Where I Have Been: Little Tokyo!!

Me and the boyfriend! <3

Last Saturday, my boyfriend and I took the metro down to Los Angeles to explore.  No, we didn't have a plan (that was kinda my fault but I forgot :P), so we just allowed the winding streets and distant music to lead us.  First we found ourselves in this colorful street market outside of L.A. Union Station, complete with bright streamers and vendors cooking sopes, enchiladas, and pouring iced Horchata into big Styrofoam cups.  What caught my eye most were these small, heavy replicas of Aztec art.  Looking at those makes one feel as though somehow, someone managed to tear the Sun down from the sky and cement an imprint of His Hand into jade or obsidian.  They really were absolutely gorgeous, but..!

We didn't stop there.  As we walked, I realized just how much I needed to be in Little Tokyo.  It had been something of an obsession for me to visit the closest hub of Japanese culture and cuisine I knew.  I have been into anime and such all my life, but it was really the recent discovery of Japanese cuisine that set me off.  And so, a-walkin' we went!

The first stop was this hardware store that I unfortunately forgot the name of, but where I will definitely find myself in the future.  Why?  Because they had the thing I have been stuck on most the last year: a takoyaki pan.  Don't know what takoyaki is?  Look no further!

Then, it was off to find some authentic ramen.  We were headed to a place called "Daikokuya", a restaurant renowed for its food, and it was definitely obvious once we got to the door how 'renowned' it was.  A huge line had already formed, so we skipped over (blasphemy, I know! We'll have to save it for another day :3) instead to Shin-Sen-Gumi, a place with an equally impressive reputation just across the street.  There we sat down and got one order of Takoyaki and a 1/2 order of ramen for each of us.  There, you get to choose your own toppings; let me just say that their ramen - complete with a flavored egg and shrimp wontons - are absolutely divine!

Next, after that we walked just up the street and wound up in the Japanese American National Museum, a beautiful building with tall windows and wonderful, heart-wrenching exhibits.  In the half hour we were there we visited all of their open exhibits:

the "Go For Broke" exhibit,

the Remembrance Project display,

and the "Common Ground: Heart of the Community" exhibit,

all of which detailed the history of the Japanese American community, from the first generation of immigrants in America - and their struggles against racism and poverty as they searched for wealth, land, and a future in the United States - to the Japanese Americans that served proudly in the U.S. military during World War II despite the gross betrayal of the U.S. government against their families and themselves.

What I found most amazing in this exhibit is the parallels their experiences had with that of my own ancestors, who for the bulk of U.S. history were allowed to amount to nothing more than slaves, property for their white, landowning counterparts.  Moreso, it reminded me that in spite of the extreme levels of racism that have always permeated U.S. culture, that the U.S. was from its inception a melting pot, that cowboys, soldiers, homesteaders in the Mid-West, and gold prospectors in California, came in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

It is amazing that immersing ourselves in the culture of another can often remind us of the lessons and truths we have learned from our own history.

Finally, we took a train back to L.A. Union and headed down the Red Line to Amoeba Music in Hollywood, which - if you haven't been there, you NEED to go.  Our train back home was coming soon, so I just picked up one of my favorite movies, "Amélie", and we hurried back in time to catch the train back to the I.E.

The daytrip was a treat in and of itself I think, and one that was sorely needed as finals and the completion of my B.A. degree come barreling closer; living in the heart of Suburbia means you don't really get many places to explore that are close by.  If you have never been to Little Tokyo before, go! This was only my first time there, and I am already aching to go back. :)

The Red Line

Source: Louise Williams

Barrel through darkness
to a destination, known;
I smile into the acceleration.

Untitled

A curious emotion seemed to permeate
in the still air of the room,
causing bones to ache, teeth
to chatter, and my heart to assume

a rather silent state.
There's little to do, I decided,
and was instead content to watch withered leaves
fall from the plant in whom I'd confided.

Wanting

Have you ever needed a poem?
To feel it missing from you,
a delicate memory, rustling quietly
invisibly
inside your head?

Have you ever pulled yourself
through rows and rows of
odd titles and collections
to find one single, addicting line?

I ask you, friend, because
though I have forgotten your name
I have read your spirit and
felt your tears that drenched my
sweater sleeve

and search feverishly for that
brief moment
hidden between every of your
tenuous words.

Alexandria

I can feel myself swell already,
but I couldn't help this deadly thirst
that late last night, slipped inside
my bed.  Feeling Her breath
upon my lips sent me into a hunger
rivaling that cursed man, Erysichthon,
who angered the heavens with his
wanton destruction.

And yet, before me, now, that river
which might have quenched this flame
runs dry, dammed up by years
of neglect - due to war or human
ignorance alone, I was never sure;
they drank the water, thirsty and eager,
but left none for those to follow,
for neither friend nor foe.

But still, this thirst beckons me close
and fastens Her withered arms around
my head, pulling me into Her embrace
offering comfort as both She and I tear
our gaze from the river run dry
in search for some other life-giving liquor
that might one day replace the gift

self-replenishing and once held so dear

which Man burned away,
driven to madness by a sticky pride which
bade him drain the ever-flowing stream
bade him destroy the foreign memories
     which were also His
                           the knowledge, the beauty
     which was also His.