3rd Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

Sept. 12, 2016 - Aug. 23, 2017

The Little Tokyo Historical Society’s third short story contest has concluded with more creative stories related to the Little Tokyo community. As in the previous year, there were winners in the English language category, the Japanese language, and also the Youth category with cash prizes for the First Place winners. This year there was a special donation made by the Bunkado gift shop located in Little Tokyo in celebration of Bunkado’s 70th Anniversary of doing business after World War II.

Winners

English Language Category: “Last Master of Go” by Joe Wocoski
Youth Category: “Kumiko With Hidden Worlds” by Sarena Kuhn
Japanese Language Category: “Obon to machi to ojiichan (Obon, the Town, and Grandpa)” by Shirley Watanabe-Nishida (Japanese only)

Runner Ups

English Language Category: “Merry Christmas Mario-san” by Rubén Guevara
Youth Category: “Home is Little Tokyo” by Yuriko Chavez
Japanese Language Category:
- “Father & Daughter and Little Tokyo” by Akira Tsurukame
- “Fusion City” by Takiko Morimoto

*Read stories from other Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contests:

1st Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
2nd Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
4th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
5th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
6th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
7th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
8th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
9th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
10th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>

fiction Little Tokyo

Stories from this series

Home is Little Tokyo

Aug. 23, 2017 • Yuriko Chavez

Year: 2082 It was quite an unusual action for Takeo to venture out into the streets of Los Angeles. The old man was reserved and reticent, only making small talk to a few. Usually he stayed home, painting and reading books. Yet today, he felt different. He felt he needed to go to Little Tokyo, as if a string of fate was pulling him to a place he needed to be. Takeo firmly believed in fate. Ever since he was …

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“MERRY CHRISTMAS, MARIO-SAN”

Oct. 3, 2016 • Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara

Little Tokyo, 1989 One night, Mario Martinez, a struggling musician from Boyle Heights, was sitting in a booth at the Atomic Café in Little Tokyo when punk god Sid Vicious walked in with his entourage and ordered fried rice. Suddenly rice balls were flying through the air but no one seemed to mind or notice. It wasn’t unusual for that kind of craziness. Other punk bands would come by such as X, The Bags, The Ramones, even David Bowie and …

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3rd Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

Obon, the town, and my grandfather

Sept. 26, 2016 • Shirley Watanabe-Nishida

On Saturday morning, I woke up by myself, which was unusual for me. Mom "Oh, how unusual." She told me to get ready to go out. I told my mom who was driving. "Where are you going?" I heard. "What are you talking about? Today is Obon day at kindergarten and I told you I'd be helping out." That's right, today is Obon at Higashi Honganji Temple, where I go. I'll ask them to buy me some cupcakes at the …

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Kumiko with Hidden Worlds

Sept. 19, 2016 • Sarena Kuhn

He strolled leisurely through the Japanese Village Plaza, squinting slightly in the light of a five-till-noon sun. Gone were the hustle and bustle of the weekend, replaced by the tranquil aura known only by a Tuesday morning in Little Tokyo. At the smell of fresh imagawayaki, his fingers danced around his wallet with indecisiveness. No, I came here for one reason. Reassured, he confidently strode through the doors of the market, making a beeline to a familiar shelf with the …

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The Last Master of Go

Sept. 12, 2016 • Joe Wocoski

In the last edition of The Rafu Shimpo newspaper it was written, “Kazuki Tsukuyomi, the Last Master of Go, lived just long enough to witness the total lunar eclipse of August 11, 2185 and then passed quietly out of existence along with the last remnants of Little Tokyo. Kazuki Tsukuyomi was 124 years old when he died. It was in this manner that the long protracted twenty year legal battle over the Japanese American National Museum came to an end. …

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Authors in This Series

Yuriko Chavez

Yuriko Chavez was born and raised in Southern California. She is of Japanese and Mexican descent, and finished "Home is Little Tokyo" on her 14th birthday. She has always been passionate about writing ever since she was in kindergarten. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, crocheting and exploring with her friends Sofia and Charlotte. She dreams of one day publishing her own novel.

Updated August 2017

Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara

Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara is a native Angelino and over the past 50 years has worked as a musician, record producer, journalist, poet, film actor, playwright-performance-theater artist, teacher, and activist. He is a UCLA graduate in World Arts & Cultures and lives and works in Boyle Heights. www.tantrikfunk.net.

Updated October 2014

Sarena Kuhn

Sarena Kuhn attends Los Alamitos High School. She enjoys learning, writing, and going on adventures. With a Japanese American mother and a Caucasian father, she is proud to be “hapa” and values the importance of preserving and sharing culture. She has strong passions for literature and working with others.

Updated September 2016

Shirley Watanabe-Nishida

Born and raised in Los Angeles. Lived in Little Tokyo as a child and attended Lumbini Kindergarten. Moved to the downtown area when she was in the second grade, and frequently visited Little Tokyo to help her mother with grocery shopping. Started working at Japanese Village Plaza in 2010. Started writing as a hobby in middle school, and became fascinated with reading books in both English and Japanese as an adult.

(Updated September 2016)

Joe Wocoski

Joe Wocoski was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1951. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and an MBA from the University of Hartford in 1975. Joe had a long career in Corporate Quality Assurance and was a Baldrige Examiner in 2013 and 2014. In April, 2016, Joe retired and is now a full time author. As an author, Joe is best known for his word search book series based on The King James Bible and Shakespeare Sonnets. Joe started writing down his short stories in 2015 and in April 2016, he won the Little Tokyo Short Story contest. Joe is currently working on his first science fiction and fantasy short story book, it will be published under the moniker JB Wocoski.

Upddated September 2016