Pretending I had to search for a book, I wormed myself in to take a last look at my dying old friend. I sat there a few minutes all miserable, and muttered: “Dear friend, why do you have to go?”The answer came fast: “Stop bawling! It bothers me.”
The on-shore winds have danced all night up and down over Rose Hills. They have then come down full speed, however humble, and with their innards laden with ocean moisture; now they are crawling eastward, along Puente Avenue. By six and even seven AM, the dew is gratefully absorbed by …
Yo Maeda called from her cell phone letting us know she was thoroughly lost. “You’re not too far away,” I told her. “Back track, I’ll lead you.” In a couple of minutes, she was here, safely. She had brought a lot of things for us to price, for our coming …
It was the middle of the night, literally; I was sound asleep recovering from the hassles of the New Year. My shoulder began to shake strongly, and I woke up fearing an earthquake. I saw two enormous sticks holding something dark at the end, and pointing at my mouth, and …
Everybody has a favorite Japanese doll, but the luxurious kimekomi seem the most popular, with the Hakata not far behind. My passion is kokeshi, substantiated by a hoard of over four-hundred pieces. Oh, that’s nothing! In Dallas, Texas, two wonderful friends have already exceeded the TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED count, and they …
Read Part 1 >>Three years after it happened, I am still grieving about the demise of Ningyo Journal, an ambitious periodical that J.A.D.E. (Japanese Asian Doll Enthusiasts) published from 1993 to 2004. It cost only eighteen dollars per year, but it always packed a wallop as an instrument for learning …
At Centenary Church’s annual bazaar1, I stopped at a table full of discards, and asked the saleslady how much for “THAT?”…a pair of old paper dolls inside a flimsy cardboard box. She dawdled; her eyes swept me from top to bottom, and she left to confer with her associates. While …
>> Part 1The initial target for Mr. Nakajima’s new sushi venture was Japanese immigrants, particularly businessmen. Quite impressed with the fare, they began bringing their American clients to try something novel and extraordinary. After their first experience with sushi,most novices becameaddicts. Kawafuku’s sushi bar had only seven seats, and it …
In one of our weekly powwows at Maryknoll, I asked my friends whether anyone knew how and when sushi came to Los Angeles. Kō Hoshizaki said that the right person to answer my questions was Mr. Noritoshi Kanai, the President of Mutual Trading Company (MTC) in downtown Los Angeles.1
Sushi and I made our acquaintance nearly sixty years ago on a train ride from Iwanuma to Sendai. In those days, the government wasn’t as particular as now about “sanitation,” and food vendors were allowed to course the railroad cars offering their wares without anyone batting an eye. As we …
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