If you love eating Japanese food, why not make it yourself? From start to finish, a cooking class at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center makes a one-pot meal.

An eye-popping dreamscape made real by an eccentric Chinese-American Japanese antique collector who constructs a fantasyland venue on the edge of Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo and the Arts District. This short film pays a visit to the Japanese Village and its unique and charming proprietor, Peter Lai.

Her only crime was being born to Japanese parents in America. Toshiko Shoji Ito discusses some of her Seattle childhood memories and her forced internment to the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho.

When the filmmaker leaves her home of over 45 years to move into a retirement home, she finds a special sacredness in this new community.

“For my children, I have been working from yard to yard for fifteen years.” Following World War II, many Japanese American men turned to gardening to support their young growing families. To most of their wealthy or middle-class customers, they were just gardeners who were employed for their loyalty, work ethics, and artistic flare. Known for their stylized landscapes of manicured lawns, bonsai-like shaped trees, and shrubs, they left an indelible imprint on landscapes across the nation. This is the story of how one generation’s struggle and sacrifice for the sake of their children’s success influenced geo-political and economic ties between America and Japan.

A story unfolds from within a time of contrary and uncertain memories. At the height of the Iran-Iraq War in the late 1980s, families lived daily in fear of enemy bombings and curfew restrictions. Filled with anticipation, each week, viewers awaited “Oshin,” a Japanese TV show set in post-feudal Meiji era Japan. A young girl, Shin (“Oshin”) Tanokura survives and persists, emerging an unlikely heroine for Iranians, at this time.

Discover what goes on in the Torrance Kendo Dojo, a very special place. Is it simply a place where swordsmanship is practiced, or is something else also occurring?

A family discusses their experiences during the Watts Riots of 1965.

After surviving forced evacuation, eminent domain, redevelopment, and economic downturns, present-day Little Tokyo has become a serene place, a place to drink, a second home. Gentrification, rising rents, and changing demographics continue to change its identity but will it retain linkages to its past and its central role to many Japanese Americans? A nostalgic past and wishes for its future are presented to stimulate discussion and encourage involvement to shape this 130-year old community in the midst of changing demographics.