Ohtani mania: Little Tokyo in Los Angeles is booming among baseball fans | Los Angeles

Over the past few months, Don Tahara has given out nearly 100 bottles of free sake to celebrate Shohei Ohtani's end-of-season exploits for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At Far Bar in Little Tokyo, a gastropub Tahara opened 18 years ago, every patron gets a shot on the house every time Ohtani hits a home run. The Shohei Sake Shot special wasn't a cheap expense, but Tahara said it was money well spent for a lifelong Dodgers fan.

Watching Ohtani at Far Bar has become a family affair, especially when the Dodgers play at home. Women and seniors who Tahara said had rarely visited the bar in the past turned out in droves wearing Ohtani jerseys. Enthusiastic fans would start at the bar for a pregame meal before taking an Uber to the stadium, Tahara said, then return to the bar for a few postgame cocktails.

“We have become the national place to watch Dodgers games,” Tahara said, estimating a 30-40% increase in business on game days. “People who normally wouldn’t even come here for sports games but are now coming for Shohei.”

As the Dodgers face the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series, Ohtani mania has turned Little Tokyo into the unofficial “Dodger Town.” Many business owners, already seasoned Dodgers fans, quickly created Ohtani-style menu specials to support their hometown hero. A towering mural of the two-sided star adorning the Miyako Hotel has become a top tourist attraction, attracting legions of new shoppers and guests to revitalize a historic enclave under the growing threat of gentrification and displacement.

In the country's second-oldest Japantown, the impact of Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers was overwhelming. Adam Burke, the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism Board, said it was possible that the number of Japanese tourists in the city could exceed 400,000 this year, nearly doubling the total number of visitors from 2023. The general manager of Miyako Hotel said 98% of guests were there to watch Ohtani.

Mariko Lochridge, small business coordinator at the nonprofit Little Tokyo Service Center, said that while love for Ohtani has clearly boosted tourism from Japan, its more lasting impact is in increasing the visibility of the Japanese language and pop culture in the United States.

“The long-term effects of Ohtani fever affect Little Tokyo's 'cool factor' 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 spots transform food into Ohtani merchandise. The confectionery Fugetsu-Do, which has been making mochi for 121 years, launched the “Sho-mochi”: Dodger blue packaging filled with white chocolate and ganache. Okayama Kobo Bakery in the Miyako Hotel stocks pastries shaped like Dodgers helmets.

Tahara and other business owners praise local artist Robert Vargas, who painted the Ohtani mural, for bringing Little Tokyo into the spotlight. “The mural is the best thing that has happened to Little Tokyo in a long time,” Tahara said, noting that scores of Japanese tourists lined up outside Far Bar to take photos with the mural. Some then visited the bar.

The mural towers over Bunkado, a family-run gift shop that opened in 1946. Natsuki Quartz, who runs Nostalgiana, a pop-up arts and crafts stand that sells traditional Japanese products like teacup candles and vintage kimono coasters, said she rarely saw Japanese customers come into the store until Ohtani joined the Dodgers. Since the mural was unveiled in March, she estimated that total traffic to the gift shop has more than doubled compared to last year, often reaching more than 500 people on busy days.

“Ohtani-san has certainly changed Little Tokyo a lot,” Quartz said, addressing Ohtani with the Japanese honorific. “Instead of just going to restaurants, people here now also want to experience Japanese culture.”

At Mr. Ramen, the last family-run ramen shop on First Street, Ohtani mania has sparked an avalanche of sales from new customers eager to try Japanese food, said co-owner Ryusei Yamamoto.

“We're seeing a big influx of people interested in the Japanese community,” said Yamamoto, 36. “We're hearing from people who speak Japanese and know Japanese culture and history returning to Little Tokyo.”

Like Far Bar, Mr. Ramen capitalized on Ohtani's star power, offering 50% off the first 17 bowls of ramen the day after his home run. While the majority of the restaurant's patrons are Los Angeles residents, Ohtani has attracted a flood of Japanese tourists and visitors from abroad, according to Yamamoto.

The resurgence came after a particularly difficult period 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 decision of whether to sell or take over the company. The three sons wanted to work in the music and acting industries, but decided to remodel the restaurant to honor their parents' legacy.

“If we sold for the low amount people offered us during the coronavirus crisis,” Yamamoto said, “how disrespectful would that be to our parents?”

Yamamoto said Little Tokyo is experiencing a resurgence that he hopes will continue. Still, development pressures remain a serious existential threat to family businesses in Little Tokyo that turned 140 years old this summer. Longtime residents and business owners continue to be overvalued as big-budget projects, including a new rail line and a $2 billion multi-use project, get the green light. In May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Little Tokyo one of the country's 11 most endangered historic places.

Kristin Fukushima, executive director of the Little Tokyo Community Council, said more than half of Little Tokyo's legacy businesses – those that have been around for more than a decade – have closed or left the area in the last 15 years.

“We are still seeing rising rents,” Fukushima said. “A few companies have been able to benefit from this moment, but it doesn’t fully alleviate the problems we have.”

An avid Dodgers fan, Fukushima said she was looking forward to the World Series but worried about the upcoming changes in Little Tokyo. She said she has already noticed parking prices rising, which she fears could deter locals from visiting the area.

Fukushima said the tourism generated by sporting events and power plants can be a good thing as long as the investment flows into the community. It's a conversation that needs to continue leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, she said.

“We want to make sure that the people who are here go to our old companies,” Fukushima said. “We’re not trying to stop change or progress, but we want to make sure it doesn’t endanger our 140-year-old community.”