. . which is why every Japanese tourist leaves this state with bags of rice carefully calculated to be 2 rice grains below the legal limit to take to Japan.

Incidentally, if you want the very best California (Japanese style) rice, it's Kokuho Rose (Nomura & Company, Inc, Burlingame, CA 940101). The Korean markets here have vast mounds of the stuff.

Japanese markets are nearly extinct in Southern California - they exist only to provide junk foods Japanese tourists crave - but the Korean markets have all the stuff you need for real Japanese cuisine.

Of course, the Koreans pretty much own Little Tokyo now, as well as almost all the "Japanese" sushi bars here.

Of course, the Japanese do make their presence known. Down in Glendale, a sculpture has been installed in a park to commemorate the Korean "Comfort Women" forced to serve the Japanese during WWII. Japanese have filed multiple lawsuits to have this monument removed as an "insult to the Japanese people", claiming these women were "regular prostitutes". Yeah, regular prostitutes service 26 soldiers a day for a bowl of rice. So far, the reaction from the courts has been "Fuck off and die".