Eri Kameyama
Eri Kameyama recently graduated from the Asian American Studies Master’s Program at UCLA where she completed her thesis titled “Acts of Being and Belonging: Negotiating Shin-Issei Transnational Identities.” She currently works for JACL- Pacific Southwest District as their Program Associate.
Updated September 2012
Stories from This Author
Temaki Zushi: A Welcome-Home Party
Sept. 20, 2012 • Eri Kameyama
Food is such an essential part of life, not just because it provides us with the nutrients and calories needed to survive, but because often times, eating is an act of socializing. My mother always said, “To be able to enjoy food is such a blessing. The day when I can’t taste anymore will be a very sad day.” When I heard that my grandmother in Japan does not cook anymore because she cannot get any of the flavorings right …
Expatriated Identity
Nov. 1, 2011 • Eri Kameyama
I once read an article on “Accidental Americans.” I believe there are many ways to become an “Accidental American.” For Vietnamese Americans, perhaps their parents fled after the Fall of Saigon. Or for some undocumented immigrants, perhaps America is the only country they ever knew because their parents immigrated when they were too young to remember. Neither of these Americans chose their own destiny to become a part of United States. I have my own story of how I became …
Restaurant Row, Mitsuwa Marketplace: The Production and Consumption of Japan outside of Japan - Part 2
Oct. 12, 2011 • Eri Kameyama
Read part 1 >>The Atmosphere: People, Spatiality, and FoodThere are several entrances to this particular Mitsuwa Marketplace. The biggest entrance, however, is on the north end and shoppers who enter there are forced to walk through Restaurant Row to get into the grocery store. Although the appearance and décor of Restaurant Row varies by location, the one in Torrance is exceptionally different. All of the independent restaurants, with their individual traditional Japanese-styled roofs, give off the feeling of walking down …
Restaurant Row, Mitsuwa Marketplace: The Production and Consumption of Japan outside of Japan - Part 1
Oct. 5, 2011 • Eri Kameyama
The trick is to first empty one packet of “gu” into a small bowl, then pour in hot water (around 160ml). Then, add the miso packet and stir well.1These are the directions from my instant miso-soup packets—a modern invention of freeze dried wakame, tofu, onion and non-perishable miso purchased from Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance, California that gives my taste buds a small journey to my homeland, Japan. Mitsuwa is an amazing place. In entering the Japanese supermarket, I am surrounded …
