The Brief

The tourism industry in Los Angeles, still rebounding from the pandemic, has gotten a rare gift in the form of Shohei Ohtani.

Since the baseball season started in March, Japanese fans have come by the thousands to L.A. despite a historically weak yen, in hopes of seeing the two-way star slug a home run.

The surge is apparent at the Miyako, a mid-sized, unassuming hotel in Little Tokyo that has become a top attraction for Japanese visitors because of its proximity to Dodger Stadium — just 2 miles away — and a 15-story, very ‘grammable mural of Ohtani covering one of its exterior walls.

Inside the Miyako, workers at the Okayama Kobo bakery in the lobby, sell Japanese-style pastries shaped like blue Dodger helmets while reporting that their Japanese is vastly improving from more Japanese guests coming through the door.

A top seller at the Okayama Kobo Bakery inside the Miyako Hotel are Japanese-style pastries shaped like Dodger helmets.

One traveler from Osaka, Megu Adachi, was in the lobby last week checking in with several other friends. They had tickets to watch Ohtani play, or as Adachi fondly called him, yakyu shonen — a kid obsessed with baseball.

“Baseball only!” Adachi emphasized in English.

Tens of thousands of Japanese fans are coming to see Shohei Ohtani play at Dodger Stadium.

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L.A.’s tourism industry eagerly welcomes international travelers for their tendency to stay longer and spend more than domestic visitors, said Adam Burke, president and CEO the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board.

With travel down from China, the biggest pre-pandemic source of overseas visitors to L.A., other countries such as Japan are proving to be increasingly important sources of tourism dollars.

Because of Ohtani's appeal — not to mention the Dodgers also signing of Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto — Japan this year may surpass visitor numbers for markets like the U.K. and Australia.

“We could be over 400,000 Japanese visitors," Burke said. "It would absolutely make it one of our top four international markets.”

Leading Japanese tour operator JTB alone plans to bring as many as 25,000 customers to watch Shohei play this season.

Osuke Ishiguro, who manages the agency’s L.A. office, said many customers are paying to see multiple games. Some of them are very casual baseball fans, but were stunned to see Ohtani secure his record-breaking $700 million, 10-year contract with a storied franchise.

“They found out he’s a superstar,” Ishiguro said. “So a lot of people want to just see the game, how he does and how he reacts.”

Shift to South Bay

When the Dodgers are playing at home, half of the Miyako's rooms are occupied by Japanese tourists, said general manager Akira Yuhara. Before Ohtani’s arrival, they had little reason to visit Little Tokyo, Yuhara said, noting some perceive downtown as dangerous.

“Especially this area, they don't want to come,” Yuhara said.

Though it is a cultural hub for Japanese Americans that's rooted in history, Little Tokyo is not widely known in Japan, Yuhara said.

Akira Yuhara, general manager of the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo, has seen a big uptick in visitors from Japan since Ohtani started playing on the Dodgers.

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Rather, the most famous L.A.-area attractions are Disneyland, Hollywood, Santa Monica and Universal Studios, home to the new Super Nintendo World co-designed by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

Yuhara said Japanese businesspeople coming to work in L.A. typically end up staying in the South Bay, where SoCal’s Japanese American population center shifted after World War II.

It’s also where scores of Japanese companies like Honda and All Nippon Airways have located their U.S. operations, and where many of their employees live, eat, bank and shop.

Yuhara said a sister hotel he manages in Torrance has traditionally been more popular with Japanese travelers.

If they want a photographic souvenir of Ohtani, they need go no farther than neighboring Hermosa Beach, which has its own mural of the superstar.

But the pull of Ohtani has more travelers traveling up the 110 Freeway and squeezing in a stay downtown.

A mural of Shohei Ohtani on the outside wall of Oceanview Liquor Store in Hermosa Beach.

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“Even when we don't have a game today, they go to Dodger Stadium,” Yuhara said. “They’re interested in Dodgers [merch] shopping.”

