Family -- Alix Bloom

          In chapter three of, "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", this paragraph speaks to me the most because it makes me think of family and culture. "The Old Japanese show Benkyodo is part sweets store, part neighborhood diner, featuring a long counter with stools, where customers order a cup of coffee and stay for hours to catch up on neighborhood gossip. Except for the period around when the family was interned during WW II, the business has operated more or less continuously since 1906, when the present owners' grandfather, Suyeichi Okamure, opened the original store on Geary Boulevard to sell Japanese treats." (47) This diner has a lot of history in it, carried by the love of this family. During the time of World War II, a lot of Chinese owned business were being closed, even if the owners were born in America. All Chinese-Americans were relocated to an internment camp in 1942, they had to leave their homes and businesses which were sold and destroyed, and all they were allowed to take with them was one suitcase.

          The end of chapter three, Jennifer 8 Lee expands on another family who owned "The Japanese Tea Garden" that was built during the World's Fair, and sold tea to  visitors and dressed in kimonos. But the family was also removed in 1942, to Utah, where they lived for four years. Their Japanese Tea Garden was demolished and the family wasn't released until 1945. Many years of hard work these families put into their businesses, and then completely destroyed by the Government could really tear a family apart, but through their culture and love they stuck together.

         This passage makes me think of family, because if you stay strong as a family, you can conquer anything. Although these families lost their businesses, they didn't lose their culture or love for one another. Before WW II, so much passion came out of their family owned businesses, and years of culture they supplied to the customers in just one cup of tea is beautiful. It makes me appreciate what my family has to offer and the years of culture that lies within our family tree.