Forum - View topicAnswerman - Is California The Otaku Promised Land?
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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After visiting LA I'll stick to the Seattle area, thanks. We've got the Uwajimaya chain and with them come the little specialty shops and Kinokuniya. Plus we have tons of great places to eat so if I can avoid going back to LA I will.
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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The more whitebread a state is, the less likely an otaku district would establish base, in regards to the US. I doubt a residency primarily consisting of blue collar types, rednecks and Christian fundies would take kindly to a place they'd aptly call, "Chinese Pokemon Porn store" among other colorful labels they like to place for anything not 1950's Americana culture.
Last edited by Paiprince on Fri Jul 22, 2016 5:36 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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iashakezula
Posts: 7 |
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Especially with AnimeExpo and other covention around , it is pretty much an Otaku's haven.
I live in SouthBay for 11 years now right near the border of Redondo Beach and its a much laid back community and the weather here is cooler .There use to be a very strong Japanese community here and there are still alot of Japanese restaurants and store around but it can be tough for some business too.Most of the restaurant are actually run by Japanese descendants or those who moved to Los Angeles and those who are assigned to the LA office from Tokyo..My mechanic is nihon jin .There is a Japanese hotel and a very convenient Mitsuwa next door. Alot of Japanese business people stay there. A Tokyo Central has opened on the northside and its pretty cool place to shop and eat. Although you can buy stuff online from Japan easily now, but its the experience you get from these stores that makes the difference.Japanese Bookoff is here and I love getting magazine and manga there for cheap, english and Japanese. I love Nijiya grocery and I go there once a week like I go to Ralphs. I am lucky that there is a bit of Japan where I live . Even thou taxes are higher in California and stuff, it is still a good and cool place to live. Last edited by iashakezula on Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:00 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Sheleigha
 Posts: 1671 |
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It is in the sense that although there still is a drought that is ongoing (despite the constant rainfalls this past winter season), it's not something exclusive to CA. There's plenty of regions along the Pacific Northwest that are experiencing rather severe droughts, due to recent extreme heat. To be honest, I'd say that this is probably the most mild Californian summer I've experienced, with many cool, windy nights this month. Back to the topic at hand, it's been nice seeing NorCal getting more Japanese and other Asian food/drink chains that are from SoCal. The demand for those things are definitely up here, and when things here finally open, you can expect several hour waits! Din Tai Fung and Kula are just two examples. |
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Mexican Batman
Posts: 65 |
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Ahahahahaha
NO. That's like saying Kuala Lumpur is the new Hollywood. |
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Fenrin
 Posts: 695 Location: SoCal |
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Wow I've been missing out, I didn't know Little Tokyo had any of that. I visited once before a concert in the area but I didn't look anything up and all I found was this one little plaza with little food shops and trinket stores. I'll definitely be saving this for the next time I'm in the area.
I'd love to know more about those high quality restaurants that were mentioned (where's that resident LA foodie mod?). I've been trying to find a real sit down okonomiyaki place (not the ones that just hand it to you cooked) and a reputable wagashi shop. Those I've been wanting to try the most. If only there was a thriving Japanese scene in the OC as well, it's more Korean, which is also good ^^. Also, how are the karaoke places? Are there any anime centered ones and do they provide romaji or at least hiragana? |
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Aster Selene
Posts: 68 |
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If you want legit high quality food, Little Tokyo is actually not the place to go - it's become a lot more touristy in recent years, and, like the article says, a lot of places are secretly Korean places selling Japanese food. Generally speaking I don't go there for food, so if I drop by it's always for the Kinokuniya and Anime Jungle. If you do go to Sawtelle, however, a really small neighborhood in the West Side, there are actually more Japanese immigrants living there and a lot better food. Torrance, which is a bit further, also has good Japanese food, particularly good ramen places. As for karaoke places, there aren't "anime" ones as much as there's a chain called Max Karaoke, with locations in Sawtelle and Little Tokyo. They do a $5 per person per hour and they have JOYSOUND, which has a good deal of anime songs on it. Naturally, it comes with furigana, since kanji (especially in song lyrics) can be quite the finicky thing. |
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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Is California otaku heaven? I'd say it depends. If the only aspect of Japanese culture you're interested in is anime than I'd actually say no. It's true there a lot more anime shops in California but on the other hand no physical anime store (in the US) can match the selection you get online. Even as someone who knows a couple of nearby anime stores, I'd rather buy stuff online. You just can't beat the bigger selection of an online store.
On the other hand, for people who are interested in Japanese culture outside of anime, like food, music, traditional Japanese art, etc. then yeah, California probably is the best place to experience Japanese culture just because of the larger Japanese population in comparison to other states. The only exception would be Hawaii and Seattle, IMO. I've only visited Seattle briefly but I do remember seeing a lot of Japanese cultural events there.I have a couple friends who live in Hawaii and from their experience, Hawaii rivals and possibly surpasses California in terms of access to Japanese culture.
