The Trojan Grand Ballroom was full of Japanese festival decorations as student groups took the stage, singing Japanese pop songs, playing taiko, and performing kendo and other traditional Japanese performances.

On Saturday, the Nikkei Student Union hosted its 18th annual culture night. Vendors from Little Tokyo were invited to host informational booths at the event, and students could win prizes after engaging with the booths and participating in activities such as kendama, origami folding and Little Tokyo trivia.

Kyle Ching, Nikkei’s culture night director and a junior majoring in public policy, chose the theme Kyosei, which means to live together in harmony. 

Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.

“Our focus is on strengthening the connection between USC and Japanese American spaces like Little Tokyo, the historic and cultural heart of the [Los Angeles] Japanese American community,” Ching said. “I chose Kyosei, or living together in harmony, to celebrate the incredible work being done to preserve and protect our community.”

Inspired by Thomas Curwen’s article in the Los Angeles Times, “The fight to save L.A.’s Little Tokyo before it’s too late,” the culture night this year aimed to shed light on the gentrification that’s threatening long-standing Japanese businesses in Little Tokyo, like Suehiro Cafe, which shut down its historic Little Tokyo location last year.

“There are just so many great community organizations that are fighting to preserve the community,” Ching said. “The purpose of the event was to bring together those community organizations and just educate students about the great work that they’re doing.”

Little Tokyo organizations at the event included the Japanese American National Museum, Terasaki Budokan and the Nisei Week Foundation, among others. Each organization had an informational booth set up in the ballroom, at which students could engage in games and activities to learn about the history and culture behind each vendor.

At each booth, students had the chance to win prize tickets, which they could trade in for prizes such as Sonny Angels, Smiski figurines, $50 sushi gift cards and mochi. Students who attended also enjoyed free onigiri and Japanese-themed sweets.

“The goal was to bridge the USC and Little Tokyo community,” Ching said. “Little Tokyo is just like a few metro stops away, it’s so valuable for USC students to learn about the issues affecting it.”

Each year, the culture night is open to all students, as it aims to share Japanese culture with the broader student community.

“It’s really rewarding to get to showcase something that we’re so passionate about and we love, and getting to share that with people who are familiar, or maybe not familiar, with Japanese American culture,” said Katie Ikemoto, president of the Nikkei Student Union and a senior majoring in communication.

Sherrill Ingalls, director of marketing and communications at the Japanese American National Museum, educated passersby on the Japanese American community’s history, cultural diversity and how those experiences have affected its art and culture.

Due to the museum being under renovation, JANM currently works to increase public awareness and engagement outside of the museum.

“We’re embarking on a renovation to update our core exhibition, to tell more diverse stories about the Japanese American community, introduce new technology into the experience and just kind of update the museum,” Ingalls said. “We’re doing what we call ‘JANM on the go,’ which is going out into the community, bringing our programming out.”

At JANM’s booth, students were asked to share their favorite memories of Little Tokyo to create a wall of collective memories. Ingalls said that a lot of students’ favorite memories had to do with the food they enjoyed in the neighborhood.

“It’s been really nice to see the community come together,” Ikemoto said. “I hope that they learned a lot, but also [got] to enjoy it and make memories.”