Famina plans

The contractor left a set of construction plans in plain view at the Broadway Arcade Building...another Famima convenience store is on the way.

I'm a fan of their onigiri, which I usually just call "triangles." Those rice balls wrapped in seaweed were lifesavers when EzraPounded and I were working in Japan...we were only paid once a month, and our company deducted all kinds of upfront housing fees from our first month's checks. By the end of that first (second?) month, we were living off of bread from the Little Mermaid bakery and triangles from 7-Eleven.

Although I can walk a few blocks to one of the Famimas already open for business, this one will be the closest yet to home sweet home. Or as they write in Japan, home sweat home.

Sumo in Torrance

At the Torrance Art Museum on Saturday night...two heavyweight sumo champs...Daishochi and Wakanoho...



Torrance has definitely come a long way since the Torrance Community Dance Group took Westwood by storm.

Peace piece

Japanese Peace Bell in front of the Los Angeles Central Library...

Help Japan

Chiune Sugihara

There's a sculpture in Little Tokyo that's easy to miss or pass over without reading up. It's the likeness of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania during World War II. He's known for saving the lives of thousands of Jewish Lithuanians and Polish refugees by issuing exit visas to get them away from the Nazis.

I overheard some misinformed folks suggesting that the American government helps out countries in times of need more so than any other people. "And who's going to help us when we need help?"

Yes, we give billions of dollars in foreign aid, but when you look at that amount in terms of a percentage of gross national income in comparison with other countries, we rank around number 18. Number one giver...Sweden!

Well, who's to say our assistance helps anyway? We do a lot, we do what we can, and if the topic of giving has to do with Japan, I can't help but think of Mr. Sugihara and his defiance of his Japanese superiors to keep good people safe.

Japan warning

Civil defense siren at King and Western...

We're relieved to hear that our friends in Japan are safe.

But now with the red-alert nuclear reactor meltdown threats over there, the news that Southern California's San Onofre nuclear plant can only withstand up to a 7.0 earthquake is kinda disconcerting. I'm not an alarmist, but this little factoid is giving me pause...

Ikebukuro

I have a hard time with these Japanese keyboards, so I will have to forget about grammatical niceties such as contractions.

We are back "home" after a night out with our local friends Kumiko, Yuki, and Dave, who treated us to a tasty dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ikebukuro called Salvatore Cuomo and Bar. I am no Italian food expert, but that was some good eating. Thank again! Funny thing...we met up at the new Krispy Kreme near the train station.

I think the scary typhoon has passed, so unfortunately we are flying out of Japan tomorrow.

Tokyo Times

Tokyo!!!

Great day...browsing Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro, pasta lunch, Harajuku/Omotesando/Aoyama/Shibuya strolling with our friend Kyoko, fantastic David Choe/James Jean art opening with free stuff, okonomiyaki dinner, tiny jazz bar in Shinjuku for drinks, and back at our cozy hotel.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Tokyo...gotta make it good!

Japanagain

We're about halfway into our Japan vacation. It's our first trip back since we worked here in '98-'99. Great being a tourist.

We worked our way up from Tokyo through Matsumoto (castle town), Kamikochi (Japan Alps park), Takayama (nicely preserved town), Shirakawa-go (farmhouse town), and now we're resting up in Kanazawa. Six days, six cities...yeah!

The clumsy score is even...I bonked my head a couple nights ago on a not-so-overhead beam, and EzraPounded walked into the storefront window of a jewelry store yesterday. Who will prevail?

McConfused

I admit it. I spend a lot of time thinking about fast food restaurants. And the crazy part...I haven't had beef/chicken/pork/duck/lengua/cesos in ten years. Not intentionally, at least, unless you count the time in Japan when the owner of the Mexican restaurant in Umejima surprised me with beef tamales.

Here I go again. I swung by the Tacos El Gavilan on Central and Washington and saw that the old sky-fly McDonald's arches by Stanley Meston had been neutered. When did this happen?

I may have to take a drive by the alive-and-kicking McDonald's in Downey, but the McVeggie doesn't exactly sizzle my grizzle. Grimace.

Coma como en el D.F.

The OC Weekly has a good read about Santa Ana's taco trucks. Check out the postings from Los Hermanos Lonchera sin Frontera at twitter.com/loshermanosLSF. They've certainly taken their cue from the Kogi folks.

I lived in Japan for a year in the '90s, and I spent an inordinate amount of Tokyo time searching for a half-decent burrito. The best I found was at a restaurant called El Sol in the Umejima district, but the most interesting was from a beaten up roach coach in Shibuya. The owner had decorated the green truck with Don't Mess with Texas stickers, and he was quick to warn me that "Japanese no like beans," so naturally the burrito was beanless. I'll have to dig up my photo and post it up, but in the meantime the photo above is from Garden Grove's Korean District.

Pavement and Otra Yell Japanese Style

Pavement would have to be the band I've seen the most in concert. I've watched this indie band a whopping six times. I've seen them at their worst and at their best. They sucked at Lollapalooza, stumbling through their set in the early 90's but thereafter their performances gradually got more solid.

When BaddicusFinch and I were in Japan teaching English for the McDonalds of English schools, we learned that Pavement was performing. Of course, we just had to go. BaddicusFinch, being nearly 6'-3" pushed us through the skirmish lines to the front row. The usually introverterd Finch began chanting, "Otra, otra, otra," when the band came on stage, flailing his thin arms in the air. Unbelievably, the Japanese crowd started imitating chants of the giant lanky man and followed his lead, arms raised with a fist. They probably thought that it was a quaint Westerner thing to do.

A couple of days later we saw them at the airport terminal. We were on our way to S.E. Asia and they were headed who knew where. Of course Baddicus and I were too chicken to approach them so we just stared at them behind our magazines.

Anyway, it was hella fun and a great memory since we've stopped going to concerts because of our advancing age. Otra to you all!