When newcomers first arrive in Los Angeles, the itinerary typically includes, the Santa Monica Pier, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Downtown. A prominent district in DTLA is Little Tokyo.
Any tour of Japanese LA should really include at least three neighborhoods: Little Tokyo in DTLA, Sawtelle in Santa Monica, and the South Bay (specifically Torrance and Gardena).
There are 51,723 Japanese speakers in Los Angeles County (2014 ACS 5YR Estimates)
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Libraries Collections
Only individual library branches with more than 500 unique Japanese titles in their collection are shown below. For a more complete list of libraries with Japanese collections, see here.
Little Tokyo Branch
Los Angeles Public Library
203 S. Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 612-0525
Titles in Japanese: 13,339
Central Library
Los Angeles Public Library
630 W. 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 228-7000
Titles in Japanese: 7,682
Gardena Mayme Dear Library
County of Los Angeles Public Library
1731 W. Gardena Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90247
(310) 323-6363
Titles in Japanese: 2,636
Rosemead Library
County of Los Angeles Public Library
8800 Valley Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 573-5220
Titles in Japanese: 1,304
Montebello Library
County of Los Angeles Public Library
1550 W. Beverly Blvd
Montebello, CA 90640
(323) 722-6551
Titles in Japanese: 503
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Periodicals
Based in Los Angeles
Rafu Shimpo – Japanese-American bilingual newspaper founded in Los Angeles in 1903. Physical copies available for purchase in Japanese markets throughout Los Angeles. See here for list.
Lighthouse – Lifestyle Magazine in Japanese. Light on text and heavy on advertisements, but it is free. Has tips for living in Los Angeles. Copies available at major Japanese markets. See here for list.
Based in Japan
Yomiuri Shimbun – Conservative/Right Daily
Asahi Shimbun – Liberal/Left Daily
Nihon Keizai Shimbun – Conservative/Business Daily
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Religion
Jehovah’s Witnesses – There are two locations in Los Angeles County with services in Japanese. You can find the locations by clicking here, clicking on the button labelled “最寄りの会場を探す” [Find Nearest Meetinghouse] and plugging in your address and the target language of Japanese.
Seventh-day Adventists – There are three SDA Japanese churches in Los Angeles. The first two have Japanese websites, and links to recordings of the sermons in Japanese as well. No Japanese on the third website, but the pastor’s name matches one of the rotating pastors at the other two churches, so I assume you’ll be able to hear some Japanese if you go to one of their sermons.
Central Japanese-American Community Church
2113 East Villa Street
Pasadena, CA 91107
Gardena Japanese American Seventh-day Adventist Church
16115 South Denker Ave
Gardena, CA 90247-3919
West Los Angeles Japanese Seventh-day Adventist Church
1527 Purdue Ave
West Los Angeles, CA 90025
**SDA
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http://www.zenshuji.org/japaneseclass.html – Buddhist temple with Japanese classes (no fee)
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