Visions for the Future

Edwin Ushiro’s artwork at Café Dulce. The joyous woman on the left is his wife Lynn; the man with a boy on his shoulder are the late Dean Matsubayashi and his son, Sei; the young man wearing an apron is Korey Kito, heir apparent to Little Tokyo’s manju shop, Fugetsu-Do; the man in the hat is Arthur Nakane, Japanese Village Plaza’s one-man band. Ushiro also provided the cover art for Naomi Hirahara’s latest mystery, “Iced in Paradise.” (Photo by MIKE MURASE)

Windows of Little Tokyo, which transforms the historic, 135-year-old neighborhood into an outdoor art exhibition, was launched over the weekend.

The theme is visions for the future of First Street North, a block critical to the past, present and future of Little Tokyo.

Locations and artists are as follows:

Kuniharu Yoshida at Little Tokyo Branch Library, 203 S. Los Angeles St.

Chiho Harazaki at Café Demitasse, 135 S. San Pedro St.

Amwa at Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St.

Edwin Ushiro at Café Dulce, 134 Japanese Village Mall

Nancy Uyemura at Mitsuru Sushi & Grill, 316 E. First St.

Cat Chiu Phillips at Leola Lace, 301 E. First St.

Kenji Liu at Los Angeles Food Policy Council, 305 E. First St.

Kristen Sadakane at Little Tokyo Koban and Visitors Center, 307 E. First St.

Alan Nakagawa at Far East Lounge, 353 E. First St.

Angelica Villegas at J. Morey Co., 361 E. First St.

A reception and walking tour were held on Nov. 2 and will be held at the halfway mark on Jan. 25 and at the closing on April 25.

Funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Kresge Foundation, with support from the California Arts Council and Café Demitasse.

For more information on this and other community projects, visit http://sustainablelittletokyo.org.