Konnichiwa Little Tokyo Day for American Foster Children

11/13/2020

02/26/2014

Our website has expired, and some other organization took our domain name right away sadly…. :(:(:(

01/10/2014

Special thanks to

Fiscal Sponsor:
Little Tokyo Service Center

Event Sponsor:

Japanese American National Museum (JANM)
S. K. Uyeda Department Store
Fugetsu-Do
Oiwake
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC)
Mitsuru Cafe

Gift Item Donors:

American Tombow, Inc.
Associated Students of UCLA
Bunkado
Dwaine Yamasaki (Mitsuwa Santa Monica Store)
Glico USA Inc.
Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC)
Mazda North American Operations
Mutual Trading Co., Inc.
Pentel of America
Sharon Morrill
Selecta
Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment
Viz Media

Fund Donors:

Rhea Perlman & Danny DeVito

Yuko & Vincent Gee
Robert & Harriet Hiji

Frank & Betty Hiji
Kenji & Akiko Hiji
Tsugio & Betty Hiji
Janet & Joseph McCarthy
Jeffrey & Mayu Wilder

Tracey & Mark Doi
Terence & Judy Griffin
Robert & Machiko Hornyak
Scott Hiji
Yoko Hongo
Noritoshi & Fusako Kanai
Sheldon & Naomi Kawahara
Noboru Kataoka AKA Ken Kensei
Risako & Joseph R. McCarthy
Minobu & Chiyoko Nishimori
Mazda North American Operations
John & Jane Sakino

Scott Bae
Masami & Jason Dalbotten
Thomas Fitzgerald
Daisuke & Mika Fujisawa
Ryoko Fujisawa
Brett Geary
Lance Hama
Elaine Harada
Bruce & Jo Ann Hirai
Yoko Hozumi
Eiji & Eriko Inoue
Michi Ishii
Takashi Kozawa
Michael & Etsuko Littlejohn
Karen & William Marsh
Gregory Paul McCarthy
Hiroshi & Yuriko Miyake
Dennis & Tomoko Miyata
Hidetomo Morimoto
Jerry Nasu
Octavio Ricardo Navarro
Akiko Sasaki
Stuart & Hannah Slavin
Don Thompson
Sean & Maria Quiban Whitesell

Elijah Carder
James & Janice Cotant
Andy & Angela Currie
Eric & Mary Emmons
Jim & Kathy Flynn
Browne & Leana Greene
Craig & Lily Harada
Tom Hayashi
Scott Kanai
Sho & Mae Kanamori
Curtis Kaminska
Yori Kanamori
Noboru Kataoka
Henry & Cindy Kato
Marc Kondo
James Lee
Tim & Mary Jean Moloney
Randy Mori
Masayo Murata
John Nakaki
Chiyoko Nashimori
Jeff & Yuko Neal
Daniel & Margaret O'Connor
Jeffery Prus
Gay & Myron Quan
Lawrence G. Rascoe
Barry Reyes
Steve Roman & Anne-Marie Osgood
Joe & Gail Scallen
Thomas & Patricia Sullivan
Carol Takafuji
Kirk Tanioka
Paul & Amy Villalba
Ron Yamash*ta
AIG Matching Grants Program
Union Bank

Dephne Bell
Caitlin Bufta
Viet Tuan Bui
Victor Chao
Richard M Cundiff
Christian Corser
Michael Cristin
Joan S. Curry
Jason & Rocki Davidson
Deborah DiazGranados
Julie Ego
Charlene Abe Elias
Dean Fortunato
Yuko Furuya
Wendy K. Garrett
Junko Goda
Danny & Doreen Haramoto
C & Guy Hashimoto
Luann Emiko Hiji
Atsushi Hirata
Peter Hogan
Joe & Robin Hutshing
Saul Ibarra
Kengi Inomata
Atsuko Kanai
Gary & Teri Kanamori
Yori Kanamori
Sachiyo Kanbayashi
Hal & Barbara Keimi
Andrea Kelly
Yukiko Kinkel
Masako Koga
Michael Krawic
Thomas & Kathryn Lee
Hip & Rosemary Lui
Sandy K. Maeshiro
Peter Marsh
Mikiko Matsuzaki
Diana & Tim McCarthy
Patrick & Kathleen McCarthy
Kirk McNeely
Kevin & Erin Meyers
Norihiro & Kiyoe Minakami
Fumiwo Miura
Toshio Miyata
Brian Mori
Makoto Morise
Akira & Taeko Nakamura
Michael Nakayama
Naoko Okamoto
Lynn & Tom Osborn
Teri Quinones
Marisa Quintanilla
Brian Scallen
Marilyn Shaw
Akiko Shima
Yusuke Shindo
Janet Stenger
Barbara & Walter Stuhr
Carol Takafuji
Ben Tonooka
Stacy Toyota
Kaori Nara Turner
Roger Van House
Kerry Wasson
Robert White
Ellen Williams
Kayo & Daniel Wood
Keiko Yokota
Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California

