Little Tokyo Fights to Avoid Loss : Leaders Concerned About Effects of Consulate Departure

To the distress of some business owners and civic leaders in Little Tokyo, the Japanese Consulate is leaving the community where it has functioned for more than 20 years.

Consulate representatives say they must move out of Little Tokyo because they need more space. They have not specified where they are moving, or when.

But many business leaders who work in the shadow of the consulate at San Pedro and 1st streets say its first priority should be to the Japanese community of Southern California and its cultural center, Little Tokyo.

“For the Japanese Consulate to move out gives a bad impression,” said Kenji Ito, spokesman for a coalition of civic groups organized under the name Friends of Little Tokyo.

“It may be misunderstood as the Japanese government not being interested in the economic development, and most importantly, the cultural development of Little Tokyo.”

Relocation of the consulate could hurt both, Ito said. “We believe the Japanese Consulate could (better) assist with its headquarters located in Little Tokyo, where it has been for some 20 odd years, than by moving to some ivory tower downtown.”

Concern over the proposed move is beginning to show up in store windows, where merchants and restaurant owners have placed bilingual bumper stickers telling the consulate “Don’t Move Out.” More than 1,500 people have signed petitions asking the consulate to reconsider.

Leaders of the Little Tokyo business community recently formed two committees to fight the move. One group has sent a letter to the foreign minister of Japan in Tokyo to express its concerns.

Dr. Hiroshi Mitsuoka--whose Committee to Preserve Little Tokyo spearheaded the movement--believes that the consulate can find additional office space in Little Tokyo.

“To us (Consul General Kiyohiko Arafune) is making an excuse to try to get out of that building to go to a big high-rise downtown,” said Mitsuoka. “Without any consultation with the people of Little Tokyo, no hearing, no meeting, he decided to go. We’re trying to convince him to stay here.”

So far, the community efforts appear to have been unsuccessful. Deputy Consul General Gunkatsu Kano said in a recent interview that the consulate had no choice but to move. A statement released by the consulate said that its staff has grown from about 10 staff members to 50 in the 23 years it has been in Little Tokyo, making work difficult in increasingly cramped quarters.

“Moving the consulate to an appropriate larger location is an urgent and serious matter,” the statement read. “In the meantime, we have carried out an exhaustive survey of the Little Tokyo area and regrettably, a suitable place has not been found.”

Though there has been at least one meeting between business leaders and consulate officials, community representatives say the consul general has refused to accept the petitions and returned a letter written by the president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. Civic leaders say they may stage a demonstration near the consulate’s offices--a familiar form of protest on downtown streets, but unusual for some first-generation Japanese-Americans.

“Japanese people are not accustomed to standing up to the Japanese government,” Mitsuoka said. “This is the first time people have come together for one purpose in Little Tokyo. Maybe we’re getting Americanized.”

Activists say the consulate attracts numerous customers for Little Tokyo’s businesses, and, as the official link between the Japanese government and Southern California, provides a gateway to those Americans who might otherwise never learn about Japanese culture.

There is also an emotional bond between those who consider it an honor to have the consulate in their neighborhood and those first generation Japanese who consider the government offices a link to home.

“There seems to be a psychological reliance on knowing it’s there,” Ito said. “They feel more secure.”