Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo pays tribute to Shohei Ohtani

It was time to get a better look at it.

We head out of Hotel Miyako, past the swarms of Dodger fans — mostly wearing that famous No. 17 — and walk up First Street. There’s a buzz about baseball in the air with the Padres in town for a big end-of-season, three-game series. There’s been a buzz in this small section of Los Angeles all season long.

We cross the street, glancing back to see if it’s fully in our sights. Not quite yet.

A ramen restaurant promotes a special deal of 50% off the first 17 bowls of ramen the day after the biggest star of the Dodgers — and baseball — hits a homer. A bar promises to give out free sake shots the night he hits one. A confectionary shop features a blue-colored Sho-mochi treat on its front shelf.

Although tempted by the mochi (and to learn more about this sake situation), we keep moving.

Finally, when we reach the Japanese American National Museum, we spin around. There, almost popping out to greet us, is the 150-foot, 50-50 man.

“It gives Little Tokyo a face, if you will,” muralist Robert Vargas said. “It’s uplifted the spirit of the community here and you see all Angelenos from everywhere in the city come through. It really feels like Dodgertown now.”

The Little Tokyo section of L.A., of course, hasn’t always been Ohtani-Land. In fact, it wasn’t even a place where tourists from Japan routinely traveled. They stayed away from downtown — preferring to get accommodations near Disneyland or Hollywood or in the South Bay.

But since the blockbuster signing of Shohei Ohtani this past offseason, the neighborhood — just a 10-minute drive from Dodger Stadium — has exploded with its love for the Japanese superstar. Ohtani, all by himself, has seemingly boosted post-COVID visits from Japan to Los Angeles.

“We can refer to it as the Ohtani effect,” Adam Burke, president and CEO of L.A.’s tourism board, told Marketplace in June. “I don’t think it’s beyond the pale that we could be over 400,000 Japanese visitors.”

That’s up from 230,000 in 2023.

The neighborhood they’re mostly staying in? Little Tokyo. The accommodations? The Miyako Hotel.

“[The guests] all are focused on Ohtani,” Miyako Hotel GM Akira Yuhara said. “It’s now about triple the occupancy [from last year], especially from Japan.”

On a gameday, Yuhara said about 98% of the occupants are there to see the Dodgers, the majority hailing from Ohtani’s home country. Fans mill around the lobby in Ohtani jerseys, snapping photos and gearing up for that night’s game.

The mural — dubbed “L.A. Rising,” of course — had a hand in drawing in these tourists.

It was unveiled at the end of March, bringing big crowds to the area. Vargas was born and raised about a half mile from Little Tokyo and his family goes back five generations in the area. A renowned muralist who has work all over the world, Vargas brought the idea of creating the gigantic painting to Miyako’s owner. He thought it was the perfect addition to the neighborhood following the signing of Japan’s most popular baseball star.

“The mural is about representation, it’s about bringing people together,” Vargas said. “I grew up in Boyle Heights, which was also traditionally Japanese, so there was a strong Japanese community there. That connection, between the Latin-American and Japanese-American, goes back to pre- World War II. So there’s a historical significance to it. I approached this hotel, saying this is what I’d like to do. Thinking it would be a galvanizing thing for the hotel and for the community.”

It took Vargas nine days of free-hand painting — while balancing on a swing stage — to finish the masterpiece. A fun bonus: Onlookers can also use a special QR code to make Ohtani swing and pitch on their phones.

“That takes it to another level, for sure,” Vargas laughed.

Through the QR code, Vargas can also track where people are visiting from. Kyoto, Tokyo, Australia and parts of Europe are all on the list.

A big benefit to Ohtani signing, the creation of the mural and all these people now coming into the neighborhood? An economic boom … that has the appearance of an “Ohtani-Land.”

Mr. Ramen, located just across from the hotel, serves up discounted bowls the day after a Shohei dinger. They proudly promote the deal in their window.

A few feet from there, with music blasting out into the street, lies Space City. A thrift shop that’s been in the area about five years.

“Business has been good, man,” Zac Vargas, Space City owner, said. “The mural helped a lot. Tourists, and not just Japanese. People from everywhere.”

Bunkado, an antique store and gift shop next door to the hotel, sells Ohtani mural postcards you can send home to your family proving you were there. The mural was, and continues to be, big news in Japan.

“I’ve never seen so many Dodger fans,” the owner, Irene, told me. “And so many people from Japan. All Ohtani fans.”

Far Bar, a spot back across the street that’s been around for 18 years, has seen much increased traffic this summer.

“There seems to be an influx of customers, especially on gamedays,” owner Don Tahara said. “Then Mr. Robert Vargas painted the mural, and this place blew up. There are a lot of new Dodger fans that, for years, never really followed the team.”

Tahara said he gets Japanese media in town to cover the game at the bar, pregame crowds who head to the stadium after a few drinks and many people there to actually just watch the game on the bar’s TVs. Photos of Ohtani adorn the walls and Dodger banners hang from the ceiling. There’s a special Japanese vodka-infused “Shotime” cocktail. An ornate bottle of sake sits on the bar.

“Yeah, there’s actually a complimentary sake toast every time Shohei hits a home run,” Tahara told me. “For the toast we use a sake call Sho Chiku Bai. It’s all alliterative.”

Tahara admitted there have been a lot of shots this year for the NL home run leader, especially during his epic game against the Marlins when he hit three to get to 51 on the year. They actually ran out of shot glasses.

“That got a little expensive,” Tahara laughed.

About 50 feet farther down the street is a place that’s been around for 121 years — nearly as old as Little Tokyo itself. The confectionary shop, Fugetsu-Do.

“1903,” owner Brian Kito said. “Little Tokyo is celebrating its 140th anniversary this year and we’re 121 of the 140. We’re definitely the oldest here.”

As soon as the Ohtani signing was announced, a Japanese TV station contacted Kito asking if they could come film him making something in honor of Shohei. Kito asked how long he had. They said they’d be there within the hour.

“The blitz was unbelievable,” Kito told me.

The shop came up with Sho-Mochi, a Dodger-blue colored sweet treat that is also sold on the suite level at Dodger Stadium.

Kito, who’s been there himself for 50 years, says he’s never seen the neighborhood like this.

“The rush right now? Yes, there’s no comparison,” he said. “This Ohtani thing has brought everyone. Young and old. Rich and poor.”

And you see that walking around one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Scores of people talking about Ohtani, shopping for Ohtani merchandise, eating Ohtani pastries, drinking Ohtani drinks, congregating together, connecting with old friends and making new ones. Just as Vargas had dreamed. All in this tiny, 0.107 square mile oasis of Los Angeles.

A couple city blocks revitalized by a baseball player, that will only get busier as he leads his team through the postseason this October.

“It’s an exciting thing,” Vargas said. “It’s good for fans, it’s good for the Dodgers, it’s good for the city of L.A to see this kind of unity. And, of course, with the mural towering above it all. It makes everyone feel like, if they can’t get a ticket to the game at Dodger Stadium that day, they can watch a game right here and Ohtani’s right outside. It keeps them close.”