Little Tokyo, also known as Little Tokyo Historic District, is an ethnically Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles and the heart of the largest Japanese-American population in North America. It is the largest and most populous of only three official Japantowns in the United States, all of which are in California. Founded around the beginning of the 20th century, the area, sometimes called Lil' Tokyo, J-Town, 小東京 (Shō-tōkyō), is the cultural center for Japanese Americans in Southern California. It was declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1995.
The Rafu Shimpo is a Japanese-English language newspaper based in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California and is the largest bilingual English-Japanese daily newspaper in the United States. As of February 2021, it is published online daily. In print publication is only on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Wakako Yamauchi was a Japanese American writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian-American theater.
James Yoshio Yoda was a Japanese-born American actor and businessman who played Takeo Fujiwara in the American television series McHale's Navy.
Irene Hirano Inouye was the founding President of the U.S.-Japan Council, a position she held ever since she helped create the organization in 2009 until her death. Hirano Inouye focused on building positive relations between the United States and Japan, and was also a leader in philanthropy, community engagement, and advancing social causes. She served on a number of prominent non-profit boards, and was chair of the Ford Foundation's board of trustees. She previously served as president and founding chief executive officer of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from 1988 to 2008, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.
Genny (Genevieve) Lim was born on 15 December 1946, in San Francisco, California. She is an American poet, playwright, and performer. She served as the Chair of Community Arts and Education Committee, and as Chair of the Advisory Board for the San Francisco Writers Corps. She has performed with Max Roach, Herbie Lewis, Francis Wong, and Jon Jang among others in San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Houston and Chicago.
Lia Chang is an American actress, journalist, and photographer. After beginning her career modeling and acting in New York and on tour, Chang added parallel careers as a portrait and botanical photographer and journalist.
Frances Kazuko Hashimoto was an American businesswoman, schoolteacher, and social activist. She was a key figure and proponent of Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood. She was the head of Mikawaya confectionery company since 1970, where Hashimoto, the inventor of mochi ice cream, also introduced the dessert to American consumers.
Karin Higa was a curator and specialist in Asian American art.
Chizuko Judy Sugita de Queiroz is an American artist and art educator; her paintings depict her memories of a childhood during the Japanese American internment.
Sakaye Shigekawa was an American physician who specialized in obstetrics. Born to Japanese-American parents, she was imprisoned and forced to live and work at an internment camp in California, providing medical care to fellow Japanese-American internees during World War II. She completed her training in Chicago before returning to Los Angeles in 1948, where she practiced for more than 50 years.
Naomi Hirahara is an American writer and journalist. She edited the largest Japanese-American daily newspaper, The Rafu Shimpo for several years. She is currently a writer of both fiction and non-fiction works and the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai mystery series.
Miiko Taka was an American actress, popular for her film and TV roles from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. Her best known role was as an elegant Japanese dancer starring opposite Marlon Brando in the Korean War drama Sayonara. She also acted in several other films and TV shows with fellow performers such as Miyoshi Umeki, James Garner, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, and Toshirō Mifune.
Shuko Akune is an American film, television and stage actress best known for such films and television series as E/R, Come See the Paradise, Alien Nation, Cruel Intentions 2, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Murphy Brown, and The Steve Harvey Show.
Esther Takei Nishio was an American woman from California, incarcerated at the Granada War Relocation Center in Colorado during World War II. She was the first Japanese-American student to enroll in a California university after returning from camp, in 1944, when she was chosen as a test case for resettlement.
Momoko Iko (1940–2020) was a Japanese-American playwright, best known for her 1972 play Gold Watch. She was also a founding member of the Asian Liberation Organization and the Pacific Asian American Women Writers West.
Takayo "Rose" Matsui Ochi was a Japanese-American attorney and civil rights activist notable for fighting for the approval of the Manzanar to become a National Historic Site and being the first Asian American woman to be appointed at the United States Assistant Attorney General level by President Bill Clinton, as well as being the first Asian American to be appointed to the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Kimiko Burton, formerly Kimiko Burton-Cruz, is an American attorney and government official. Burton is serving a second term as a member of the California State Personnel Board after having been reappointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019. From 2001 to 2003, Burton served as Public Defender of San Francisco.
Louise Suski was the first woman editor-in-chief and English-section editor-in-chief at the Japanese-English language newspaper Rafu Shimpo.
