Little Tokyo is Open by Mariko Lochridge

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Little Tokyo is Open by Mariko Lochridge A project by Mariko Lochridge documenting the impact of COVID-19 on Little🎌 Tokyo small businesse

🩼 July 2026 🇦🇷➡️🇺🇸July was… rough lol.I got really sick and spent more than a 2 weeks in bed, while the next stage of po...
25/08/2026

🩼 July 2026 🇦🇷➡️🇺🇸

July was… rough lol.

I got really sick and spent more than a 2 weeks in bed, while the next stage of post-surgery PT was kicking my ass. So there aren’t 20 photos worth of adventures this month 😂 But I managed a couple worthwhile escapes.

1–4 Joe Hisaishi at the Hollywood Bowl 🎻🌙 Apparently every Japanese person in Los Angeles was there 😂 I genuinely did not know there were that many of us.

5-13 I hosted a potluck at Azay. for some of the people supporting me through this unexpected chapter — and finally shared what came out of Argentina. 🇦🇷♥️

I’d planned to spend several months researching Nikkei diaspora stories in South America. Then I broke my leg four days after arriving. 🥲 Plans changed.

Cue Kenzo. 😂🎨

From Buenos Aires to Los Angeles, we collaborated through my field notes + his art to create something fantastical but rooted in nearly 100 years of local history.

It was the first time I really saw my two careers coming together: a decade of international journalism + eight years working alongside neighborhood small businesses. 📓📷

And it felt fitting to bring that home to Azay — a place where I’ve learned, taught, introduced people, tested ideas and gathered community around a table.

The more legacy businesses I document, the less I think of them as simply businesses.

They’re community infrastructure.

Places where loneliness gets interrupted. Where routines become rituals. Where neighbors become regulars. Where someone remembers your order. ♥️

14 Somewhere in all of this, I realized my bio needed to change too:

📓 Small Business Field Notes 📷
Documenting Nikkei small biz as community infrastructure
❤️ Connection > Isolation 📱

I think that’s a little closer.

More Argentina field notes at 📝Small Business Field Notes by Mariko ☕📓

🩼 June 2026 🌱June was personally rough. Recovery from orthopedic surgery was much harder than expected, and most days I ...
25/08/2026

🩼 June 2026 🌱

June was personally rough. Recovery from orthopedic surgery was much harder than expected, and most days I was stuck at home. But thanks to some wonderful friends, I managed a few field trips — and when I couldn’t get to the neighborhood, the neighborhood (and my favorite foods) came to me. ♥️

1–2 A VERY early “before” 🌱 Johnny and I visited Nishi Temple to see a new Sustainable Little Tokyo community garden, with lots of hands-on work + plant knowledge from Yuka, Riley and their Little Tokyo Florist network. 🌸🪴 Even better: the florist’s new home is across the street. A blossoming little corner! 🌼

3–7 Kenji from Suehiro DTLA / Suehiro Cafe spoke at City Club about his mom, Suehiro and commitment to community. 🎤♥️ I also dressed up for the first time in months — my crutches looked great with my dress. 💃🏻🩼✨

8 Sometimes the field notes come to you 😂🍣 Thank you Megan for delivering a very off-menu mini sashimi platter from Otomisan! Once I’m literally back on my feet, I’m hoping to help you bring our “1956 Tour” back this fall. 🚶🏻‍♀️

9-12 Made it ALL the way to Los Feliz 😂📚 to see Danny Jensen at Skylight Books for his new book, Unique Eats and Eateries of Los Angeles. So cool seeing Otomisan alongside Phoenix Bakery, Meiji Tofu + Kouraku. 🍜 Interview coming soon!

13–18 End of an era. 🌸🥲 Spent Little Tokyo Florist final Galleria day watching Yuka wrap the last bouquet and ring up the final order. 💐

Yuka wanted to close the space with intention, so my friends from Ars Forma filmed a conversation with Yuka + former owner Mary moderated by me about the shop, their relationship and passing the torch to a new generation. 🎥♥️

I couldn’t move very far this month, but the relationships kept moving around me.

Friends brought food. Took me places. Shared stories. Let me witness endings + beginnings.

Turns out you can still take field notes while sitting down. 📓🩼♥️

🚶🏻‍♀️ Walking tours are back! …sort of 😂🩼This past Saturday, I co-hosted a Little Tokyo afternoon with my friend and aut...
25/08/2026

🚶🏻‍♀️ Walking tours are back! …sort of 😂🩼

This past Saturday, I co-hosted a Little Tokyo afternoon with my friend and author Danny Jensen to celebrate his new book, Unique Eats and Eateries of Los Angeles 📚🍜

The book features three businesses very close to my heart: Fugetsu-Do in Little Tokyo, America’s Oldest Ramen Shop 🍜 Kouraku こう楽 and Boyle Heights’ Otomisan. Each is an oldest or historic record-holder in its own right: the oldest Japanese confectionery in the U.S., the oldest ramen shop in the U.S. and the oldest Japanese restaurant in the City of L.A. Naturally, we had to talk about the stories behind these legendary places.

