My husband and I headed out to dinner tonight. On the way to the restaurant, we drove by Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance and saw that they were having a Natsu Matsuri (summer festival). The restaurant we were planning on eating at turned out to be closed. Apparently, fate wanted us to go eat okonomiyaki and BBQ beef bowl. =) For those not familiar with Mitsuwa, it's a chain of Japanese markets. I'm not sure of the demographics of the other stores, but the Torrance store especially seems to cater to the workers from the local major Japanese businesses (Toyota, Honda, etc) and others from Japan. The Natsu Matsuri drew a lot of Japanese nationals, including a large number of teenagers, plus some Japanophiles and others. We got there as the event was winding down. They had just started to clean up the stage equipment, so we missed whatever live entertainment they had. J-pop music played loudly on the speakers as we got our food, ate, and walked around a bit. They had already run out of some things and were trying to finish cooking and selling the rest. In addition to okonomiyaki and BBQ beef bowls, there was also takoyaki (a popular booth), udon, and corn dogs (this seemed out of place, but since they had run out, I wasn't able to check whether it was some sort of Japanese variation). There were also a few game booths, and several areas with cultural toys for sale. Natsu Matsuri - July 22, 2007 Mitsuwa Marketplace 21515 South Western Ave Torrance, CA 90501 310.782.0335