J-town Voice Pushes Foward Little Tokyo

by Mike Liu
7/4/04

from J-town Voice flyer

Things are looking up for the survival of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. J-town Voice and other community organizations have won a series of successes for the community. Over the past year, the community

• Defeated a city proposal to build a 500–bed jail
• Broke ground for a new elderly housing project
• Awaits the re-opening of the Far East Café, a center of past community life, this year
• Saw long worked for construction begin on the Little Tokyo Public Library
• Anticipates designation of a site for another long-fought-for project, the Recreational Center

However, dangers to the continuing survival of Little Tokyo still exist. As Kei Nagao and Tony Osumi of J-town Voice said in a recently in Rafu Shimpo, “One immediate issue – where the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) Parker Center administrative building is rebuilt – could either add to the revival or put it and J-town’s future at risk.” The Parker Center proposal is a continuation is the city’s destruction and intrusion into the Little Tokyo community over the past several decades (see JTV article). Additional the expansion of the adjoining commercial Toy District is another threat.

J-town Voice is a multi-generational volunteer organization of activists, which has been more openly challenging development interests and the city in order to save Little Tokyo. It first came to notice by leafleting and protesting at a local arts festival for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). MOCA and other arts group opposed the construction of the Little Tokyo Recreational Center. J-town Voice has also been organizing tours to build support among students for the preservation of Little Tokyo. J-town Voice amplifies a necessary voice that seeks human needs before profit and demands justice for a long-exploited community. It will need to grow louder alongside other voices to assure Little Tokyo’s survival.