VC Connect #1: The Many Colors of Little Tokyo
Welcome to VC CONNECT, an online destination through which just some of the hundreds of films and media productions created by Visual Communications can be found for your enjoyment. Featured films include some of our VC Classics, as well as films made in the Digital Histories production program for older adults and the Armed With a Camera Fellowship for Emerging Artists. Each week, we’ll roll out a new batch, specially themed for our audience’s diverse cinematic palate. Our focus this week is Little Tokyo, where we’ve called home since 1997. Click here to watch the complete showcase.
The Many Colors of Little Tokyo
Since 2004, arguably the most incisive and nuanced portrayals of Los Angeles Little Tokyo have been provided by participants of the Digital Histories storytelling and video production program for older adults. Launched in partnership with the Little Tokyo Service Center’s DISKovery Center, Digital Histories provides a unique opportunity for older Asian Pacific Americans to harness technology to tell their own stories, and to stanch the onset of social isolation in our communities.
Thank you to the following sponsors for their ongoing support of the Digital Histories program: Sony Pictures Entertainment, West One Music Group, Keiro, Union Bank, and Aratani Foundation.
BUNKADO (2005) by Bem Nagase
Bem Nagase explores the generational divide within the karaoke scene via the changing clientele of Bunkado, one of the oldest Japanese gift and music stores in Little Tokyo.
DANCING THROUGH LITTLE TOKYO (2018) by David Osako
Late in life, a man is inspired by the annual Nisei Week Festival to reconnect with his roots by learning various forms of Japanese dance. He finds a legendary choreographer to teach him the classical Japanese style. And he discovers Elvis impersonators who teach him alternate forms of Japanese American dance.
THE FINALE CLUB (2018) by Robert Shoji
In 1946, a confluence of music, race, and politics led to a historic performance at The Finale Club. Two jazz greats – Charlie Parker and Miles Davis – played at the club when Little Tokyo was Bronzeville and the Japanese American community was vanquished due to unfounded war hysteria.
GOT A JOB! (2012) By Chicky Otani and Jeannie Wong
Two seniors on a lunch break go through a bag of fortune cookies to look for that special fortune.
HELLO KITTY AND HER FANS (2015) by Frances Ito
Sanrio created Hello Kitty and began her globalization in 1974. She is not a cat, does not have a mouth but is an ambassador of friendship. Watch how she takes over the world with her motto: you can never have too many friends!
HIROSHIMA ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES (2010) by Bill Kanzaki
Director Bill Kanzaki offers an overview of a cultural association that thrives despite the lack of new membership.
HOME IS LITTLE TOKYO (2019) by Steve Nagano
Artist Tony Osumi reveals how the Little Tokyo mural along Central Avenue, "Home is Little Tokyo" originated, the processes involved in its creation, and the story behind its images.
KATO SEWING MACHINE STORE (2012) by Hideko Ibaraki
A tour through the Sewing Machine Gallery reveals interesting stories about the store owners.
MOVE TO LITTLE TOKYO (2007) by Paul Kawakami
Director Paul Kawakami recounts his family’s experience as they sell their Los Angeles home and move into a brand-new apartment complex in Little Tokyo.
MY FAVORITE PLACE IN LITTLE TOKYO (2005) by Chie Iseri
Director Chie Iseri recounts the history of one of the oldest businesses in Little Tokyo, Anzen Hardware, while connecting to the familiarity and nostalgia of her homeland through the items sold at the store.
OBON JIVERS, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU (2012) by Christy Ishimine
A group of old friends reflect and relive their experiences of dressing as Elvis and singing at an annual Japanese American festival in Los Angeles.
REMEMBERING RAFU MANDOLIN CLUB (2015) by David Osako
The discovery of old reel-to-reel tape recordings exhumed from the back of a closet leads to the resurrection of musical treasures from the Japanese American musical culture of the 1950s-60s, recorded by a Los Angeles band called the Rafu Mandolin Club.