ASPA 3970 Loyola Marymount University Japanese Mitsuwa Market in Los Angeles Essay

The store is the JAPANESE MITSUWA MARKET IN LOS ANGELES.

Your assignment will be to focus on one item in the store (no need to buy it, though taking some pictures of it would be a good idea). This can be a food item – either packaged or prepared, something from the bookstore, something from the cosmetics stand, or anything else in the store that looks interesting. Then what I’d like you to do is go home and do some research on the product – where it was made, the company that produced it, its popularity, etc. and write a short analysis of the item. Specifically, I’d like to know what you think this item tells us about popular culture in East Asia (and/or America). As with anything else we’ll look at this semester, we have to ask why this thing is popular (at least among a certain subculture or niche market) at this place and in this time. What does it tell us about social relations, economics, gender norms, ethnic identity, etc., etc., etc.?