During the past couple of months, Don Tahara has given out nearly 100 bottles of free sake to celebrate Shohei Ohtani’s late-season heroics for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
At Little Tokyo’s Far Bar, a gastropub Tahara opened 18 years ago, every patron receives a shot on the house each time Ohtani hits a homer. The “Shohei sake shot” special hasn’t been a cheap expenditure, but Tahara said it’s money well-spent for a lifelong Dodgers fan.
Watching Ohtani at the Far Bar has become a family affair, particularly when the Dodgers are playing at home. Women and seniors, who Tahara said had rarely visited the bar in the past, have been out in force wearing Ohtani jerseys. More ardent fans would start at the bar for a pre-game meal before taking an Uber to the stadium, Tahara said, then return to the bar for some post-game cocktails.
“We’ve become the national place to watch Dodgers games,” Tahara said, estimating a 30-40% spike in business on game days. “People who normally wouldn’t even come here for sports games but now come for Shohei.”
Schedule
Best-of-seven series. All times Eastern.
Fri 25 Oct Game 1: LA Dodgers 6, New York Yankees 3 (10 innings)
Sat 26 Oct Game 2: LA Dodgers 4, New York Yankees 2
Mon 28 Oct Game 3: LA Dodgers 4, New York Yankees 2
Tue 29 Oct Game 4: LA Dodgers at New York Yankees, 8.08pm, FOX
Wed 30 Oct Game 5: LA Dodgers at New York Yankees, 8.08pm, FOX*
Fri 1 Nov Game 6: New York Yankees at LA Dodgers, 8.08pm, FOX*
Sat 2 Nov Game 7: New York Yankees at LA Dodgers, 8.08pm, FOX*
*-if necessary
As the Dodgers square off against the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series, Ohtani mania has transformed Little Tokyo into the unofficial “Dodger Town”. A host of business owners, already seasoned Dodgers fans, were quick to create Ohtani-themed menu specials to support the hero from their homeland. A towering mural of the two-way star adorning the Miyako Hotel has become a top tourist attraction, drawing legions of new shoppers and diners to revitalize a historic enclave under growing threats of gentrification and displacement.
In the country’s second-oldest Japantown, the impact of Ohtani’s 10-year, $700m contract with the Dodgers has been stratospheric. Adam Burke, the president and CEO of Los Angeles’s tourism board, said it’s possible the number of Japanese tourists to the city could exceed 400,000 this year, nearly doubling total visitors from 2023. The Miyako Hotel’s general manager said 98% of its occupants on game days were there to watch Ohtani.
Mariko Lochridge, the small-business coordinator at the nonprofit Little Tokyo Service Center, said while love for Ohtani has clearly boosted tourism from Japan, his more lasting impact is on increasing the visibility of Japanese language and pop culture in the US.
“The long-term effect of Ohtani fever is on the ‘cool factor’ of Little Tokyo because our identity is tied to Japan,” Lochridge said. “It gives us hope that people will find the neighborhood and fall in love with it.”
Along the four streets that make up historic Little Tokyo, bars and dessert joints are turning food into Ohtani merch. The confectionery Fugetsu-Do, which has been making mochi for 121 years, launched the “Sho-mochi”: Dodger-blue wrapping filled with white chocolate and ganache. The Okayama Kobo bakery inside Miyako Hotel carries pastries shaped like the Dodgers’ helmets.
Tahara, and other business owners, credit local artist Robert Vargas, who painted the Ohtani mural, for bringing the spotlight to Little Tokyo. “The mural is the best thing that’s happened to Little Tokyo in a long time,” Tahara said, noting that scores of Japanese tourists would stand in front of Far Bar to take photos with the mural. Some would visit the bar afterward.
The mural towers over Bunkado, a family-owned gift shop that opened in 1946. Natsuki Quartz, who runs Nostalgiana, a crafts pop-up stand that carries traditional Japanese products like teacup candles and vintage kimono coasters, said she rarely saw any Japanese customers come into the store until Ohtani joined the Dodgers. Since the mural was unveiled in March, she estimated that total visitors to the gift shop has more than doubled from the year before, often reaching more than 500 people on busy days.
“Ohtani-san for sure has made a big change to Little Tokyo,” Quartz said, addressing Ohtani by the Japanese honorific. “Rather than just going to restaurants here, people are now looking to experience Japanese culture, too.”
At Mr Ramen, the last family-owned and operated ramen shop on First Street, Ohtani mania has ushered in an avalanche of sales from new customers eager to experience Japanese food, said co-owner Ryusei Yamamoto.
“We’re seeing a big influx of people who are interested in the Japanese community,” said Yamamoto, 36. “We’re hearing of people who speak Japanese and know Japanese culture and history moving back to Little Tokyo.”
Like Far Bar, Mr Ramen has capitalized on Ohtani’s star power, offering 50% off the first 17 bowls of ramen the day after he hits a home run. While the majority of the restaurant’s patrons are LA residents, Yamamoto said Ohtani has brought in a swell of Japanese tourists and visitors from out of state.
The resurgence came after a particularly arduous stretch in the restaurant’s history. Yamamoto’s father, who founded Mr. Ramen in 1993, died suddenly in 2020, leaving him and his two younger brothers with the difficult choice of selling or taking over the business. The three sons wanted to work in music and acting, but decided to rebuild the restaurant to honor their parents’ legacy.
“If we sold for the lowballing amount people offered us during Covid,” Yamamoto said, “how disrespectful would it be to our parents?”
Yamamoto said Little Tokyo is experiencing a resurgence that he hopes will continue. Yet, development pressures remain a serious existential threat for family-owned establishments in Little Tokyo, which turned 140 years old this summer. Long-time residents and business owners continue to be priced out as big-budget developments, including a new rail line and a $2bn multiuse project, get green-lit. In May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Little Tokyo one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the country.
Kristin Fukushima, managing director of the Little Tokyo Community Council, said that more than half of Little Tokyo’s legacy businesses – those that have been in operation for longer than a decade – have closed or left the neighborhood in the last 15 years.
“We’re still seeing rents go up,” Fukushima said. “A handful of businesses have been able to benefit from this moment, but it isn’t fully mitigating the issues we have.”
As an avid Dodgers fan, Fukushima said she’s excited for the World Series but worried about impending changes to Little Tokyo. Already, she said she’s noticed parking lots spiking up prices, which she fears might prevent locals from visiting the neighborhood.
Fukushima said that tourism brought on by sporting events and powerhouses can be a good thing, as long as investment is pointed toward the community. It’s a conversation that needs to continue ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, she said.
“We want to make sure that if people are here, they’re going to our legacy businesses,” Fukushima said. “We’re not trying to stop change or progress, but we want to make sure it doesn’t threaten our 140-year-old community.”
