<Begin Segment 4>

[Ed. note: walking towards noodle aisle]

TM: So the point is, most Asians eat bok choy, daikon...

BF: And I would assume, more and more non-Asians...

TM: Oh yeah, yeah.

BF: Are starting to --

TM: That's given. If people are looking for that kind of product, they'll come to our type of store.

BF: Uh-huh.

TM: I knew the number, but one time -- I forgot, we had fifty or a hundred different kinds of noodles, instant noodles. Yeah.

BF: [Laughs] Ramen type?

TM: Yeah.

BF: Uh-huh.

[Shots of noodle aisle]

TM: Right here. I don't know how many we have but I -- this is all noodles and instant noodles. And I suppose if we had twice this much space we could probably have a third again different brands and sty -- types and sizes and so these are both size noodles of some kind. And this is the advantage of what we feel that -- I feel that will continue to provide a niche for our customers. Because very few supermarkets gonna have this variety.

BF: Uh-huh. When you look at over a hundred different types of noodles, do you ever think about what your dad would think?

TM: Yeah. I think, first of all, they didn't know about this instant stuff. [Laughs]

BF: [Laughs] Would he be amazed?

TM: Yeah, I think so because, you know, in our old days you had somen and ramen -- I mean somen and soba and a few others. Hiya mugi. But it's amazing. And here again, I'm not, gourmet but there are certain chow mein type noodles that most Asian people will use one way or the other. They might use it differently, but these so-called chow mein noodles are pretty popular. I don't know about the somen and things. But chow-mein noodles -- and then the rice sticks, that sai fun type, in one form or another, most different Asian groups use that. Mai fun, sai fun.

BF: But your father would also be really, he'd be really proud, don't you think? About how well the store's doing?

TM: Yeah, I think, yeah. My mother was very proud.

BF: Uh-huh.

TM: This, this is a... people of all different Asian groups use bean threads I guess... rice noodles, I guess they call it. Just like anything else, though, when you get down to it, little difference. [Laughs]

BF: When folks come in and they don't know exactly what they're looking for -- especially maybe Caucasian or non-Asians -- do they feel intimidated? Do they ask for help from the staff?

TM: I'm sure at first, they are. We try to accommodate, and we have had programs from time to time where somebody will wear a happi coat and try to help. But to find good people that they -- if somebody comes in with a menu we try to help them out. The first time it is intimidating. 'Cause I've been to other, Indian stores or something. It is intimidating. It looks kind of interesting but a lot of it is written in foreign language which is not supposed to be legal, but... so it is intimidating. That's one of our complaints, too. Some products that come straight from Japan, they might put a label on here, but the rest of it is written in Japanese. And the label is very simple. So unless you know what this product is, or unless you read Japanese, you really don't know how to use it.

BF: Right, right.

TM: Yeah. And this is, that's the same kind of experience I've had when I go into some other, non-Japanese or even Chinese -- I can't read the, I can't even read Japanese. But if something is little different, it is intimidating. But conversely, there's a lot of people get challenged by that, too. They bring it home and try it out.

BF: They like the idea of being adventurous?

TM: I'm guessing most of this rice stick in one form or another, it can be substituted.

BF: Uh-huh. Yeah.

TM: My brother, one of the reasons we grew in the form of Seasia, is we were one of the early people to promote cup noodles and instant ramen to the supermarket. I mean, my brother in Sea -- Uwajimaya, Seasia brand. These always sold -- well not this cup so much -- but these packaged ramen?

BF: Uh-huh.

TM: They were very popular in Asian stores, and it was just given. But my brother started to sell it to the supermarket. And it took a long time, but... so we had a very good relation, until they got very large. But when they were just trying to break the American market, my brother was one of those willing to go to the supermarkets.

BF: So really, he really helped get Asian products into the mainstream stores around here generally?

TM: Right. In, well California always had it, and East Coast is slowly, slowly getting it. Few years ago, if you went to a supermarket in East Coast, Boston or New York, very little Asian stuff. Now it's slowly expanding.

BF: Interesting. Because the, they're getting more Asians? Or because people are just, their tastes are...

TM: Probably a combination. Probably it takes both. You can't have just one or the other, I think.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.