JANM Celebrates 140 Years of Little Tokyo with Exhibit of Local History

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) invites visitors to a new pop-up exhibit, Celebrating Little Tokyo at 140 Years, on view in the Manabi and Sumi Hirasaki National Resource Center (HNRC) at the Museum through January 5, 2025. JANM, alongside other Little Tokyo community organizations, is celebrating the anniversary with the theme, Celebrating Our Legacy. Persevering for Our Future. The exhibit highlights Little Tokyo’s past with items from Koharu restaurant, the Nozaki beauty shop, the School of Modern Fashion, the Tanaka photography studio, and other local establishments over the decades. 

Since its founding in 1884, Little Tokyo has been the heart of the Japanese American community in Southern California. It began as a refuge for Japanese Issei facing great discrimination and prejudice in the Los Angeles area and grew into a vibrant neighborhood filled with restaurants, theaters, churches, photography studios, language schools, banks, and businesses and organizations that supported daily life. Today, Little Tokyo is the second oldest ethnic neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles and is one of four Japantowns in the US. It continues to be the center of Japanese culture in Los Angeles where public, traditional, and contemporary art; restaurants, cafes, and confectioneries; streetwear and kawaii fashion; bookshops and toy shops; businesses and community organizations; and more all flourish. 

Despite Little Tokyo’s vibrancy, external pressures such as gentrification threaten the spirit and character of this historic neighborhood. To recognize this, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Little Tokyo as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places in May 2024. JANM was involved in the nomination as a member of Sustainable Little Tokyo. Supporting the businesses and institutions that make Little Tokyo special now ensures that it continues to be the heart of Southern California’s Japanese American community in the future.

Celebrating Little Tokyo at 140 Years is on view in the HNRC on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. and is included in museum admission.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 100 exhibitions onsite while traveling 40 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. JANM is free every third Thursday of the month. On all other Thursdays, JANM is free from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.