My Uwajimaya Excursion
As I looked up at the clearly newly built Uwajimaya, all I could think about was how cool it would be to live in one of the many apartments above. I get excited over the littlest things when I go downtown and especially on this day I was SO ready for my adventure through this store they call an Asian GIFT and Food Market! I love gifts, yay!! As I think about my questions I have prepared for customers inside the store, I look over at AJ who I persuaded to go with me and is such being good sport since I’ve dragged him all over the place today, and I can’t tell if he’s amused by the roasted chestnuts that are being sold from a hotdog looking cart outside the door or if he is checking out the cute girl behind it selling them. Either way, I keep walking until we are through the big sliding glass doors and we take a look around.
To the left I see tons of fruits and vegetables and to the right a checkstand that selling sake, smokes and newspaper. After a joke about stopping back by the newstand on the way out, we look ahead to see some shops to the right so of course I say “oh we’re going this way,” as I make a beeline toward the bright lights. We step into Paris Miki Optical and model a couple frames before I see the real gift section, displays of everythings teapots and noodle bowls to Hello Kitty bags. As we walk out the shop and by the row of checkstands to our left I notice all the different types of people standing in line; I see, of course Asians, but also Pacific Islanders, caucasions, a couple black men, and a few hispanics. We pass the madness and I go in search of a pad of paper and pen to jot down notes while we are walking around. I spot the rainbow of colors at Sanrio and wander over to find myself some cheap stationary. I quickly find a pink writing tablet for 95 cents and a pen with little penguins all over and I am all set. When I spot AJ around the corner, he’s looking at a box holding a set of six small bowls and he says, “can you believe these are fifty five bucks?” I look at the miniature bowls only big enough to fit about four grapes and I say “hmm yeah, a little spendy for me.” So instead of shopping I figure this would be a good time to talk to couple shoppers who are browsing gifts as opposed to busy shopping for dinner.
I see middle age lady mosying along the wall looking at some decorative plates and I make my way over to her. I say excuse me and she turns around. I tell her a little about myself and that Im doing a project for my Asian American Studies class and she gladly agrees to answer some questions. It turns out her name is Alena , she is half Japanese and half English, and when I ask her why she believes it is important to have a store like this in the community, she says “it attracts diverse cultures in a non-threatening way to a common place and it allows different generations to experience a culture they may not be familiar with.” I really liked her response because that is what I was thinking about earlier this day. I thanked her and went on my way. I head over to a gentleman on the opposite side of the room and begin asking him similar questions. His name is John, he is a Seattle native, although he now lives in Oak Harbor. Yet he still makes a trip to Seattle every month to visit his kids and to come to Uwajimaya and load up on food that he can’t get elsewhere. He says he believes this store is important because “it brings together the diversity of the community,” which was similar to what Alena had said. And he says “it’s the only place I can come to get all these international foods and ingredients, you just can’t find them anywhere else.” Happy with the nice people I’ve met already and the information I’ve gathered, I grab AJ and head over to the food that smells so good.
We walk into a little food court area lined with a variety of restaurant choices. It has Thai, Hawaiian, Korean BBQ, Vietnamese Pho, Chinese and Japanese food. We walk around and sample chicken katsu and fried bananas and decide after all we’d like some plain sushi. After filling up on tuna avocado rolls and salmon sashimi we wander over to the fresh fish and notice they sell sashimi grade salmon! Ecstatic at the thought of making my own sashimi at home I get close to a pound of it for $13.70 from the very helpful guy behind the counter who got me fattiest piece he could find. Then I head out on a quest for soy sauce and wasabi, which is mandatory for my salmon and luckily find them both fairly easily. Little did I know though they would carry about a thousand different kinds of soy sauce, I mean, dark and light? I don’t know! I end up picking out the dark because I cannot stand reduced sodium and head up to the counter. After checking out and feeling completely satisfied with my purchases, I look up at the wall and it reads, Uwajimaya since 1928. Wow, has it really been around 80 years? And then I see on another wall a printed out black and white picture of a man driving a car and it reads, “ 1940- Fujimatsu on his way to sell products in Tacoma, WA.” After asking a couple people I find out that Fujimatsu started this business in 1928 and this store was opened in the year 2000.
Once I did further research I found that the founder Fujimatsu Moriguchi had originally, prior to WWII, opened his first store in Tacoma, which they were forced to close in 1942. After the war ended him and wis wife, Sadako, reopened their second store which was located on South Main Street in Seattle. Later in 1970, it was moved to an even larger store on 6th Avenue South and South King Street, but then 30 years later Uwajimaya was moved once more and became the beautiful store it is today.
I had a great experience coming to the market and experiencing the Asian culture once again in a different setting and that is why I believe this store is vital for the Seattle community. Speaking with Alena and John reinforced my thoughts on the importance of having an attraction like this that lures diverse groups to a place where people can not only learn about these cultures, but also feel at home through its inviting setting and friendly people.
