Edward Moreno
@o2gawaraAt 94, Ed Moreno has accumulated nearly seventy years of service in media- broadcast, newsprint, and magazines. Ed has received a number of accolades for his work, as writer, editor and translator. His torrid love affair with Japanese culture began in 1951 and it seems it will never cool off. He is currently writing a column on Japanese-Nikkei cultural and historical topics for the “Newsette,” the monthly organ of the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese Community Center, in West Covina, CA. Before its demise, The East magazine (Tokyo) published some of his original works. He also writes for “Transactions, the Journal of the prestigious Asiatic Society of Japan”
Updated May 2015
Stories from This Author
RAMEN
March 3, 2010 • Edward Moreno
Call it what you want; its owners, Mr. and Mrs. Takeshi Murakami romantically named it Foo Foo Tei (風風亭) “The Wind Pavilion.” The Zip Code belongs in the glitzy Hacienda Heights’ numerology; but the venue is at 15018 Clark Avenue, near Turnbull Canyon, a half-rural half industrial commune. Drive by at more than 15 MPH and you’ll miss it, as we have done a number of times. It has limited parking; a “B” rating; a totally unpretentious décor like a …
Chris You Were Late! - Part 4
Feb. 19, 2010 • Edward Moreno
>> Read Part 3The orthodox scientific view is that all Native Americans, Abenaqui to Zoque, descend from the Mongoloid people who, about 16,500 years ago, crossed from Siberia to Alaska through Beringia land bridge that later became the Bering Strait. In time, they became the Clovis people and, like all other human groups, at certain points of progress they developed their own cultural nuances. Any similarities with cultures of the Old World are developmental coincidences—convergences. Anything else is pure speculation. …
Chris You Were Late! - Part 3
Feb. 12, 2010 • Edward Moreno
>> Read Part 2Spending a life trying to convince the orthodoxy that one has found differences between accepted doctrine and new realities must be awfully frustrating. Eons often slip by before cultural barnacles can be removed from the theoretical ships of scientific dogma. Dr. Betty Jane Meggers’ epic stands among the best attempts at barnacle removing. Meggers, perhaps the most distinguished Anthropology’s heterodox is now in good company, but that did not happen until years after her tireless work in …
Chris You Were Late! - Part 2
Feb. 5, 2010 • Edward Moreno
>> Part 1Have you ever met a young American gakusei (student) who doesn’t remember the couplet: “In 1492 – Columbus sailed the Ocean blue?” Try my own version, please: In fourteen-hundred-ninety-two, Columbus sailed the Ocean blueIt’s all and well, but I’ve to tell That, eons before Chris’ arrival, thanks to their top knack for survival, The Jomon sailors came ashore, on the North Coast of Ecuador; The Chinese came to Calico, and both of them to Mexico. So as we …
Chris You Were Late! - Part 1
Jan. 29, 2010 • Edward Moreno
While doing research for another article, I found information on the 1596 wreck of the Spanish Manila Galleon San Felipe, which was returning to New Spain (a territory in North and Central America whose main government was located in present-day Mexico) from the Philippines. Loaded with about a million Mexican pesos worth of oriental goods, it also had a party of Franciscan missionaries on board. A nasty Pacific storm forced the vessel into Tosa, Shikoku. As was then customary, everybody …
Mochi Food of the Kami
Dec. 31, 2009 • Edward Moreno
* * *Editor’s note:One of the traditions that many immigrants keep that ties them to their home country is the food they prepare. Some traditions like mochitsuki and eating mochi bring fond memories to many Nikkei around the world. There are mochitsuki events posted on Discover Nikkei, including Chicago, USA and British Columbia, Canada. This article talks about the origins, traditions and forms of mochi and mochitsuki.* * * You are in Japan, mid-last century, December 28; hence, you certainly …
