 noon at Shima Sushi Restaurant, 601 Van Ness at Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco's Opera Plaza.

Entertainment chair Cal Kitazumi has announced that a dazzling array of Nikkei talent will dispense holiday cheer with all-time favorite yuletide songs.

Guests will have a choice of combination bento lunches: (A) chicken teriyaki and tempura, (B) saba shioyaki and tonkatsu, or (C) beef teriyaki and tuna sashimi.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) charity Rainbow World Fund (RWF) announce plans to unveil the Tree of Hope in a unique public dedication ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 5:30 p.m. at San Francisco’s City Hall Rotunda, 1 Dr.Carlton Goodlett Place (Polk) between Grove and McAllister.