A Word With Little Tokyo

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If you’re even remotely interested in venturing over to the land of the rising sun, you must first check out Little Tokyo! Little Tokyo! is a little store near the Central Markets that is packed choc-full of delicious stuff from Japan. We caught up with owner Ichiro Inoue.
 
Why did you call your shop “Little Tokyo!”? First we wanted people to recognized the name easily. Also we wanted to sell variety of things that relate or represent Japan. It could be LITTLE JAPAN but LITTLE
TOKYO sounded better.
 
Where is the shop? Arcade between Hilton Hotel and Law court. Our shop situated in front of the escalator which leads to public parking space.
 
How did the “Little Tokyo!” story begin? Why did you open the store? After working in themusic industry for nearly 20 years, I wanted todo something very different. There are shop thatsells antique, old style Japanese things or modifiedtourist like products. I wanted to introduce productsthat young people in Tokyo would buy.
 
Do you know what was in that space before you took it over? I believe there was print shop before us.
 

What’s involved in running Little Tokyo? Selecting product is the main key to our business. Some of the supplier are very tough in Japan. They have great deal of pride in their products and they would not supply to the shop unless they think is appropriate. We had to explain to them about our concept and took us several month.

 
Is it hard work? Any work is hard but we enjoy it.
 
What does your shop sell more than anything else? Natto (fermented soybean). Some doctor
or magazine mentioned NATTO is good for blood.
 
What is something you stock that you wouldrecommend to our readers? It is hard to select particular product. If you are into the movie, DVD the place to start. If you start liking one culture it would lead to other things as well. For example people come to our shop asking product which they saw in the movie.
 
What’s the best type of instant ramen? I would say CHUKAZANMAI. It doesn’t taste like instant. It is very close to the real noodle.
 
Which is the best beer in your fridge? EBISU. It is like crown beer in Japan.
 
Is there a Japanese equivalent of Vegemite? Where foreigners hate it but locals love it. I always thoughtit is NATTO. But it is our best sell, so maybe people edon’t mind.
 
Is there anything you can’t import from Japan? Not only Japanese products but so many foods are not allowed import here.
 
What part of Japanese culture would you like people in Adelaide to get from your store? Everyday culture.Like if you are living in Tokyo.
 
Any plans to make your store “Little Tokyo!” any bigger? Will you expand? I don’t have anyplan to become bigger but try to be better eachday. If expanding can bring customer betterservice then I will.
 
You stock DVDs, who is your favourite director and why? It is very hard question. Of courseKUROSAWA, OZU those legends are great and anyother upcoming director too. But I have to say HAYAOMIYAZAKI animation director of Princess Mononoke,Spirited Away and many more. He has not only madeJapanese animation famous but lifted animationinto main stream of the movie industry.