By CHRISTOPHER K. TOKITA
Saying housing is expensive in L.A. today is like calling the sky blue. The ever-rising cost of rent and mortgages is driven by our city’s massive housing shortage: the State of California estimates that Los Angeles needs at least 450,000 new units to match our population’s demand, lessen overcrowding, and stabilize housing costs.
Across L.A., this shortage pushes people out of the communities they’ve long called home in search of more affordable options.
Unfortunately, our beloved Little Tokyo is not immune. The neighborhood has very little housing to begin with, making it nearly impossible for new Nikkeijin to move in. What housing does exist is prohibitively expensive, driven by limited supply and high demand. As a result, Little Tokyo has steadily lost its historic Japanese American population.
In fact, this combination of housing scarcity and high rents is precisely why Little Tokyo was recently placed on the list of the 11 most endangered historic places in America.
This pains me deeply as both a Japanese American and an Angeleno. Little Tokyo is inseparable from my adolescence and from who I am today. I still feel the warm glow of a setting summer sun while dancing Bon odori at annual Obon festivals. I remember J-Town’s streets drifting by from atop a Nisei Week Parade float, and dorayaki so fresh it burned my mouth due to my impatience.
To this day, I carry the discipline and pride forged during nearly a decade practicing taiko at Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple as part of Kitsune Taiko, and the resilience learned in full-contact Kyokushin Karate tournaments at the dojo atop the Little Tokyo Galleria.
That’s why when I heard about plans to build housing on underused industrial land south of Little Tokyo, I enthusiastically showed up in support. But what I heard surprised me. While the crowd backing new housing was diverse — Downtown L.A. and Skid Row residents, members of the Little Tokyo business community, housing advocates, and some members of the Japanese American community — I also heard many members of our Japanese American community speak out against the housing.
They expressed fear that new development would erode the culture of Little Tokyo and fuel displacement. I sincerely understand those concerns. I grew up in nearby Northeast L.A. and have watched it change rapidly due to gentrification, as limited housing stock created ever-rising rents and pushed out longtime residents.
But it’s precisely because of my lived experience growing up in gentrifying Northeast L.A. that I can say this with certainty: blocking new housing near Little Tokyo — particularly on vacant industrial land — guarantees the displacement that our community fears.
Displacement happens when a city’s housing supply is stagnant, and increasing demand drives up the rent. Without new housing, wealthier newcomers compete for existing homes, raising rents and outbidding long-time residents.
Worse yet, younger generations and new Japanese immigrants will find it nearly impossible to move into Little Tokyo and put down roots. Together, this is a formula for the slow fading of our community.
Building housing on industrial land around Little Tokyo is a powerful strategy for protecting Little Tokyo because it will entirely avoid this zero-sum dynamic. No one is displaced when an old underused warehouse is turned into apartments. Instead, this new housing expands the neighborhood’s boundaries outwards while increasing competition among local landlords, which helps stabilize rents and protect our senior citizens from displacement, allowing them to rightfully age in place.
Just as important, this development doesn’t replace Little Tokyo — it creates the space it needs to grow. New housing provides room for Japanese immigrants and families, enabling Little Tokyo to once again serve as a landing pad for Nikkeijin. New residents will sustain the businesses, cultural institutions, and community events that define Little Tokyo.
The timing couldn’t be better. The ties between Los Angeles and Japan are flourishing with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the Dodgers and Rui Hachimura on the Lakers. Now is an exceptional time to ensure that Little Tokyo remains a welcoming hub for new Japanese immigrants, continuing its legacy as a cultural and community hub.
Little Tokyo is just blocks away from Skid Row, one of the starkest reminders of the human toll of homelessness. Research shows that the strongest predictor of a city’s rate of homelessness is the cost of rent. By supporting new housing, we can help solve homelessness by addressing the root issue: the lack of homes.
Our community has always embodied a commitment to social justice, born from the grave harm of Japanese American internment during World War II. The mantra “Never Again” has guided us to stand against injustice and support those in need, including standing with Arab and Muslim Americans after 9/11. Today, our calling is to once again lead with compassion and forward thinking by advocating to end the housing crisis, which disproportionately harms marginalized communities.
Preserving Little Tokyo doesn’t mean locking it in amber. It means allowing the built environment to adapt to the community’s needs. Saying no to housing ensures that Little Tokyo’s culture will erode, its soul lost to time. We can protect the true heart of Little Tokyo — its people, culture, and traditions — for future generations with a simple but courageous act: saying yes to housing where there was none before.
Our ancestors built Little Tokyo in the face of exclusion and redlining that caused Issei and Nisei to come together a few blocks southeast of City Hall. Just as we turned the injustice of internment into a commitment to justice, we can turn the history of exclusionary housing into one of inclusion.
Say yes to housing. Say yes to the proven solution for the housing shortage. Say yes to a Little Tokyo that not only survives but thrives for years to come.
Chris Tokita is a data scientist, housing advocate, and fourth-generation Japanese American who resides in Sawtelle Japantown in West Los Angeles. He can be reached at [email protected]. Opinions expressed in Vox Populi are not necessarily those ofThe Rafu Shimpo.