2nd Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest
The Little Tokyo Historical Society conducted its second annual short story (fiction) writing contest which concluded on April 22, 2015 at a reception in Little Tokyo in which the winners and finalists were announced. Last year's contest was entirely in English whereas this year's contest also had a youth category and a Japanese-language category, with cash prizes awarded for each category. The only requirement (other than the story could not exceed 2,500 words or 5,000 Japanese characters) was that the story had to involve Little Tokyo in some creative manner.
Winners (First Place)
- English: “Fish Market in Little Tokyo” by Nathaniel J. Campbell from Fairfield, Iowa
- Youth: “Kazuo Alone” by Linda Toch from Corona, California
- Japanese: “Mitate Club” by Miyuki Sato from Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan (Japanese only)
Some of the Finalists to be featured are:
English:
- “Floating Home” by Jan Morrill from Dallas, Texas
- “Alice and the Bear” by Kiyoshi Parker from Los Angeles, California
- “All Along this Road” by Don Fenton from Dallas, Texas
- “Both Alike in Dignity” by Chester Sakamoto from Los Angeles, California
- “The Tempura King” by Kent Morizawa from Glendale, California
- “For a Look at New Worlds” by Jerome Stueart from Vandalia, Ohio
- “Queen of Manzanar” by Hans Weidman from Los Angeles, California
- “Masao and the Bronze Nightingale” by Ruben “Funkahuatl” Guevara from Los Angeles, California
Youth:
- “Midori's Magic” by Sarena Kuhn from Los Alamitos, California
Japanese (Japanese only)
- “Little Tokyo Daikagura” by Yuriko Kondo from Thousand Oaks, California
- “Hotel no Otoko” by Michie Wakabayashi from Los Angeles, California
*Read stories from other Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contests:
1st Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest >>
3rd 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 >>
Stories from this series
Alice and the Bear
July 13, 2015 • Kiyoshi Parker
One splendid, breezy weekend in Los Angeles, a great-grandmother by the name of Alice Miyamoto and her family took a trip down to Little Tokyo. The joys, demands, and rigors of life had kept her away for more than 30 years, and so the trip was much needed. As Alice walked by shops and restaurants she was reminded of times past, when she was but a young girl—no older than her great-granddaughter—when she too walked these sidewalks long ago. There …
Floating Home
June 29, 2015 • Jan Morrill
Life is a river Shall I fight the current or Let go and float home Papa removed his hat and leaned into the cab window. “Can you take us to First and San Pedro?” he asked. “Sure. Get in.” The cab driver snuffed his cigarette in the ashtray before getting out to open the trunk. Papa tossed in our suitcases, then took the front seat. Mama and I scooted into the back. “Why didn’t Papa give him the address to our house?” …