Fried octopus and chicken katsu

At the stadium, visitors can pick up Ohtani’s No. 17 jersey. Concession stands sell chicken katsu sandwiches and takoyaki (fried octopus.)

Signs in kanji characters dot the stadium, where tours are now given in Japanese several times a week.

The demand to see Ohtani has created unexpected new lines of business for companies such as Elite Sports Tours, which creates sports travel packages for customers.

Elite went from having "zero" bookings from Japan to, seemingly overnight, working with Japanese tour operators to secure tickets and advising on L.A. traffic, said CEO Tim Macdonell.

JTB manager Ishiguro said the gambling scandal involving Ohtani's ex-interpreter that exploded at the start of the season didn't seem to affect interest among Japanese travelers wanting to see Ohtani.

He expects even more Japanese fans will come during the summer and into the fall should Ohtani stay healthy, the Dodgers make the postseason and the yen recovers.

The agency is booking guests in and around Little Tokyo, shuttling them to and from the stadium and their hotels, Ishiguro said.

He said not since another Japanese superstar, Hideo Nomo, played for the Dodgers two decades ago have this many Japanese tourists regularly flocked to this part of town.

Yutaka Umezawa has noticed more people speaking Japanese on the street and at Daikokuya, the ramen shop where he works.

"I can hear that they're Japanese and usually they're talking about Ohtani," said Umezawa, who moved to L.A. eight years ago from Chiba.

Yutaka Umezawa works at the Daikokuya, which is selling Dodgers-themed shirts celebrating the ramen shop's anniversary. He says that Japanese tourists prefer official MLB jerseys.

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Outside the Miyako hotel, Tadashi Onaka was visiting the Ohtani mural with his son Yusuke, who lives in Arizona. He had traveled from Japan with the intent of seeing his son, but made sure to take a detour to L.A. so he could watch Ohtani play at home.

“He hit a run in the first inning,” Onaka recalled. ”Just getting to see it was good.”

Now he found himself in Little Tokyo, a place he was surprised to learn has existed for 140 years.

Very small, he said, and very different from Japan, he said. Rather, it's its own thing that legions of Ohtani fans are now getting to discover.

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican army killed the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho, " in an operation Sunday, a federal official said.

The official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said it happened during a military operation in the western state of Jalisco.

It followed several hours of roadblocks with burning vehicles in Jalisco and other states. Such tactics are commonly used by the cartels to block military operations.

Videos circulating social media showed plumes of smoke billowing over the city of Puerto Vallarta, a major city in Jalisco, and sprinting through the airport of the state's capital in panic. On Sunday afternoon, Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to Puerto Vallarta "due to an ongoing security situation" and advised customers not to go to their airport.

The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG, is one of the most powerful and fasted growing criminal organizations in Mexico and was born in 2009.

In February, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.

It has been one of the most aggressive cartels in its attacks on the military—including helicopters—and a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and installing mines. In 2020, it carried out a spectacular assassination attempt with grenades and high-powered rifles in the heart of Mexico City against the then head of the capital's police force and now head of federal security.

The DEA considers this cartel to be as powerful as the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico's most infamous criminal groups, with a presence in all 50 U.S. states where it distributes tons of drugs. It is one of the main suppliers of cocaine to the U.S. market and, like the Sinaloa cartel, earns billions from the production of fentanyl and methamphetamines.

Since 2017, Oseguera Cervantes has been indicted several times in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The most recent superseding indictment, filed on April 5, 2022, charges Oseguera Cervantes with conspiracy and distribution of controlled substances (methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl) for the purpose of illegal importation into the United States and use of firearms during and in connection with drug trafficking offenses. Oseguera Cervantes is also charged under the Drug Kingpin Enforcement Act for directing a continuing criminal enterprise.
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Hermon — Some shoppers heading into Fresco Market were lost in their phones, but when they momentarily looked up, they were greeted by a flap of brilliant green feathers and a cheery squawk. Phones were put away.

