First off let me start by apologizing for not updating this in the past couple of days. I have made a vow to myself and to my faithful readers that I will not let more than two days pass without a new post. There’s a couple of places I want to blog about but I will start off with our fun outing yesterday. We headed off to visit Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. It’s one of only 3 Japantowns left in the United States.

It’s easy to find since it’s only a couple of blocks away from City Hall. We went on a Saturday and while it was busy- there wasn’t wall to wall people and we actually walked around without a stroller. First thing is Parking. There are a couple of parking lots around Little Tokyo but we used the one directly in front of The Japanese American museum on 1st street. It’s a 5 dollar flat rate for the day. The parking lot is perfect because you only have to cross one block and you are there(and trust me you don’t really want to cross any streets in downtown LA unless you really have to)

We were hungry so we headed off to eat first. We ate at Oiwake. It’s a great little place in the Japanese Village Plaza. The prices are very reasonable and they are family friendly. My kids and I both ate from the buffet and my husband ate some sushi. This place is great except you have to hike up a staircase but its well worth it. After we finished we headed off to do some window shopping. There are many shops that specialize in Japanese products- if your kids love Hello Kitty- this is the place to be. My daughter picked up a Hello Kitty purse that would cost about 10 dollars at the mall for 1.99. The merchants are friendly and even gave the kids lollipops. I wish I could say we did more like visit the museums or try out one of the bakeries but we didn’t. You really need a full day and not just a couple of hours. I promise I will return with Little Tokyo Part 2, but for now I hope you might be a little curious about this great place and visit for your self….

For more information visit www.visitlittletokyo.com