The Next-Gen of Housing Advocates in… Japan?

by Andrew Frastaci, LTSC Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Walking to Little Tokyo Towers, camera in hand, I wasn’t sure how the day was going to go. Members of our staff were showing students from Tohoku University around the neighborhood, ending their tour at the senior living apartments. What would they think of Little Tokyo, or of the work we do at LTSC? My colleagues Ryoko and Moto were scheduled to give a talk about LTSC and our work in homeless outreach, but with Japan having a reputation for a lack of visible homelessness, I didn’t expect to find jetlagged college students to be engaged in the topic.

When I stepped into Towers, I was immediately impressed. The 20 students sat listening intently to Moto explain his work as an LTSC Case Manager, holding onto every word. As hand after hand was raised with questions, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that they had Disneyland in tomorrow’s itinerary: it was as if this was the sole reason they took a trip to America in the first place. One student was moved to tears as Moto described his work with an unhoused Japanese client in Macarthur Park.

LTSC Case Manager Mototsugu Sekiya (left), LTSC Community Engagement & Education Manager Ryoko Nakamura (right)

LTSC operates from a Housing First perspective: we believe that housing is the foundation upon which an unhoused person can work through chronic disabilities, substance abuse issues, and the journey towards independence. It says a lot about the work my colleagues do that after just one day of learning about Housing First, the students from Tohoku University were immediately on board. To them, it was a no-brainer:

After the presentation, the students enthusiastically assembled hygiene care kits, leaving the bags in neat rows for collection. These care kits help keep people healthy and are a great way for our team to make connections with clients in the neighborhood.

Over 20 Japanese-speaking seniors living in Little Tokyo Towers (whom the students had delivered bentos to earlier) arrived, proudly introducing themselves with their age and what part of Japan they came from. They had smiles on their faces I’m not used to seeing, I imagine due to the chance to talk to so many new young people in their native language. The room buzzed with conversation, every group sounding like a Japanese family dinner table:

I felt encouraged seeing the next generation of Japan with such passionate empathy in their eyes, so open to learning about the issues facing Nikkei overseas. This experience reaffirmed my faith in the work we do at LTSC, and I’m confident that these lessons learned from Little Tokyo will stick with them on their way home. One student said that he learned more about himself in his two weeks in America than he did in two years in university – maybe we created some future Angelenos?