Little Tokyo in a day.

overdue post

i have put this post on hold since the assault of a vengeful right hand. it took upon itself to cut the left finger on the other hand as it had alleged it doesn't do much work as itself does. however, the revenge boomeranged. it is doing much more work now; and can't wait for the victim to heal of its wound.

so does my husband who the other day asked me, "when are your stitches going to be taken out?" my evil eyes looked at him and i gave him an evil smile and said, "why? are you tired of washing dishes?" he smiled his sweetest. hah...hah...hah. he probably appreciates now what i do in the kitchen--the same boring chore day in and day out. he helps, but i do the heavier stuff.

in any event, i will put this in publication as it is now long over due.

Little Tokyo in a rush

My friend, Jun, asked me to accompany her to the Japanese Consulate in downtown Los Angeles. Jun is of Japanese citizenship; and has been in this country for over 40 years. She, however, has not changed her citizenship despite the fact that she once was married to an American and has 3 beautiful children with him. She goes to the consulate to update her papers or status...or whatever.

click image to enlarge

We met at the parking lot of the smaller train station, about 3 miles from my house. This one has a smaller lot and it was almost full when I got there at about 9:00 in the morning. We were to catch the 9:45 train. She came a few minutes after I got there. We got our tickets; boarded the train; and we were at the Union Station 55 minutes later.

We boarded the same bus as I did with my husband, and got off right across the street of the building -- Two California Plaza on South Grand Ave. The skyscraper has 52 stories constructed of concrete, glass and steel; and of modern architecture.

Security was tight that we have to present our IDs at

the front desk and they handed us a computer printed name tags we stuck on our clothes. As one of the young men handed me my name tag he said something I didn't understand. I gave him a quizzical look. With that he asked, "You're not Japanese?"

I shook my head and said, "No."

"I'm sorry. The consulate is on the 17th floor," he said.

"I'm Japanese," Jun said. And they talked a bit in Japanese.

We took the elevator to the consulate. At the door of the consulate there is a security guard. We opened our purses for inspection. I have to leave my bottled water at the hallway, as it's not allowed. We got in; got out in about half an hour. Her business there was done pretty quick, as she had all her papers ready.

We then headed to the bus stop. Took the same bus; got off; took another bus heading towards Little Tokyo where we were to have lunch...and a little grocery shopping. We were short of time, but I managed to shoot a few photos.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall
click image to enlarge

We boarded a bus across the Disney Hall...

...and got off a few yards from this tower. This tower marks where the Japanese village is. Going around in that place is like going inside a tiny village. It has walkways and trees and shops. We found a small restaurant and went in. We were not looking for a fancy restaurant, as we were famished.

I had a combo of teriyaki pork, green salad, fried potato salad, rice and...ham with scrambled eggs. The ham was too salty -- as is always with processed food. I wonder why the plate had ham and eggs. Usually it's for breakfast, but it's in their lunch menu. jun had the same combo, but instead of teriyaki she had fried breaded shrimp. The food was good for two hungry people.

After our lunch we headed to Marukai -- a Japanese market. Marukai is in a wing of a 3-story building. Beside the building is a small plaza.
And in it is a replica of the space Orbiter Challenger...

...and a bust of the first Japanese-American astronaut--Ellison Onizuka. Astronaut Onizuka was one of the crew who perished when the Challenger exploded right after it took off.

We got inside the market and Jun grabbed the things she needed. I was checking the time. If we don't get the 3:45 train, we'll have to wait for the 6 PM one and that would be too late for us. There is one at 4:30, but it won't get to our station where we parked our cars.

Jun got most of her grocery and we got out of there in half an hour. We got to the train station just in time, and boarded right away. We stayed at the lower deck as she had a bulky rolling cart that was full of groceries. The train was packed with passengers heading home.

A few minutes before the train got to our station, a couple of sheriffs entered our car and asked each passenger to show their tickets. We showed them ours. I wonder if there ever are passengers who never buy their tickets. i hardly see anyone, a conductor perhaps, check passengers' tickets.

We pulled in at our home station in 60 minutes; and home sweet home in 5 minutes. I slept tight that night, and woke up as usual...late.