Why the **** do Japanese Tourist Companies send Japanese Tourists to Downtown LA?

2002-09-25

Why is it that it seems like the majority of Japanese tourists to Los Angeles gets sent to the worst places!?!?! It really sucks because obviously as a person from Southern California I know lots of great places but for some reason beyond me, Japanese tourist companies insist on putting Japanese tourists in hotels in Little Tokyo which is one of LA's cesspools. Well, maybe the few blocks that are Little Tokyo itself are not cesspools although one would hardly call them attractive or interesting. Especially for a Japanese tourist since that area of town is all Japanese stores. What's the point. Could have stayed at home to see that except it's much nicer at home.

There are plenty of places a tourist should/could stay. How about Santa Monica on the beach? Or Redondo Beach might be nice. Disneyland Hotel. Huntington Beach. Newport Beach. Even Pasadena, West Hollywood, Brentwood, Westwood. Anywhere but downtown LA!!!

If I think hard about it I can come up with some *rationalizations* why the tourist companies put people there. One, there's a chance if they run into trouble there might be people that can help them, ie Japanese speaking people. Except, to be honest I doubt it. Nobody lives there and it shuts down at about 6pm. After that it's just homeless and bums and other unmentionables.

Another might be that many Japanese can't drive since cars are rarer here. They use the trains instead. So, downtown is *centrally located* Except it's centrally located to NOTHING. No mater where you are in LA, if you don't have a car you are going to have to take a cab or a bus so what's the difference? At least you could put them somewhere where they might not fear for their lives if they step outside the hotel. Some place where they might actually experience something or see something that makes their whole trip have a point.

If you are Japanese and you are considering going to visit LA. DO NOT LET THEM PUT YOU DOWNTOWN! If you want, tell me where they are recommending and I'll tell you if it sucks or not.

PS:West Hollywood is okay. Hollywood and North Hollywood are not!

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