“Pepe! Hey Pepe! So good to see you!”

Perched on the shoulder of T.J. Gonzalez, Pepe the Parrot was in full greeter mode. Wide-eyed and seeming to almost smile as he surveyed the parking lot and his approaching public, Pepe did what he naturally does: make people happy.

A common sight at the Hermon market, near where they live, Gonzalez and Pepe can also be found at community centers, farmers’ markets and local events. They often take the Metro into downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and other locations.

There’s no money asked, stressed Gonzalez, adding that Pepe simply adores the attention. “People want to see and talk with him more than me,” he joked as he cracked a nut and placed it in his mouth. On cue, the bird reached around Gonzalez’s mouth to retrieve it.

Michael Eagle-Hall of El Sereno is delighted to meet Pepe outside of the Fresco Market in Hermon.

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A mail carrier for 37 years before he retired, Gonzalez found Pepe, a red-crowned Amazon (flocks are often seen in Northeast L.A.) in July 2021. The chick had fallen out of a nest and was flailing on a busy street in San Marino. “He was like roadkill,” said Gonzalez, who watched cars drive over (without striking) the bird.

Gonzalez retrieved the parrot and looked for help, but wildlife rehabbers said they’d euthanize the bird since it had a broken wing. Gonzalez instead brought him to a vet and christened him Pepe.

Since Pepe could not fly, Gonzalez started walking him around the neighborhood. He soon discovered how kids and adults enjoyed interacting with the parrot. Pepe is also a social media darling, with more than 8,600 followers on Instagram.

Pepe is more of a squawker than a talker, but Gonzalez has learned how to art-direct photos of people and the bird, instructing them on how to hold their hands and arms best. “We just want that smile because that’s all that Pepe wants from you,” said Gonzalez.

Crews have now recovered the bodies of all nine backcountry skiers who were killed in an avalanche in Northern California earlier this week. It marks an end to what authorities on Saturday described as an agonizing five-day search and recovery operation complicated by intense winter storms northwest of Lake Tahoe.

"While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home," said Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon during a Saturday news conference.

Until Saturday, authorities had not confirmed the death of a ninth victim, a skier who had been missing and presumed dead. Officials say their body was found near the eight other victims that have now been recovered. Authorities said avalanche hazards and weather conditions were too dangerous most of the week to search for the remaining victim or recover the bodies.

Four of the bodies were recovered on Friday, and the rest of the bodies were recovered on Saturday, all in the Castle Peak area where the avalanche – one of the deadliest in California history — struck. Six people from the group of 15 skiers survived Tuesday's disaster, the last day of a three-day backcountry ski trip. One guide and five travelers were among the survivors.

Helicopters with the California National Guard as well as the California Highway Patrol were used to hoist the remaining bodies from the mountain, officials said at the press conference.

On Friday, officials were able to use specialized techniques with the help of Pacific Gas & Electric to reduce the avalanche risk.

The ski trip was organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides, an outdoor tour company based in Truckee, Calif. Moon confirmed the identities of the victims. Three guides were killed: Andrew Alissandratos, 34, from Verdi, Nev.; Michael Henry, 30, from Soda Springs, Calif.; and Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. The other victims, who had signed up for the group trip, are: Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, Calif.; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, Calif.; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, Calif.

The Sierra Avalanche Center classified the avalanche between a D2 and D3 on the avalanche danger scale.

"A D2 would take down a person. A D3 would take down a house, so it was right in between those. It was described by them as a football field length of a path of the avalanche," Sheriff Moon said on Saturday.

Multiple agencies are investigating.

"We are investigating the incident to determine if there were any factors that would be considered criminal negligence," Ashley Quadros with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office said in an email to NPR on Sunday. "It is a standard investigation. It is too early to know if criminal charges will be applicable, as the investigation is preliminary and remains active and ongoing."

The area will be closed to visitors for several weeks.
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