Cecily Umezuka frequents Little Tokyo often and enjoys coming to the Japanese Village Plaza because of the food, shopping and “convenient meeting spots.”
Her absolute favorite is historic confectionary shop Fugetsu-Do, “the best place to grab mochi” she says.
She’s seen the area change significantly over the years since World War II.
“When you’re down here so often, you accept the change and don’t think about it.”
Umezuka is a U.S. citizen of Japanese descent who was born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles to immigrant parents.
"And I’ve been here ever since except for the war years,” she said."
During World War II, the U.S. government unconstitutionally forced all persons of Japanese American ancestry from the West Coast and Hawaii.
“It’s not like I wanted to move. It was Uncle Sam who decided ‘I’m going to move you people’ so at first I went to the Santa Anita racetrack and then moved to Arkansas after that.”