As I looked up at the clearly newly built Uwajimaya, all I could think about was how cool it would be to live in one of the many apartments above. I get excited over the littlest things when I go downtown and especially on this day I was SO ready for my adventure through this store they call an Asian GIFT and Food Market! I love gifts, yay!! As I think about my questions I have prepared for customers inside the store, I look over at AJ who I persuaded to go with me and is such being good sport since I’ve dragged him all over the place today, and I can’t tell if he’s amused by the roasted chestnuts that are being sold from a hotdog looking cart outside the door or if he is checking out the cute girl behind it selling them. Either way, I keep walking until we are through the big sliding glass doors and we take a look around.
To the left I see tons of fruits and vegetables and to the right a checkstand that selling sake, smokes and newspaper. After a joke about stopping back by the newstand on the way out, we look ahead to see some shops to the right so of course I say “oh we’re going this way,” as I make a beeline toward the bright lights. We step into Paris Miki Optical and model a couple frames before I see the real gift section, displays of everythings teapots and noodle bowls to Hello Kitty bags. As we walk out the shop and by the row of checkstands to our left I notice all the different types of people standing in line; I see, of course Asians, but also Pacific Islanders, caucasions, a couple black men, and a few hispanics. We pass the madness and I go in search of a pad of paper and pen to jot down notes while we are walking around. I spot the rainbow of colors at Sanrio and wander over to find myself some cheap stationary. I quickly find a pink writing tablet for 95 cents and a pen with little penguins all over and I am all set. When I spot AJ around the corner, he’s looking at a box holding a set of six small bowls and he says, “can you believe these are fifty five bucks?” I look at the miniature bowls only big enough to fit about four grapes and I say “hmm yeah, a little spendy for me.” So instead of shopping I figure this would be a good time to talk to couple shoppers who are browsing gifts as opposed to busy shopping for dinner.
I see middle age lady mosying along the wall looking at some decorative plates and I make my way over to her. I say excuse me and she turns around. I tell her a little about myself and that Im doing a project for my Asian American Studies class and she gladly agrees to answer some questions. It turns out her name is Alena , she is half Japanese and half English, and when I ask her why she believes it is important to have a store like this in the community, she says “it attracts diverse cultures in a non-threatening way to a common place and it allows different generations to experience a culture they may not be familiar with.” I really liked her response because that is what I was thinking about earlier this day. I thanked her and went on my way. I head over to a gentleman on the opposite side of the room and begin asking him similar questions. His name is John, he is a Seattle native, although he now lives in Oak Harbor. Yet he still makes a trip to Seattle every month to visit his kids and to come to Uwajimaya and load up on food that he can’t get elsewhere. He says he believes this store is important because “it brings together the diversity of the community,” which was similar to what Alena had said. And he says “it’s the only place I can come to get all these international foods and ingredients, you just can’t find them anywhere else.” Happy with the nice people I’ve met already and the information I’ve gathered, I grab AJ and head over to the food that smells so good.
We walk into a little food court area lined with a variety of restaurant choices. It has Thai, Hawaiian, Korean BBQ, Vietnamese Pho, Chinese and Japanese food. We walk around and sample chicken katsu and fried bananas and decide after all we’d like some plain sushi. After filling up on tuna avocado rolls and salmon sashimi we wander over to the fresh fish and notice they sell sashimi grade salmon! Ecstatic at the thought of making my own sashimi at home I get close to a pound of it for $13.70 from the very helpful guy behind the counter who got me fattiest piece he could find. Then I head out on a quest for soy sauce and wasabi, which is mandatory for my salmon and luckily find them both fairly easily. Little did I know though they would carry about a thousand different kinds of soy sauce, I mean, dark and light? I don’t know! I end up picking out the dark because I cannot stand reduced sodium and head up to the counter. After checking out and feeling completely satisfied with my purchases, I look up at the wall and it reads, Uwajimaya since 1928. Wow, has it really been around 80 years? And then I see on another wall a printed out black and white picture of a man driving a car and it reads, “ 1940- Fujimatsu on his way to sell products in Tacoma, WA.” After asking a couple people I find out that Fujimatsu started this business in 1928 and this store was opened in the year 2000.
Once I did further research I found that the founder Fujimatsu Moriguchi had originally, prior to WWII, opened his first store in Tacoma, which they were forced to close in 1942. After the war ended him and wis wife, Sadako, reopened their second store which was located on South Main Street in Seattle. Later in 1970, it was moved to an even larger store on 6th Avenue South and South King Street, but then 30 years later Uwajimaya was moved once more and became the beautiful store it is today.
I had a great experience coming to the market and experiencing the Asian culture once again in a different setting and that is why I believe this store is vital for the Seattle community. Speaking with Alena and John reinforced my thoughts on the importance of having an attraction like this that lures diverse groups to a place where people can not only learn about these cultures, but also feel at home through its inviting setting and friendly people.
