Featured story from the RAFU SHIMPO
By GWEN MURANAKA
RAFU ENGLISH EDITORIN CHIEF
Saturday, April 21, 2007
“Little Tokyo Unplugged” goes live in several hot spots throughout J-Town.
Photos by MARIO G. REYES/Rafu Shimpo
Rinban Noriaki Ito and Sandy Sakamoto preview “Little Tokyo Unplugged,” the neighborhood’s new wireless network at its official unveiling on Thursday at the JACCC. The site is accessible at littletokyounplugged.org.
With a ceremonial snip of wire cutters, Little Tokyo entered a new era of communication on Thursday with the unveiling of its new Wi-Fi network and Web portal, “Little Tokyo Unplugged.” The WiFi network, developed by the Little Tokyo Service Center, will allow residents and visitors to access the Internet from laptops, PDAs and other portable devices at sites throughout Little Tokyo.
“As a community, today is a big step towards embracing this technology and who knows what’s to come? The possibilities are limitless, not only for Little Tokyo, but for everybody. And Little Tokyo has led the way again,” Councilwoman Jan Perry remarked.
Starting Thursday, wireless Internet access is now available in open, public spaces at such landmarks as the Go For Broke Memorial, Japanese American National Museum, Japanese Village Plaza and Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. The service has also been extended to some low-income residential buildings. Little Tokyo Unplugged also features a Web portal that will provide information on the area’s history, businesses, news and upcoming events.
“Visitors and tourists to Little Tokyo will now be able to get immediately acquainted with our wonderful and rich community, they’ll be able to see a community calendar of events and acquaint themselves with the institutions here that offer an array of activities and programs. That’s a really wonderful boost for Little Tokyo,” said Sandy Sakamoto, chair of the JACCC’s board of directors. “For those who work in the Little Tokyo area we’ll be able to more readily share information to coordinate activities and programs to strengthen our collaborative activities.”
Little Tokyo is one of the first neighborhoods in Los Angeles to develop Wi-Fi.
The launch comes in the wake of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s announcement in March of the L.A. Wi-Fi initiative, which aims to have a citywide network by 2009.
Little Tokyo’s wireless service was created in partnership with the Community Redevelopment Agency and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and with grants from the Community Technology Foundation of California and California Consumer Protection Foundation. Pro911 Systems, a Laguna Beach wireless networking planning firm, donated equipment and technical assistance and helped deploy the network over a dozen access points.
“What we have here in Little Tokyo is some entrepreneurial people, working Discovery Center, with this Wi-Fi network and youth and seniors and we’re going to see the opportunity to actually innovate and do things first that people are going to learn from,” said Curtis Gibbs, a senior resource officer with the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
At the ceremony, a table of laptops were set up for visitors to try the new site. The service will be free for the first six months during this trial period. Davis Park, director of community technology programs at LTSC, said they will be exploring funding and business opportunities with a goal of keeping the service affordable.
Far East Building resident Yuki Sherab-Khandro Cushing-Murray, a member of the Little Tokyo Unplugged advisory committee, said Wi-Fi will be especially helpful for her since she is in a wheelchair.
“Our concern is how could we reach all the residents? Some don’t speak English a lot, some are very shy, so how to relate for those people,” commented Cushing-Murray.
Rinban Noriaki Ito of Higashi Honganji Temple emphasized the benefits Little Tokyo Unplugged will offer the community’s elderly.
“One of the challenges I see, is that the elders in our community, there are so many who are afraid of it, they don’t want to touch it. Davis and LTSC doing great work in providing lessons and computers to our community,” said Ito. “To be able to introduce it and show them how simple it is, that will really be a boon for the elders, especially those who aren’t as mobile as before.”
For more information,visit littletokyounplugged.org or e-mail .
From left, Davis Park, David Mitchell, Ito, Sakamoto, Bill Watanabe, Councilwoman Jan Perry, Curtis Gibbs and Nathan Look perform the wire-cutting ceremony.