On Saturday The Japanese class that I was in went to Little Tokyo to visit the Japanese American National Museum. Me and a friends several hours early just to beat the traffic but to out shock there was none. We arrived about 2 hours early. So we went across the street to a Japanese shopping center.
Little Tokyo Plaza
We went window-shopping there and spotted a Styrofoam head with a Mohawk.
Styrofoam Head With Mohawk
After that I had a nice snack at Nijiya Market. The Chocolate crepe they had was pretty good. From there we went back to the Museum.
Front Of The Japanese American National Museum
We were still about a hour early so we did a little more exploring. Here are some random pics I took in front of the Meseum.
Some neat building near the Museum
Old Entrence To The Japanese American National Museum
Down the road in front of the Museum was the “Go For Broke” monument dedicated to all the Japanese soldiers that served and died in World War II.
Road to Go For Broke Monmument
Go For Broke Monument
At around 11:30 A.M. We entered the museum and started the tour. I was disappointed to find out that there was no photography allowed.
The tour itself was basically about the struggle of Japanese Americans which was a little disappointing. I thought I’d learn about what Japanese Americans have contributed to society. Some of the historical pieces were interesting though like a actual barrack from
Manzanar in which the Japanese slept in. Also there was a full scale model of Manzanar which was fascinating.
When the tour was over I was careful to see if the close was clear and I shot a couple of pictures.
Full Scale Model Of Manzanar
After the tour was over I walked to see the Ruth Asawa exhibit. Her medium was mainly wire sculptures although she was known for her drawings too. I managed to get a shot of some of her work and if I must say it’s pretty gothic.
Ruth Asawa exhibit
Shortly after that the class went to go have a buffet at oiwake across the street.
oiwake restaurant
If you were wondering how good the buffet was let me put it this was….it was $9 including tip and drink. Some of the items were good though. The curry was good (even though it wasn’t spicy), fried rice was decent, the miso soup was excellent and the cold soba noodles were the best thing there. Once again…It was a $9 buffet.
During the eating and various festivities the classmates at the next table decided to play a joke on one of the females. When she went up to go get more food a guy decided to put soy sauce in her coke. He would have gotten away with it if he didn’t tell everybody at the restaurant what had he just did. So to make things interesting everybody at the table dared her to drink it for $5. I said I would do it so they put in salt, pepper, California rolls and any various crap that you can think of in what became this viscous concoction. Here’s what it ended up looking like.
Woman sitting down was the person orginaly dared
Close up of concoction
Of course what would be a Japanese outing be like without a little karaoke. We got extra credit for singing and even more extra credit if the song was in Japanese. I took full advantage of this opportunity and got up an sang my ass off. Just to give fair warning I announced before each song that now is the time to insert your earplugs.
eternalcrimson karaoke pic 1
eternalcrimson karaoke pic 2
eternalcrimson karaoke pic 3
eternalcrimson karaoke pic 4
eternalcrimson karaoke pic 5
eternalcrimson karaoke pic 6
Blurry pic of me singing
From there instead of visiting some of the other sites in Little Tokyo, we decided to go to a famous restaurant called Phillipe’s.
Phillipe's Restaurant
It was the birthplace of the French Dip Sandwich. Supposedly a cop back in the early 1900’s ordered a sandwich and the bread accidentally got dropped into the pan drippings. The cop liked it so much that he went back and ordered it the next day and hence how it became popular. Phillpe’s is also known for there hot mustard and pickled pigs feet. I ordered the lamb French dipped sandwich double dipped and my friend ordered the pickled pigs feet. The sandwich and ended up being one of the best I ever had. The mustard that went with it was pretty damn good too and my enjoyed the pickled pigs feet. The mustard was so damn good I ended up buying a bottle.
Mustard at the table
The bottled mustard
From there my friend wanted a margarita do went to Olvera Street. Olvera Street was only five minutes away from Phillipe’s.
Olvera Street
It was my first time there and I got to say I was fairly disappointed. All the items that were sale were either chintzy in quality or just god awful in style. There was pictures of Al Pacino as Scarface on a five dollar bill, whoppi Cushions, etc. You get the idea, nothing special. Also all the food there was terribly expensive. At one restaurant they wanted almost $11 for a margarita and $22 for fajitas. We ended up going to this restaurant where they had $6 ones. Everybody there spoke to us in Spanish from “Buenos Tardes” to please sit down anywhere you want in Spanish. I asked my friend to be sure to order my drink a virgin because I can’t have alcohol due to the fact that I’m a diabetic. So sure enough the waiter comes his accent was good but he spoke very little English. He didn’t know what a virgin drink was. Long story short my margarita had alcohol and my friend ended up getting two drinks. Lucky him. The Chips and Salsa wew excellent though
.
Inside Of The Restaurant
The icy cold margarita that I didn't get to drink
From there we went back to Little Tokyo and shot a couple more pictures of me. I bought a couple of souvenirs and thus ending my adventure for the day.
Me In Front Of a Rock with Some Old Guy Checking Me Out
Me In Front Of a tree
This one is for you Humanepain. Here’s a picture of my shins. lol.
Pic of my Shins