07/02/2025
"When I first heard that a developer was proposing to construct a massive project at the corner of 4th Street and Central Avenue on the edge of Little Tokyo, I instinctively shuddered.
As someone who has spent over 50 years working first for my family’s business, The Rafu Shimpo, and then for the Japanese American National Museum, and now volunteering for the Little Tokyo Community Council (LTCC), the word “developer” is not a synonym for “friend.” In fact, for most of Little Tokyo’s 140-year history, our historic neighborhood has had few friends.
Over 100 years ago, my grandfather Toyosaku became the publisher of The Rafu Shimpo with its printing plant near the corner of Los Angeles Street and First. Little Tokyo was the center of his life and he was a community leader who urged Japanese Americans to cooperate with authorities as relations between the U.S. and Japan worsened in the late 1930s.
When World War II began, the U.S. government rewarded his efforts by sending the FBI to his house. They took him away from our family so that they could unfairly imprison him until 1946.
After Toyosaku’s imprisonment, his eldest Nisei son Akira (my uncle) was thrust into the role of publisher. In the face of the imminent illegal mass removal and incarceration of all persons of Japanese ancestry in 1942, Akira knew his duty as the eldest son was to figure out how he would restart the family business when the war was over.
While in camp, Uncle Aki wrote letters to former employees, urging them to return to Little Tokyo so that The Rafu Shimpo could resume its work. That the first postwar edition of the newspaper was printed on Jan. 1, 1946, is a tribute to my uncle’s determination.
It also represented the perseverance of Japanese Americans in reviving our historic neighborhood, despite the government’s efforts to break up our community forever."
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"It is likely that a new developer will have similar attitudes as Continuum and will not feel obligated to engage the local stakeholders in their concerns. But if the lessons from my Uncle Aki’s story along with our families’ return from camp to Little Tokyo have taught us anything, it is that giving up is not an option.
If our Issei and Nisei ancestors had everything taken away from them and still rebuilt Little Tokyo, we must do our part to defend their legacy and our community today. When the time comes, we as a community should all work together for what is right, no matter how great a challenge.
Stay tuned."
By CHRIS KOMAI When I first heard that a developer was proposing to construct a massive project at the corner of 4th Street and Central Avenue on the edge of Little Tokyo, I instinctively shuddered. As someone who has spent over 50 years working first for my family’s business, The Rafu Shimpo, and...
