夕食にミツワに行く。中には、スーパー、フードコート、書店があって、前に、ニューヨークに住んでいるふみちゃんのところに遊びに行ったとき連れって行ってもらったミツワと似ていて、想いでがこみあげちゃった。みんなでゾロゾロ、群をなして遊びに行ったなあ。ここに来るたび思い出しそう。。。夕食は、カツ丼定食、カツカレー、しょうゆらーめんにイクラ丼。
We went to Mitsuwa, a Japanese grocery store, for dinner. They have a grocery section, a food court and a book store inside, and it looks very similar to the one we went to in New York with my friend Fumi's family. It just brought back the sweet memory of fun time we shared there. We had Katsu-don, Katsu curry, Shoyu Ramen, and Sermon Roe Bowl.
このあたり、ミツワ、ニジヤ、マルカイと大手日本食品店が競争を繰り広げていて、３ブロックごとになにかあるってかんじ。街の小さな中国食品店のすみっこで、ホソボソと日本食を買い物している生活を14年もしてきたので、なんだか他の国に来たみたい。東京24区目と呼ばれる所以である。人種構成の比較は以下のとおり。シャーロッツビルではOther Races 1%にやっと入れてもらっていたところ、トーランスではJapaneseという別項目をつくってもらえるんだね。本当に（アメリカじゃない）外国にきたみたい。
Around here, three big Japanse grocery chains are competing head to head, and you feel like you run into one of those every three blocks. I have been happy to shop whatever Japanese I can find at the corner of a small Chinese grocery store for the past 9 years in Charlottesville, VA and for the further past 5 years in West Lafayette, IN, thus I feel like I am in a different country here. People call this area the 24th ward of Tokyo (there are 23 wards in Tokyo, Japan). The below is the demographics comparison. In Charlottesville, we were crammed into "Other Races" which barely sums to 1%, but now we are upgrade to a separate category of Japanese! It really seems like we move to another country (other than America that I know).
Torrance, CA:-------------- Charlottesviile, VA:
White Non-Hispanic (52.4%) -White Non-Hispanic (68.4%)
Hispanic (12.8%) -------------Black (22.2%)
Japanese (10.1%) ------------ Hispanic (2.4%)
Korean (6.9%) ----------------Two or more races (2.1%)
Chinese (4.8%) ---------------Chinese (1.5%)
Two or more races (4.7%) ----Asian Indian (1.2%)
Other race (4.6%) ------------Other race (1.0%)
Filipino (2.2%) --------------- Korean (0.7%)
Black (2.2%) -----------------American Indian (0.5%)
Other Asian (1.8%)
Asian Indian (1.7%)
Vietnamese (1.2%)
American Indian (1.1%)
