Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Awards Celebration Brings Star Power to JANM Saturday, July 11 at 3PM
Posted on June 23, 2026
LITTLE TOKYO, Los Angeles – Award-winning actors Tamyln Tomita and Christopher Sean will co-host the Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Awards Program where the winning stories will be presented on Saturday, July 11 at 3:00 pm at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) Democracy Forum, 100 N. Central Avenue in Little Tokyo. Bring on the star power! The contest is sponsored by Little Tokyo Historical Society, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year; and is in partnership with Discover Nikkei, a project of JANM.
What is special about Little Tokyo? What would be a meaningful memory; a compelling piece of history? Or the strangest thing you could imagine happening in Little Tokyo? These might be some of the ideas that writers challenged themselves with as they sat down to write a story to submit to this 13th Annual Short Story Contest. And the results were a wild, wide spectrum of stories. From fighting ICE raids in Little Tokyo, to finding sound waves, historical audio memories encased in the walls of legacy properties set for demolition. From secret spirit worlds hidden in after-hours Little Tokyo; or Ghost Tours gone horribly wrong. To Little Tokyo as the key to unlocking family legacy, relationships with bachan and jichan; or learning the real meaning of community. The submissions were fantastic!
Each year new and experienced writers create stories capturing the history, cultural essence and spirit of Little Tokyo in three categories: Adult, Youth and Japanese language. The winning story in each category receives a cash award of $500. In addition, the winning stories will be read by professional actors and published in Discover Nikkei, the Rafu Shimpo and on the upgraded LTHS website.
In recognition of LTHS’ 20th anniversary, there will be book giveaways, extra prizes and surprises. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet some well-known authors as well as the winning authors. And will see some of your favorite actors, and old and new friends. Light refreshments will be served.
The Imagine Little Tokyo Awards celebration is free – of course donations are welcome – but you must RSVP. The Awards program is also virtual to accommodate out of state and international participants. To register, please go here to the JANM events calendar on
https://www.janm.org/events/2026-07-11/13th-annual-imagine-little-tokyo-short-story-contest-celebration Registrants for the virtual program will receive a dedicated Zoom link.