The Changing Face of L.A.’s Little Tokyo
November 29, 2007
A new wave of multicultural investors, residents and visitors is transforming Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, the largest of three major Japantowns left in California.
Many of Little Tokyo’s major properties have changed hands to non-Japanese owners.
Now the community’s eyes are trained on the city’s request for proposals to buy and develop its last large land parcel in the Little Tokyo area known as the Mangrove site.
Recently, the influential Little Tokyo Community Council voted to support a Japanese American-led development team in the bidding process.
The team is proposing a complex of market-rate housing, office space and retail shops, showcasing Japan’s modern face of technology and design.
Project leader Jon Kaji said the Mangrove project was the last best chance for the community to control its own development destiny.
At the same time, however, community leaders say that Little Tokyo can no longer depend solely on ethnic Japanese for survival, even if it wanted to.
— Los Angeles Times
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I hope the spirit of little Tokyo continues no matter what the owners ethnic back ground maybe. We must preserve it to honor the last generation and to remind the future generations our unique back ground.
Dear Sirs:
In view of the 1980’s to 1990’s to 2000’s
huge decline in Japan to US trade
deficits, the Japan Towns of
LA and San Francisco, have
both economically declined in
direct proportion.
Economically, this factor
is largely due to the average
manufacturing wage in Japan
rising to above US levels, while
the very low average manufacturing
wages in first S. Korea, and then
the PRC, have lured the massive
annual US trade deficits, and a
boom in trade between the US
and these Asian nations.
The 1990’s to 2000’s decline of
the Japanese banks in the US,
and the rise of the Chinese and
S. Korean banks, is also a
direct consequence of
re-circulating the massive
US-Asian trade deficits
with US bank loans.
The Chinese and S. Korean towns
of CA have also boomed as a
direct economic consequence, while
the Japan towns of CA have
economically declined from
1990 to the 2000’s, the years
of the huge Japanese recession.
I recommend that in order to
preserve the historic and cultural
Japan towns in both LA, and
San Francisco, while also
giving emphasis to realistic
economic development, that
a “Pan Asian theme” or a ‘Taste
of Asia” or a “Corner of Asia”
theme, would preserve at least
‘one corner’ of LA and S.F.
Japan towns, for American-Japanese
culture, symbolically anchored in LA
by the Japanese American National
Museum, and symbolically anchored
in S.F. by a ‘taste of Asia corner’ of
the Japanese Trade Center.
Sincerely,
Sam Stew