Aratani Theatre

Since its Grand Opening with a Kabuki performance from the National Theatre of Japan, the Aratani Theatre has been a cultural pillar in Little Tokyo since 1983.

Today, the 880-seat Aratani Theatre remains at the epicenter of Japanese and Japanese American performing arts. Through community programs, it also showcases the vibrantly diverse cultures of Southern California and beyond. It is a perfect, intimate, and comfortable venue for chamber music, dance, and drama.

Since 2014, supporters helped to complete a new phase of technical upgrades in the Aratani Theatre. Their generous support has helped to infuse the theatre with its new sound, lights, rigging, soft goods, and projection systems. The Aratani Theatre Lighting Upgrade Project was made possible in part by generous support from George, Ruri, Lisa & Nathan Sugimoto, the Ahmanson Foundation, Aratani Foundation, Henry Ota in memory of Sue and Harry Ota, Akira Uehara, Kawaguchi-Kihara Memorial Foundation, and the Folick Family.

A partnership between Bose® and JACCC has also enabled the Aratani Theatre to be the first performing arts venue in Southern California to house a newly custom-designed Bose® RoomMatch® sound system. A total audio refit was completed in November 2014 using Bose’s innovative technologies, bringing the theatre’s acoustic performance to new levels of excellence.