We started with an air-conditioned “walking tour” inside the Little Tokyo Branch Library 😂❄️📚 (which, BTW, is gorgeous, and I’m always surprised by how many people have never been inside!). Danny shared neighborhood and small-business history before I made the very ambitious TWO-BLOCK journey to Kouraku on my crutches. 🩼🚶🏻‍♀️

Outside the restaurant, I shared a little more about Kouraku’s 50-year history before everyone headed inside for lunch. We ate, Kouraku gifted the group T-shirts and keychains, Danny signed books, and we got to experience one of the places featured in his book from the inside out. 🍜❤️

Afterward, my friend Kevin and I stayed behind to film a few interviews with Danny about the book, Kouraku and some of his favorite L.A. food stories. 🎥🎤 More of those coming soon!

It felt REALLY good to be doing this again — even if my current walking-tour radius is approximately two blocks. 😂

And, as the running joke of the afternoon went:

Who needs a tripod when you ARE the tripod? 📸🩼🩼

Slowly but surely, I’m getting back out there. 💛

Thanks so much for inviting me to be a part of Japan Crossover [JX]] inaugural JX Matsuri! I had so much fun supporting ...
19/08/2026

Thanks so much for inviting me to be a part of Japan Crossover [JX]] inaugural JX Matsuri!

I had so much fun supporting the UPRISERS® Little Tokyo Florist booth, teaching folks how to make fabric flowers from discarded materials.

Also big thanks to everyone that made sure I had a chair to take breaks. It was nice to be out and about, even if it had to be on crutches.

🌸♥️🪻🥰

18/08/2026

Some things you can’t teach💐

When Mary was asked if there was anything she knew Yuka would simply have to figure out on her own, her answer came back to work ethic.

“She already had it.”

For Mary, that was that sign that Yuka could carry the business forward.

🎥 Full conversation with Mary Onoue + Yuka Mizusawa on YouTube. Link in bio.

We made a thing! 💐🎥✨For the inaugural episode of **Little Tokyo Is Open**, Yuka Mizusawa and Mary Onoue sat down with Ma...
12/08/2026

We made a thing! 💐🎥✨

For the inaugural episode of **Little Tokyo Is Open**, Yuka Mizusawa and Mary Onoue sat down with Mariko to talk about what it actually looks like to pass a neighborhood business from one person to another. 🌸➡️🌸

Yuka told stories. Mary gave Yuka her flowers. 💐🥹 And there was a little bit of s**t talking 😂 mixed in with a lot of love ❤️ and even more respect.

Mary talks about why she trusted Yuka with the business she spent decades building. Yuka talks about all the things Mary *didn’t* warn her about 😅🪣 And together they talk about what makes a florist more than just a place that sells flowers. 🌷🏡

🌸 **Little Tokyo Florist x Little Tokyo Is Open** 🌸

The full conversation is finally up on YouTube! 🎬🍿

🔗 Link in bio at Supporting Little Tokyo Small Biz + Little Tokyo Florist

🎥 Video production by Ars Forma

OH! And we made stickers!! 🌼✨💌

Come find us at the **JX Japan Crossover [JX]] Matsuri at ** in Weller Court on Sunday, August 16th from 11AM–4PM! 🎐🏮

Tell us you subscribed to the channel and we’ll give you one :) 🌸🎁

05/08/2026

Owning a small business looks fun…

Then you realize you’re spending 90% of your time cleaning buckets💐

Current Litrle Tokyo Florist owner Yuka Mizusawa owner jokes that her predecessor Mary “tricked” her by not mentioning the realities of owning Little Tokyo Florist.

Full interview coming to YouTube 📹

🌎 May 2026Connecting Argentina 🇦🇷 ↔ Los Angeles 🇺🇸 ↔ Japan 🇯🇵AAPIHM felt different this year.Instead of thinking about m...
10/06/2026

🌎 May 2026

Connecting Argentina 🇦🇷 ↔ Los Angeles 🇺🇸 ↔ Japan 🇯🇵

AAPIHM felt different this year.

Instead of thinking about minority classifications, I found myself thinking about diasporas. Instead of assimilation, I found myself thinking about migration.

The first half of May was spent in Buenos Aires, meeting with business owners, writers, and local government officials. I hobbled around kitchens on crutches documenting stories that were entirely new to me, while also playing an unofficial Nikkei small business ambassador—sharing gifts, stories, and very simple Spanish with the people I met along the way. ☕📖

The location was on the other side of the world, but a neighborhood small business counter always feels like home.

