The Shokudo and Save-the-Date for Showa Alley!
Japanese American community and history in our favorite dishes
Origins of the Shokudo
On Friday, January 21st, 2022, I met with Luke Uyeda at the Platform in Culver City seated at a table right across from the Blue Bottle Coffee there. We looked at each other and simultaneously said, “let’s do ‘The Shokudo Series.’” I am exaggerating, of course, but the crazy thing is that it isn’t by much! We were both looking for our next projects and we both wanted to delve into our Japanese American upbringing. It is not often that ideas are so fully formed at the first meeting, but we quickly settled on using ubiquitous Japanese American dishes as vehicles to explore our community’s history. Luke said that we needed to bring his childhood friend Jon Kenzo Okeya into the mix as the excitable and enthusiastic chef and host of the series, and the Shokudo team was complete. That following Thursday, I visited the Shokudo for the first time and I could see right away that there was something special here, but little did I know what was to come over the next two years.
The thing with Luke and Jon is that they are never short of ideas and they do not understand how to do things less than 1,000%. I met Luke and Jon while working on a virtual concert where Luke had the borderline delusional ambition to build about nine different sets in a one-day 18-hour film shoot while live-recording 12 songs (you can see that virtual concert here!). After that, I knew that I needed to work with these two on something, but I also could see that Luke had amazing vision for capturing things on film, and he already had ideas for the Shokudo. We got to work painting the walls, putting in wood paneling, painting and installing chalkboard shutters for a menu, stringing new electrical cables for lighting and power, and moving and building furniture to build a beautiful and functional kitchen suitable for filming (for Luke) and serving guests (for Jon).
The Shokudo Series
On February 3rd, we started filming our pilot episode featuring spam musubi. I invited my friends Todd Matsumoto and Khanh Ly to eat spam musubi and share their stories about it. In retrospect, that episode was very rough and unfocused, but we learned a lot about how to structure future episodes as well as organize the production set behind the camera.
If you have not yet seen “The Shokudo Series”, you can see the first six episodes here: Season 1 of The Shokudo Series.
Sharing The Shokudo
Throughout the year and a half of filming and editing, we heard from our guests that what we were doing was special. It is not easy to get our aunties and uncles to agree to be filmed, but it was important to Luke, Jon, and me to hear from the generations that came before and then to offer our perspective as yonsei’s and Asian Americans. Luke’s editing is respectful and true to each of our guests and so we have been fortunate to be able to document and share stories that are relatable to Japanese and Asian Americans everywhere. We were able to share our excitement about the Shokudo through an article published in the Holiday Edition of the Rafu Shimpo, written by Ethan Huang. In the article, you can read about how Jon built the Shokudo in his backyard with his dad as an escape from a full house.
What’s Next for the Shokudo?
Filming for the second season of “The Shokudo Series” is already underway and we are close to releasing the first episode, so be on the lookout for that episode to get posted soon! This first episode hits close to home for Luke and Jon who both grew up at the Venice Japanese Community Center as we feature the VJCC’s udon served at their Annual Natsumatsuri Festival. We have a lot of filming for another six episodes ahead, even more editing (for Luke), and many late nights, but the Shokudo team is ready to take it all on!
Showa Alley at the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute (GVJCI)
Because you are subscribed to my Substack and reading this post, you are the first to hear about the Shokudo’s newest venture called “Showa Alley”! Because the Shokudo is very small, Luke, Jon, and I were looking for a way to bring the Shokudo “experience” to more people. We looked at the breezeway at the Gardena Valley JCI and envisioned a Japanese alleyway (or yokocho) with post-war Showa-era aesthetics that can be seen in the Shokudo episodes. So, we invite you to mark your calendars for “Showa Alley” on Saturday, April 13th, 2024 to experience the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of a bustling yokocho as if you were in Japan.
Mark your calendars and subscribe to this Substack (if you aren’t already) in order to receive information about what will be at “Showa Alley” and how to purchase tickets. The proceeds will support the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute and the Grateful Crane Ensemble. More info to follow!
Subscribe and share!
If you’ve made it this far in my Substack, thank you so much for reading! Two years after that first meeting, I can’t believe how far we’ve come with the Shokudo. Luke, Jon, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed watching “The Shokudo Series” as much as we’ve enjoyed filming it and we are so excited about what is coming up with season 2, “Showa Alley”, and more.
Lastly, if you would like to support the Shokudo directly, please visit our ko-fi page below. We use your generosity to help get the ingredients in our episodes, purchase equipment for film production, and a number of other things to keep things going. Thank you again for all of your support!
-- Michael