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California Car Rental and Little Tokyo LA

Little Tokyo is an ethnic Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles that you can visit with your California car rental. Much like Chinatowns all over the Untied States, you will find many specialty shops and restaurants here. It is also only one of three official Japantowns in the United States.

Learn the culture

At its peak, Little Tokyo had about 30,000 Japanese Americans living in the area. It is still a cultural focal point for the city's Japanese American population. When you visit with your California car rental, you will find a district for work, culture, religion, restaurants, and shopping. However, Japanese Americans are likely to live in nearby cities such as Torrance, Gardena, and Monterey Park. Today's Little Tokyo is about four city blocks that you can visit with your California car rental. It is bounded by Los Angeles Street, Alameda Street, 3rd Street, First Street, and the Los Angeles Civic Center.

Things you can do

The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center is located in Little Tokyo, as well as the Japanese American National Museum. This is a good place to start your tour with your California car rental to learn about the history of this culture. The Museum is devoted to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. It is home to a moving image archive, movies of Japanese Americans from the 1920s to the 1950s, artifacts, textiles, art, photographs, and oral histories of Japanese Americans. The Museum of Contemporary Art can also be found in Little Tokyo. This museum focuses on American and European contemporary art since 1940. This location is used to display more recent works, often by lesser known artists and those which require a lot of space.

Catch a play

Also in Little Tokyo is the East West Players, one of the first Asian American theater companies in the United States that you can see live theater written and performed by Asian Americans. You can visit the David Henry Hwang Theater with your California car rental to see these performances. There is also the Aratani/Japan America Theater, which features musical performances.

Learn more about the culture

Every August the Nisei Week festival is held. When you visit with your California car rental you can see a large parade, a pageant, athletic events, exhibits of Japanese art and culture, a taiko drum festival, the Japanese Festival Street Faire, and other events that take place during the week. Little Tokyo has a number of public sculptures and artwork, including a monument to Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka, who was on the Challenger Space Shuttle when it exploded during takeoff in 1986. There are also two Japanese gardens open to the public in the area.

Grab a bite to eat

There are many Japanese restaurants in the area that cater to Japanese and non-Japanese clientele. When you visit with your California car rental, you will find Donburi, Japanese noodles, shabu-shabu, Japanese curry, sushi, and yakitori restaurants.