Three noted actors, including Japan Academy Film Prize winner Ayumi Ito, will present winning stories at the upcoming celebration of the 11th annual Imagine Little Tokyo short story contest.
The hybrid event will be held on Saturday, June 1, at 2 p.m. at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center, 100 N. Central Ave. (at First Street) in Little Tokyo.
Writer, producer and organizer Sean Miura will emcee the free event, which will be available both in-person and online. The contest is presented by the Little Tokyo Historical Society (LTHS) in partnership with JANM’s Discover Nikkei project. In addition to Ito, actors Kurt Kanazawa and Chloe Madriaga will perform.
“We are excited and grateful for Ayumi Ito’s participation,” stated actor Eijiro Ozaki, a member of the Imagine Little Tokyo committee who was recently in the FX/Hulu series “Shōgun.” “The committee has been working to promote the contest as a worldwide effort to shine a light on our beloved Los Angeles community of Little Tokyo.”
This month the National Trust of Historic Preservation named Little Tokyo as one of 11 endangered sites. This announcement came as Little Tokyo begins a celebration of its 140 years of existence.
Winners and honorable mention awardees will be publicly revealed at the June 1 celebration. The actors will provide dramatic readings of the winning stories in the categories of English Adult, Japanese and Youth. This year submissions were received from far flung locations such as the U.K., Finland and multiple locations on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Ito, who won a Japanese Academy Film Prize for Newcomer of the Year for director Shunji Iwai’s 1997 film “Swallowtail Butterfly,” made her U.S. drama series debut as Misaki in Max’s original series “Tokyo Vice.” She also voiced the role of Tifa Lock-hart in the video game “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.” She will be recording her reading in Japan, which will then be shown at the awards celebration.
Both Kanazawa and Madriaga will be performing their readings live at the Democracy Center.
Kanazawa is an accomplished actor and opera singer trained at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. His television and film credits include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bosch: Legacy,” JANM’s “A Life in Pieces: The Diary of Stanley Hayami” and “No No Girl,” directed by Paul Daisuke Goodman, who served as one of this year’s judges.
Madriaga is an award-winning artist originally from Maui. Recently a featured actor in the Los Angeles stage production “Kill Shelter,” she is an ensemble member of Theatre of NOTE. She has been a narrator for a number of audio books, including “Every Drop a Man’s Nightmare,” “Iced in Paradise,” “An Eternal Lei,” “Halfway to the Middle,” “Aftershock” and “She Persisted: Patsy Mink.”
To register, go to https://www.janm.org/events/2024-06-01/11th-annual-imagine-little-tokyo-short-story-contest-awards-ceremony. Registrants for the virtual program will receive a dedicated Zoom link.