One day after returning to Los Angeles, I had the privilege of moderating a conversation between my friends and in 🎤✨

In everything I do, my commitment to small businesses is always at the core.

That looked like inviting to create the stage florals for ’ United with Purpose event. 🌸

It looked like sharing lunch at and browsing the shelves at with Crystal, Jeff and Ryan—introducing them to places that have shaped my understanding of Little Tokyo, it’s history and the people who keep it alive.

It looked like trading ideas with and owner Jeffrey Ige over an off-the-menu chirashi-don.

More and more, I’m realizing that the work I love most is helping people connect with one another through cultural heritage spaces.

A neighborhood.
A restaurant counter.
A conversation that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

The month ended with a delivery from .yoga, founded by .tsuchitani. 🎁💛

On a personal note, the last two years have been challenging. My heart has felt heavy, and at times community has felt more like a popularized buzzword than a lived experience.

Changing country codes and reconnecting with people from earlier chapters of my life has been an important reset.

This month reminded me that community isn’t something we talk about.

It’s something we practice.

🌿 April 2026 🇦🇷I left my job and then broke my leg 🤦🏻‍♀️ After 8 years, I finally gave myself permission to pursue somet...
30/04/2026

🌿 April 2026 🇦🇷

I left my job and then broke my leg 🤦🏻‍♀️

After 8 years, I finally gave myself permission to pursue something for me.

A few days in the desert…
Then I flew to Argentina to begin documenting Nikkei diaspora stories across South America. ✍️

Four days later, I broke my leg. 😅🦴

Not metaphorically. I actually broke my leg.
At jiu jitsu training.
And required emergency surgery in a hospital in Buenos Aires.

Now I have a titanium rod and four screws holding it all together.

Literally and figuratively 🥲

Not exactly how I imagined this chapter starting.

How it started… how it’s going…
20 photos to capture the month of April

1–2 Last days at .cdc 💻💛
Cleaning out my office and writing a lot of thank-you letters.

3–4 A few more small biz milestones — the .ramen.dtla Ramen doc was accepted into LAAPFF, and signed a lease for the LTSC GFB FSN project. Both felt like full-circle moments, professionally and personally.

5–8 Palm Springs reset 🌵
Coachella offsite with
Sunrise in a hammock 🌅

9–11 Buenos Aires 🇦🇷
This saucer from — for my café con leche ☕ — is made by the

Founded by Saijiro Tsuji, who immigrated from Gifu in 1922. The family began producing porcelain in Argentina in 1951.

This book documents early Japanese immigrants — seeing the Tsuji family listed there… SO COOL! 📖✨

Their work still lives in some of the city’s most iconic cafes like

12–14 Tibia/Fibula Surgery 🥋➡️🏥

15–16 Recovery
10 days post-op. I can’t walk yet.
It’ll be months before I’m moving independently.

A lot of ceilings.
A lot of stillness.
A lot of staring at my feet.

17–19 Writing ✍️
Helping me process. Keeping me sane.

20 Finally escaping the hospital for some Argentinian asado 🥩🔥

I came here to document stories.

Now I’m being forced to slow down and notice the spaces in between.

Life keeps life-ing, and I’m still here.

I’ll be sharing the Nikkei stories I’m beginning to uncover — just at a different pace than I expected.

Subscribe for updates — link in bio 💫

🌸 Closing a Chapter — 8 Years at LTSC 🌸It’s hard to sum up what this work has meant — but at its core, it’s been about p...
06/04/2026

🌸 Closing a Chapter — 8 Years at LTSC 🌸

It’s hard to sum up what this work has meant — but at its core, it’s been about people, stories, and the belief that small businesses are the heartbeat of our neighborhoods. 💛

Some moments I’ll carry with me:

✨ Launching the incubator (2018–2019)

🎅 Carrying Shogun Santa around Little Tokyo — because I refused to let the pandemic cancel the holidays

🚶🏻‍♀️ Walking tours with Mike Murase

🎒 Exploring the neighborhood with Little Tokyo Explorers +

📚 Teaching small business basics at

🎉 Celebrating milestone birthdays of our legacy businesses and more

🍜 Screening the Mr Ramen documentary inside .ramen.dtla

🌸 Walking through the flower district with Yuka from

🍥 Discovering that is America’s oldest ramen shop

🥊 Talking boxing with Nori of (and receiving his corner jacket!)

🌆 Connecting neighborhoods — Boyle Heights, Leimert Park, Altadena — with Little Tokyo

Next up:
A month of rest… 😌

And then I’ll be back with something new — focused on increasing online visibility and archiving the histories of small businesses. 📲📖

Stay tuned. 💫

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