Soshi Kitai

Are things from your pre-childhood/childhood/teenhood/currentadulthood dying around you?

Like... is a restaurant that was a favorite/classic dying?
Is a franchise that was close to your heart becoming a forgotten dream?
Is a favorite show of yours ending?

Or has it already died?

Do you remember them? Do you miss them?



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I sure do. I feel like an old man every day. I keep things positive by looking at the good new things coming up - but I'll always be sad when something dies.
Recently, a favorite Japanese supermarket of Abu and I's has closed. It looks and feels like they're just renovating it, but it has been bought out. And not someone of Japanese decent.
...I mean sure, Little Tokyo couldn't survive alone in its nearly all-Japanese population... and it especially couldn't do that when they were slowly cutting themselves off from the rest of the world ( there became less and less international events there, and they started showing scorn to people who weren't of Japanese-decent *for good reasons of course* ...you could tell that the Japanese customers were getting better deals), especially when their youth WANTED TO MOVE OUT from that little bubble.
-but when you got close to the DAY-TO-DAY culture of Little Tokyo (not the tourist traps and otaku-ness), you fell in love with that simple culture that was there. How the food was made simply, but the flavor was delicious. At many times, it felt like a second home... and part of that home was the supermarket...
...it was one of the last standing pieces of Little Tokyo that didn't change with the times. All the other stores around it were closed down because of the lack of customers, but this place constantly provided the inhabitants of the area with everything they needed, all Japanese items. ...and though the supermarket was much smaller than its predecessor, it still kept the spirit of it. Simple, but high quality. As long as you didn't bother or attract the attention of the people, you were accepted to feel the same atmosphere.
Simple, but refreshing.
... but now the supermarket's being bought out...
It was so sudden.
At one point, only a few stores were left open within the mall area, the rest of the 90% of it was closed and empty.
...a few months after the first Beard Papa (though originating from Japan, the Beard Papa franchise was much more modern than the other stores within Little Tokyo) opened, all the empty stores were already leased, and our favorite supermarket... Mitsuwa ... was already starting to close.
Our favorite little food stop was there, a little corner called Sakura, which fed many of the workers of Little Tokyo. Simple, fast, nutritious, and delicious foods.
It was Abu's favorite place to eat in all of Little Tokyo (though there are other restaurants she loved, this food felt... perfectly home).

...*sigh* We're not sure if they're going to keep Sakura there... nor are we sure whether or not they'll keep all the items 100% Japanese, but I know it's most likely not going to happen. Mitsuwa was a special place for Abu and I, a MUST-STOP to go to on every visit to LT. A lot of our dates were in Little Tokyo, and we were at that supermarket everytime. *sigh* We'll surely miss Mitsuwa... but if the residents accept it, we'll accept it too.
We're not there to fight the times or reject cultures, we just want to keep it simple and fun.
And if the residents are happy with the change, we'll be happy with it too.

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Legend

oh my god...NOOOOOO! Is the restaurant on the second floor with 1.50 beer during happy hour still there?! If they close that one too I would freak, cuz what am I going to eat when I come down in July. Anyways, our little Japan Town in San Francisco almost died six years ago. If it wasn't for us "outsiders" that pump money into their markets they will be done. Now it's a lot more outsider friendly.

economy is just so bad...the one in San jose (the very first Japan Town in america) is dying too. On a typical weekday, you have to use a binocular to find someone).

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Soshi Kitai

Was it 2nd or 3rd floor?
Cuz most of the 3rd floor's still intact.
2nd floor, not so much. There's only one food-type place still stands there, and that's the Karaoke bar.

Outsiders are reviving the dying Little Tokyo mall (though the plaza's still doing well... since that's where all the tourist traps are) and it makes me glad.
But... I'll really miss Sakura. Such a nice place.
...and Mitsuwa's where I got all my acne stuff during my highschool years... sooo, I guess I'll miss my acne stuff too?

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!Rave_Grip

I know I do. Because I don't flow with todays "modern tween trends" ... and stuff.

Abu Dhabi

if the new supermarket keeps those ugly Naruto people away, i'll take the loss...

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Legend

You know I was just going through my old mp3s and found this. Then I couldn't remember what the video looked like which is kinda sad.

YouTube - Dirty Pair Flash Opening 3

The anime music styles of the 90s were so freaking different to now, but I'm glad someone had it online. I remember watching this on KTEH (which was the local PBS sorta). No cable and can't afford VHS's this was my source of anime xD

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Peach_follows

What is up with the little, grey, barley legible font? Trying to stealth journal?

Anyway, One of the things thats had a kinda of big impact on me... is soda. I used to be into certain soda's growing up, and they would just stop production on 'em. Infact, the soda's in question were always Coca Cola products. Damn them!

The first was OK soda. OK Soda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then threre was the beloved Surge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_(soft_drink)

I can't even talk about 'em without craving them... they havent produced anything simular to OK since. But now they have Vault... Wich is supposed to be simular to Surge... my ass... its not the same.

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Abu Dhabi

i miss Sobe's Mr. Green... --> South Beach Beverage Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


T-T

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