"San Tai San" is a free 3-on-3 youth and adult basketball tournament celebrating
Japanese American roots and strengthening Little Tokyo’s future. This tournament was originally held outdoors on San Pedro Street of Little Tokyo in the early 2000s to fundraise for the construction of Terasaki Budokan, a nonprofit community center built and operated by Little Tokyo Service Center.
The tournament, now hosted in the gym it helped build, continues the legacy of basketball in the Japanese American community while welcoming community members to engage with the Little Tokyo neighborhood. This tournament also supports Little Tokyo small business vendors. This event is a significant full-circle moment for the facility, as well as those who contributed to making the dream into a reality.
San Tai San will take place on Saturday, March 15, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Terasaki Budokan (249 S. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, CA 90012).
This free, community-centered event invites the Little Tokyo community, Downtown LA community, and greater Japanese American community of Southern California to play
basketball, participate in activities, engage with local vendors, and have fun!
One player’s mother, Debrah Nishihira, shared, “My husband, who is Japanese, grew up with basketball in Torrance. He used to coach two boys teams when he was younger, and now that he’s in his 30s, he still gets those teams together to play. One of those kids he coached is now our son’s coach. We like to support our community and we want our kids to grow up giving back, like our generation and the generations before us did.”
