A dozen clowns from Japan and the United States entertained patients and families at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx Thursday. Here, Japanese Hospital Clown Team President Kosuke Omune works his act on 6-year-old Meaghan Peterkin.

Patient Emarie Ortiz, 7 years old, balances a spinning plate on a stick.

Clowns...