By MIYA IWATAKI
Award-winning actors Tamlyn Tomita and Christopher Sean will co-host the Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Awards Program on Saturday, July 11, at 3 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Forum, 100 N. Central Ave. in Little Tokyo.
The contest is sponsored by Little Tokyo Historical Society, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year; and is in partnership with Discover Nikkei, a project of JANM.
The awards celebration promises to be lively with two popular actors who have a great comedic rapport.
Tamlyn Tomita is well known for starring in “The Karate Kid Part II,” The Joy Luck Club,” “The Good Doctor” (as Allegra Aoki), “Star Trek: Picard” (as Commodore Oh), and “The Man in High Castle (as Tamiko Watanabe). Among her other numerous credits is the 2020 narration with Daniel Dae Kim of the five-part PBS series “Asian Americans,” produced by the Center for Asian American Media and WETA, and countless film, television and stage roles.
Her achievements extend beyond her acting career. In 2023 she became chair for CAPA21, an AAPI political action committee, succeeding Dale Minami, to ensure the voices of Asian Americans were heard in the nation’s most consequential political races. Last year, she and her husband Daniel Blinkoff opened Outside In Theatre, a community theater that presents written and unscripted performances, as well as films/digital format works. Its goal is “building the world we want to see by producing daring, dynamic, and authentic untold stories by unheard voices.”
Christopher Sean is a Los Angeles-based actor whose work spans television, animation, gaming, and publishing. As the lead voice of Kenji Sato/Ultraman in Netflix’s “Ultraman: Rising,” he anchored a film that won three Emmy Awards including Outstanding Animated Special, earned four Annie Award nominations, and reached #2 on Netflix globally.
Before that, he made history as the first Asian American lead of the Star Wars franchise, originating Kazuda Xiono in the Saturn Award-winning, Emmy-nominated “Star Wars Resistance.”
His television work includes 350+ episodes as Paul Narita on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” (a Gold Derby Award-winning performance) and a recurring role as lead antagonist on CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0.”
About the Contest
What is special about Little Tokyo? What would be a meaningful memory; a compelling piece of history? Or the strangest thing you could imagine happening in Little Tokyo? These might be some of the ideas that writers challenged themselves with as they sat down to write a story to submit to this 13th annual Short Story Contest. And the results were a wild, wide spectrum of stories.
From fighting ICE raids in Little Tokyo, to finding sound waves, historical audio memories encased in the walls of legacy properties set for demolition. From secret spirit worlds hidden in after-hours Little Tokyo; or Ghost Tours gone horribly wrong. To Little Tokyo as the key to unlocking family legacy, relationships with baachan and jiichan; or learning the real meaning of community.
Each year new and experienced writers create stories capturing the history, cultural essence and spirit of Little Tokyo in three categories: Adult, Youth and Japanese Language. The winning story in each category receives a cash award of $500. In addition, the winning stories will be read by professional actors and published in Discover Nikkei, The Rafu Shimpo, and on the upgraded LTHS website.
In recognition of LTHS’ 20th anniversary, there will be book giveaways, extra prizes and surprises. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet some well-known authors as well as the winning writers; some of your favorite actors; and old and new friends. Light refreshments will be served.
The celebration is free – of course donations are welcome – but you must RSVP. The awards program is also virtual to accommodate out-of-state and international participants. To register, go to: https://www.janm.org/events/2026-07-11/13th-annual-imagine-little-tokyo-short-story-contest-celebration
Registrants for the virtual program will receive a dedicated Zoom link.