Little Tokyo: History, Memory, and Community Change

Abstract

“Meanings of Community in Little Tokyo” is a report created through collaboration with the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) – a community development corporation – and a class in the Department of Critical Theory and Social Justice (CTSJ) at Occidental College – CTSJ: 257: Critical Praxis: Voice, Memory, and Community Transformation. Through a series of sixteen interviews with business owners, residents, and individuals from community organizations, this research aims to paint a picture of the Little Tokyo community’s collective voice. In light of continuing and future redevelopment of the area, developing a comprehensive understanding of the experiences and views of one of Little Tokyo’s most vital assets
– its people – is a piece of a larger effort to document the landscape of the neighborhood at the outset of major changes that are set to occur.