グウェン・ムラナカ

Little Tokyo and yearning for meaning and hope in the power of place.

A bird taking flight.

Little Tokyo is a small neighborhood of artists and activists, of commerce and spirituality, of parades and protests, densely layered by its long history and its proximity to the seats of power.

And so, in early June, Nihonmachi, wounded by a week of turbulence and tumult that has shaken an entire nation, took to the task of rebuilding and reforming a community. Summoning up, once again, those reserves of resiliency that have served the Japanese American community for so many generations.

Individuals, each ...

This is how I go cover a story now. I put on a cloth mask and wash my hands, grab my recorder and put an LAPD press badge around my neck. A while back, photographer Mario Gershom Reyes and I covered Hideki Obayashi of Azuma in Gardena as he fights to keep the restaurant going.

Even with masks on, you can see the strain, exhaustion and worry in his eyes. His wife Genie Nakano stopped by with a tin box of cookies. Our hands are all worn, chapped and dry from constant washing. Places where we meet are now empty ...

"I don’t like the word H-A-T-E. I don’t use it,” says Norman Mineta.

Even if it’s a matter of a dislike for carrots, the former transportation secretary says “hate” isn’t a part of his vocabulary, and that informs who he is and the issues he has championed.

“I’ve always been a half-full kind of person, more optimistic about things and how they happen, but you know I was only 10 years old at the time of the evacuation, so it wasn’t real hard impact on me. But I saw the impact on people like ...

There are some annoyances to spending most days in Little Tokyo: the traffic, the constant construction, the overflow of hipsters and homeless. But one reason I’m grateful to work here in J-Town is definitely the food.

Most days, since we’re busy on deadline, we eat in our office, but once a week we treat ourselves to a lunch at a local restaurant. There are so many great choices. Old favorites like Suehiro, TOT and Kouraku or newer places like Chinchikurin Okonomiyaki or Jist (the former Tokyo Café) — there’s a lot to choose from.

If you want Hawaiian ...

“Part of our mission is to spread the idea that mental health is something applicable to everybody,” says Ty Tanioka of Changing Tides, a new organization now hosting an art exhibition at 341 FSN in Little Tokyo.

“Mental health is something that everyone can practice. Everyone deals with stress in their everyday life on an everyday scale.”

At the opening on Feb. 9, the small space on First Street was packed with people who came to see the works of art. The artists are multigenerational, with Sansei like Nancy Uyemura and Mike Murase contributing works, alongside young Nikkei like Moet ...