By ELLEN ENDO
Rafu Shimpo
On Sept. 11, the Olympic and Paralympic flags that accompanied Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on her return from the Paris Games found their niche in City Hall, where they will be on view for the next four years in anticipation of the 2028 Olympic Games.
About 100 feet away, the mayor was meeting with Consul General Kenko Sone, Japan Business Association president Akira Minamiura, Hirokazu Kosaka of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, L.A.-Nagoya Sister City Affiliation, and Little Tokyo Business Association, which for the past 43 years has been aligned with Nagoya’s Pure O2 business organization.
The gathering was called to outline plans for relocating a half-dozen large art pieces gifted to the city by the sister cities of Nagoya, Japan and Busan, South Korea and Mexico between 1960 and the early 1980s.
Concern over what would happen to the gifts, how they would be handled, and where they would be housed prompted the mayor to sit down with community leaders to reassure them that the artifacts’ new domicile at the L.A. Convention Center was more than adequate.
Meanwhile, the mayor pledged transparency going forward. She touted the return of the Olympic flag for the first time since 1984 as a historic event, saying the Olympics will “benefit the entire city of Los Angeles through both the preparation for the Games as well as the legacy that will endure in the decades to come.”
Olympic and Paralympic flags on display in the City Hall Rotunda. Artifacts from Nagoya and Busan that were once there will be restored and displayed at the L.A. Convention Center.
The 2028 Games marked the third time L.A. has served as the host city. The Olympics were held here in 1932 and again in 1984.
When news of the artifacts’ removal reached the Japanese American and Korean American communities, questions arose as to why no one in either community was consulted and why the Convention Center is considered the most suitable home for the gifts.
The Nagoya and Busan gifts include a ceremonial mikoshi, mechanical bunraku dolls, a decorative clock, and a replica of a Korean turtle boat.