Essay On Little Tokyo

Little Tokyo, Big Changes: The Reinvention of Little Tokyo in the 21st century

Little Tokyo, which consists of approximately four acres and five large city blocks in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, is one of the most culturally rich and diverse historic districts in Los Angeles in addition to being one of three remaining Japantowns in the United States. Established in the late 19th century, Little Tokyo was once home to tens of thousands of Japanese immigrants as well as one of the largest Japanese American populations in the United States. Over the years, Little Tokyo has been faced with stratification and contradictions in the form of overt discrimination and the internment of Japanese people during WWII. These contradictions have resulted in the transformation/reinvention of Little Tokyo from a thriving Japanese immigrant community, to “Bronzeville” following the outbreak of WWII, to the important historic, cultural, and civic center that is today. Although the Japanese American Population is not as large as it once was, Little Tokyo is still the cultural heart of Los Angeles’s Japanese American population. However, due in part to the recent boom in downtown residential construction, little Tokyo is on the cusp on another transformation. Although Little Tokyo is portrayed as a cultural space for Japanese Americans in Southern California, it is developing into a leisure space . This process is being sped up by the addition of the Metro Little Tokyo/Arts District Gold Line station and by plans to add a Blue Line Station. Nevertheless, the Little Tokyo Community Council (LTCC) and the Little Tokyo Business Association (LTBA) are working to develop a vision for neighborhood sustainability that “respects and enhances the neighbo...

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...ainment, Japanese culture, and shopping in the form of Japanese themed outdoor shopping malls, the Japanese American National museum, a handful of Buddhist temples, public murals that ooze culture and history, and an endless number of ramen establishments. Many experts talk about how contradictions bring about change and eventually reinvention, but the interesting thing about Little Tokyo is that the change is actually the source of new contradictions as the neighborhood struggles to maintain its cultural identity while also expanding and transforming to attract more leisure seekers. There is no question that change will occur in Little Tokyo, the question is, as F. Kaid Benfield puts it, “whether that change can be managed so that it inures to the benefit of Asian-American residents, institutions and businesses, and whether it will be environmentally sustainable.”