Past Committee Members and Advisors:

Bill Watanabe
Tom Hayashi
Hiroto Hayshi
Akiko Sasaki
Lance Kanamori
Sachiyo Kanbayashi
Isako Kashino
Jessica Kanai
Thomas Fitzgerald
Ryoko Fujisawa
Masami Tokunaga Dalbotten
Brent Kanamori
Hiromi Aoyama
Jon Kingi
Tiffany Hamamoto
Jayson Yammaguchi
Joseph McCarthy (The Helper)

Website Design and Support:
Thomas J. Webb

Print Support:
Deon Zonte with i4Design

- Founder, Risako Takahashi McCarthy (AKA Saki Miata)

01/10/2014

It is very sad to announce this, but Konnichiwa Little Tokyo program is now closed.

We are grateful that we were always blessed with generous donors, supporters, and volunteers. Thank you so much for all your generosity!!!

During the last five summers, we were able to host a total of about 500 guests from various organizations of foster youth and the underprivileged. It was such a pleasure to be able to spend some time with the foster children that were sincerely fascinated by the new cultural experiences. We truly hope that we were able to widen their horizons and that they will revisit Little Tokyo in the future with warm memories.

-Founder

08/09/2013

Today was our last tour for the summer. I had a great time with all the kids that came out. A total of 15 kids and 3 staff from United Friends took part in our tour today. It was awesome. The volunteers were phenomenal as well. The kids really seemed to enjoy the tour even though we weren't able to make it to the James Irvine Japanese Garden. It was definitely one for the books! Now on to a more personal note. As the program coordinator, I'd like to say I had a great time getting to meet all the kids that partook in our tours as well as the staff. I really enjoyed getting to be a part of this great program and will continue to be involved in anyway I can for as long as I can. I truly believe in KLT's mission and I hope we get a chance to reach even more kids in the future. Everyone was great which made being a part of this program all the better. I'd especially like to thank Susan Yokoyama, Jon Kingi, Michelle Hamano, and my brother Erick Chavez for all of their help. I truly do appreciate all the help you guys gave me. I'll definitely miss taking the kids out on tours. I had a blast!

Program coordinator- Lorenzo Chavez
Summer 2013

08/08/2013

Tomorrow is our LAST tour! Noooo! We're expecting more volunteers tomorrow than I'm sure we've ever had! How great is that? United Friends will be coming once more to take part in our world famous tour. We can't wait to meet all of the kids!

08/07/2013

KLT collects "handwritten wishes" from foster kids over the summer tours for the Tanabata Festival. Here the Konnichiwa Little Tokyo volunteers attach them to the bamboo decorations. Tanabata Festival, with live entertainment, food and many other booths takes place this weekend in Little Tokyo.

Tanabata festival preparations

08/07/2013

Today's tour went great! We had 14 kids and 6 staff come over from Hillsides plus a total of 6 volunteers!!! The kids looked like they had a great time during the tour. Although we had to skip the visit to the James Irvine Garden, everything else went without a hitch. It was a great tour over all and we're very grateful we had a chance to teach these kids a little about Japanese culture. With all that being said, our last tour is on Thursday! Wish us luck!

08/05/2013

Our last two tours are coming up this week! The first one is tomorrow and the second one on Thursday. We can't wait for tomorrow. We will be hosting Hillsides once more and are expecting another great tour. Showing these kids around Little Tokyo is great since most are completely unfamiliar with the area. It's going to be great!

07/25/2013

We had our fourth tour today! The people from Hillsides were great. The kids really seemed to enjoy the tour. They LOVED the taiko. We hosted 11 kids and 7 staff today so we're happy with the turnout. The volunteers were awesome as always. We had three people helping out, Jon, Erick, and Michelle. Thanks guys!

07/24/2013

Our next tour is tomorrow with Hillsides! We can't wait! Anybody interested in volunteering?