I'd also include San Jose too. The Mitsuwa is pretty good and so is the San Jose Kinokuniya, though smaller than the San Francisco one.
My thoughts exactly. As a native Californian (specifically Bay Area), you probably couldn't pay me to move anywhere else. The top three factors for me are definitely the diversity, weather, and tech. Yes, living in California is expensive but personally, it's worth it. |
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Vanadise
 Posts: 493 |
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Occasionally I think California might be a nice place to live, but then I remember that I bought a 2300 sq. ft. house in a nice neighborhood for $140k, and one like that in CA would range from $600k in a "poor" area to millions if it was somewhere nice.
I'll just have to cope by spending all of that extra money on buying merchandise online.
There are plenty of other places that have those things and more. Well, except Jeff Goldblum. I will comfort myself with the knowledge that it's unlikely I'll ever even feel an earthquake. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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San Fransisco? That place is impossible to live well in unless you are at least a middle of the road millionaire, the cheapest place in San Fransisco is an unlivable shack. I'll stick to traveling there. It's easier to get at least modest place in Shanghai than in San Fransisco.
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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Serious earthquakes are pretty rare--the last big one in my area was in 1989--and all the newer buildings are made to withstand all but the worst possible ones, for obvious reasons. Most of the notable ones have zero deaths. I'll take earthquakes over hurricanes and tornadoes any day. Other than housing prices, the worst thing (and most genuinely dangerous thing) about living in California is the drivers. Unless you go 20+ over the limit you'll be tailgated almost continuously, and most of the luxury-car owners drive like they're in an action movie. At least we don't need to worry about police funding. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2444 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I was just in SF this week (writing this on the plane home, BTW) and went to Kinokuniya to pick up Degenki G's (for the Planetarian cover story) and Dengeki Daioh for manga kicks (Re:Teen still looks awful, Muv-Luv Alternative is in its final arc but still probably a year from ending, and Toradora only managed 6 damn pages this month). Didn't have time for my usual tour of Moritaya, Japantown Collectibles, Japan Video, and the crepes place my coworkers love so much.
One thIng that I wanted to note is that every sign I've ever seen there and every map of San Francisco spells "Japantown" as one word, not "Japan Town" as in the article and some of the comments. |
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est.1983
Posts: 10 |
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Ironically there are half of said anime retailers in California left, specifically Los Angeles County. Retailers that have closed down since 1999-2000 are shops like Books Nippon in Downtown L.A., Kamikaze Anime in Little Tokyo, Banzai Anime, Power Anime and Anime Gamers all in West L.A., Animate on Melrose Avenue, Toylet Anime near West Covina, and so forth. I have been watching Anime since 1994 and was born and raised in Los Angeles County since the early 80's, i've seen the many changes. It is also said Anime Expo is the biggest anime convention outside of Japan. That's how great Los Angeles is in terms of obtaining Anime outside of Japan.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I'm probably the mod he/she was talking about. 
While I agree that overall Little Tokyo is overrated for food, there are a couple of real gems in there. Toshi Sushi is a little under-appreciated place that has very high quality fish at about 1/2 the price of Sugarfish or any other "big name" actually-Japanese sushi establishments. Marugame Monzo has spectacular hand-pulled udon. Sushi Enya is a great little late-night haunt specializing in interesting cut rolls. There's also a little place called Mitsuru Cafe in the touristy Japanese Village Plaza that does fresh-made taiyaki (the fish-shaped red bean filled cakes), as well as their hockey puck-shaped cousins whose name I can't remember. They're great. Also in the plaza is Mikawaya, which is usually filled with tourists who want ice cream, but actually has a pretty great selection of traditional Japanese mochi if you go early. Inside the Little Tokyo Galleria is a Beard Papa, which is very important. And on the top floor is Honda-ya, which is still my favorite izakaya in LA. Unfortunately my favorite place to get okonomiyaki, Haru Ulala, closed a few months ago, so I'm on the hunt for a new place. I hear Gottsui in Little Osaka does a good okonomiyaki, but I haven't tried them yet. But yes, the hot spot for Japanese food is indeed the Little Osaka section of Sawtelle in West LA. Tsujita is possibly the best ramen in all of North America (and they're opening a 2nd location a mile from me in Glendale!! SQUEE!!!), and there are several Japanese-style crepe places there. Good god, this city is filled with wonders. |
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Sprocket
Posts: 43 |
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As someone who lives in New York, I can confirm that while our otaku presence is *okay*, it's nowhere near California's.
For one thing, despite its year-round hot, pastry-unfriendly weather, no state in the United States has more Beard Papa pastry shops than California. |
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