Little Tokyo Breakfast Club: One-Year Anniversary Celebration

Steve Nagano is a Little Tokyo resident, and has been involved with a number of community organizations and events. As a filmmaker he has shown his film shorts annually in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and various community organizations. Since 2011 he has been a board member of the Neighborhood Council. He has done extensive work on the preservation of the testimonies of incarcerees before the Commission WRIC (CWRIC). He has been a key organizer of the Little Tokyo Sparkle, the community-wide cleanup. 

Jane Matsumoto is the former Executive Culinary Arts Director at JACCC, retiring in late 2024. Jane has worked for more than 25 years in public service. She played a key role in major projects like implementing the TAP smart card system for public transportation, but her true passion lies in the culinary arts.

Jane is deeply inspired by the history, science, and preparation of global cuisines—especially Washoku, the traditional food of Japan. Outside the kitchen, she’s often exploring food blogs, diving into cookbooks, traveling, or hiking local trails.

Don Tahara is a Little Tokyo restaurateur and caterer. His earliest remembrance of Little Tokyo was his mother taking him on the street car to his doctor’s appointment on 1st and San Pedro Street in the 1950’s. He took Japanese cooking classes there in the 1970’s and started catering in Little Tokyo in the 1980’s at JACCC. He witnessed with pride the early years and growth of JANM in the 1990’s. He participated in LTSC’s Tofu Festival for ten years, and their Sake Festival in recent years. Don signed a lease in 1994 with LTSC for the former Far East Cafe restaurant and with his partners opened Far Bar, whose mission statement described a community focused business serving goodwill and good food. He and his partners opened Sake Dojo in 2017 on historic 1st Street and then sold the restaurant in 2023. Starting with the pandemic and through the current year Far Bar has provided senior meals Mondays-Fridays for the Little Tokyo Nutrition Services program. Currently Far Bar is providing once a week lunches to Pasadena Buddhist to aid the fire victims.

Don has not only catered events at JACCC, JANM, and LTSC, but has done numerous events with LTBA, LTCC, Budokan, Go For Broke, Keiro, Nisei Week, Visual Communications, East West Players, Professional Associations, and Japanese Consulate of LA,  He has catered weddings and celebration of life events, as well as family celebrations, corporate and government events.

It was through his work with Little Tokyo non-profit entities and organizations that he became impressed by the hundreds of volunteers and the leaders who were dedicated to the betterment and sustainability of Little Tokyo.  They have served as a role model template for Don and Far Bar.

Don was born, raised, and educated in Los Angeles and is a dedicated Trojan, Dodger, and NBA fan.  He and his wife Jocelyn were married at Nishi Temple and daughter Jill and son-in-law were married at Budokan, so Little Tokyo is a very special place for Don.