By KARA CHU, Courtesy Little Tokyo Service Center
Growing up playing SEYO basketball as a young Japanese American in Orange County, I remember getting my pictures taken every year by a smiling Mr. Alan Miyatake.
The Toyo Miyatake Studio (TMS) has captured so much of my childhood, year after year. Because of their pictures, I can see myself growing up from a pigtail-wearing toddler to a Yonsei Basketball player to a confident high-schooler (who was only slightly taller).
So when I had the chance to volunteer with the Toyo Miyatake Studio (TMS) through the Little Tokyo Service Center a few months ago, I jumped at the opportunity. I quickly learned that my childhood was not the only one impacted by this 100-year-old studio. Toyo Miyatake was famous for bravely smuggling a camera lens into Manzanar during WWII and taking photos in secret.
Now, his studio’s legacy of weddings, community activities and historic events has stretched generations and continues to spread joy to this day.
I was so excited to celebrate the Toyo Miyatake Studio’s 100th-year anniversary by planning and hosting a photo gallery exhibition. Thanks to the vision and instrumental support of CRFT by Maki founder Darin Maki, we filled his Little Tokyo flagship store with photographs that the studio took of Little Tokyo from the 1940s through the 1980s.
With my amazing community based team – Mariko Lochridge, Dalton Flynn, Megan Yasuda, and the wonderful Alan Miyatake – we researched the background behind these photographs of the streets of Little Tokyo in order to create captions and an interactive audio guide. In some of them, I recognized stores that are still around, like Rafu Bussan (which has been open since 1958) and Bunkado (which has been around since 1946).
But more often than not, I thought that the Little Tokyo of the past was almost unrecognizable from the Little Tokyo we have today. We often had to ask: Where did this family business go? When did they shut down? What’s there now?
One example was a photograph of the corner of First Street and San Pedro. In the picture, I could see an unfamiliar drug store, coffee shop, loan company and jewelry store being visited by men in fedora hats and women in fascinators. Today, that corner is home to Chase Bank, the Judge John Aiso Parking Garage, and a Spectrum Mobile shop.
I learned that these storefronts have been replaced several times over the decades, with Japanese American-owned businesses moving in and out.
Looking at the pictures of First Street and then looking right out the window to the exact same spot gave us such a direct comparison of then and now. Rafu Bussan has shifted to a new plaza. The two-story building that once existed is now the Miyako Hotel.
Through these differences, I gained a huge new appreciation for the resilience of our legacy businesses, who have served our community for generations.
One of the exhibit’s guests has been a resident of Little Tokyo for the past 30 years. When I asked him how Little Tokyo has changed over those years, he responded, “Well, it’s changed so much only in the last year.”
And he’s right. The landscape of the Little Tokyo that we know and love is rapidly transforming. While the displacement we’re facing is nothing new, it’s advancing at a scary rate.
“Since opening a shop in Little Tokyo, we have seen so many legacy businesses vanish before our very eyes,” Maki said.
In the past three months alone half a dozen legacy businesses have been permanently closed or been displaced — Shabu Shabu House, Anzen Hardware, Suehiro Café, Sushi Komasa, Little Tokyo Arts & Gifts, and Shop Ashiya. These six businesses alone have a combined history of over 300 years.
On the day of the closing reception of this TMS gallery exhibit, my sister Kaitlyn and I listened to stories and said our sad goodbyes to Little Tokyo Arts & Gifts, one of the several legacy businesses forced out just at the end of 2023. I was heartbroken to see all of the empty shelves and the handmade goods that hadn’t found a home.
My family and I then went to eat dinner at Suehiro Café, whose doors were forced to close on Jan. 9. Suehiro is known for serving comfort food for over 50 years. My dad shared that he used to eat there all the time when he was younger after events like school dances. I tried to savor my tamago toji udon, one of the foods that always comforts me, knowing that this would be my last time eating at this location.
I personally have been going to Little Tokyo ever since I can remember: eating Fugetsu-do’s soft manju with my mom, going to events at the JACCC and Aratani Theatre, watching the lively Nisei Week Parade, and playing around with the tools in Anzen Hardware.
Our Little Tokyo traditions and legacy businesses have shaped my life, and it is so important to me that we preserve them so that future generations can say the same.
“We need to celebrate the [legacy businesses] that we have left like the Toyo Miyatake Studio. They have been instrumental in capturing the JA experience,” Maki urged.
Throughout the exhibition, I had the honor of acting as a tour guide for the guests. I heard very heartwarming comments such as:
“I’m so glad these photographs exist.”
“Oh, I remember all the kids and I running around this store!”
I believe that exhibits like this one celebrating the Toyo Miyatake Studio centennial not only honor our past, but also preserve our cultural history for future generations. There is such a strong collective community memory surrounding the neighborhood of Little Tokyo.
I’ve come to realize that Little Tokyo’s strengths lie in the people that have created it and continue to breathe life into it. I remain hopeful that we as a community will keep fighting against the negative effects of gentrification and ensuring that we continue to pass down our traditions and legacy businesses.
“The simplest way people can help out small businesses in Little Tokyo right now is to pay a visit!” says Maki. “There are so many unique things only in Little Tokyo that have to be experienced in person. We need to think twice before we patronize big-box chains and see the bigger picture in one of our last Japantowns in the U.S.”
These restaurants and shops, having served Little Tokyo for decades, have become anchors of our community. We must do whatever we can to make sure that we do not lose more of them.
What will the future streetview look like? Bound by one-way streets, Little Tokyo will benefit from two-way streets of communication and united understanding between landowners and the Japanese American culture and community it serves.
Whatever the future brings, I have no doubt that the Toyo Miyatake Studio will continue to document Little Tokyo streetscapes and history through their photos and dedicated community lens.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to volunteer with LTSC and TMS! If you too would like to get involved, please reach out to the Little Tokyo Service Center via littletokyosmallbiz@ltsc.org or check out the volunteer opportunities on their website, www.ltsc.org.
“Through the Lens of Little Tokyo,” a pop-up photo exhibit featuring historical Toyo Miyatake Studio photos, has closed but you can check out our audio descriptions of the photos and learn more about the history of Little Tokyo on Soundcloud at: https://bit.ly/ThroughtheLensofLittleTokyo
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Kara Chu is a Shin-Nisei Japanese American and fourth-generation Chinese American. She is currently a third-year student at UCLA studying applied linguistics and digital humanities and volunteers as a Little Tokyo Ambassador for the Little Tokyo Service Center Small Business Program supporting legacy businesses. Kara always makes sure to visit Fugetsu-do and Marugame Monzo when she goes to Little Tokyo.