Alison Ozawa Sanders

Alison is an attorney and mother of three, living with her family in Santa Cruz, California. She has published several essays and short stories and she is currently working on her first novel. Her father's family has been in Los Angeles since the early 1900s, and she has many fond childhood memories of visits to Little Tokyo. Writing this piece was a lovely opportunity to research how Little Tokyo has changed over the years, and to rekindle her own sensory memories there.

Updated June 2023

Stories from This Author

10th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

Aftershocks

June 4, 2023 • Alison Ozawa Sanders

The bricks of the plaza are damp with morning dew, and the lanterns hanging overhead are dark and still. The sky above is a dome of deep indigo, and the only sound is the freeway in the distance — a low hum, an occasional rumble. To the west, downtown buildings tower like sleeping giants, their windows dark. * * * * * A few miles away, Kenji scrolls through his phone at the kitchen table. “They got the guy. He’s …