Gil Asakawa'sWRITING SAMPLES Back
to Index of Writing Samples This
article ran in the Rocky
Mountain News on July 12, 2003. By Gil Asakawa,
Special to the News Asian culture is everywhere, from Chinese calligraphy on clothing to Japanese animation on TV, from feng shui books to an array of new Asian groceries on supermarket shelves.
Dim sum and sushi? They're no longer exotic dining experiences. There's simply more of Asia available than ever before. In Denver, that's largely because there are more Asians, too. According to the most recent census figures, the Asian Pacific Islander population in Colorado grew by 67 percent from 1990 to 2000, making it one of the state's fastest-growing population segments. Denver is home to 13 distinct Asian groups, including people who identify themselves as being of Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Thai and Vietnamese descent. Asians still make up a small percentage of the overall population - 3.75 percent in the metro area - but their visibility is rising.
And with their growing numbers have come a growing number of businesses that cater to the various Asian communities as well as adventurous non- Asian shoppers and diners. Here's a quick tour of three local Asian hubs, with suggestions on where you might explore. South Federal strip Denverites hip to Asian culture before Asian culture became hip have known for years that the stretch of South Federal Boulevard heading south from West Alameda Avenue is a business hub for the community. You don't have to be Asian to shop here, just curious about the culture that's presented and open to lesser-known specialties served in Asia. And for some things, especially produce, the prices are much cheaper than in a "Western" supermarket. The stores along Federal sprang up in the 1980s because of affordable property and incentives from the city to revitalize the stretch. One of the most visible results of the urban renewal is the Far East Center, a small, enclosed strip mall just south of Alameda, with its can't-miss curved Asian gateway opening into its parking lot. Farther south along Federal you'll find - along with many other Asian grocery stores and shops - a host of tantalizing restaurants representing a mix of Asian cultures. "It's really important because it gives the area a sense of identity," says Eric Sung, 29, an architectural designer and president of the local chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. "It gives the Asians who live in Denver a good chance to interact with other Asian-Americans." Sung travels South Federal regularly for Asian groceries but also heads to the neighborhood when he's dining out Asian-style. His favorite restaurants include Pho Hoa and Da Lat for Vietnamese food, and Ocean City, Empress and Kings Land for Chinese (Empress and Kings Land are east of Federal on Alameda). Korea in Aurora Koreans are the largest Asian group living in Aurora, according to the 2000 census. Of the 12,066 Asians in Aurora, there are twice as many Koreans (3,203) as Chinese (Vietnamese came in second with 2,381). And it's a good bet that virtually every Korean in the metro area is familiar with the area bounded by South Havana and South Peoria streets between East Mississippi Avenue to the north and South Parker Road to the south. "The businesses started to grow along Havana in the 1990s," says Daniel Oh, a commercial Realtor in Aurora and the chair of the Governor's Asian Pacific American Advisory Council, who has lived in the metro area for almost 20 years. "The reasons why Koreans moved to Aurora were number one, it was close to the airport and not downtown, and number two, the southeast area was very nice, less crime." Ask a Korean to name the best restaurant in the metro region and chances are they will tell you Seoul or one of the other eateries in the neighborhood. Korean-owned businesses have become a hallmark of the area, with large supermarkets such as Komart anchoring small strip malls, and smaller businesses such as the New York Bakery hiding out in larger, anonymous strip malls. Nancy Webster McKinney, director of Aurora's Small Business Development Center as well as co-chairwoman of the Aurora Asian/Pacific Community Partnership, shops along the Havana/Peoria strip. "That area is extremely vital to the city because Aurora is probably one of the most diverse communities in the state," she says. "I shop at Komart for their vegetables, for the Japanese and Korean dishes I make when I have the time." A taste of Japan San Francisco has Japantown, several city blocks of Japanese shops, businesses and restaurants. Los Angeles has Little Tokyo, a similar sprawl of culture enhanced by the Japanese American National Museum. Denver has its own "Tiny Tokyo," the one-block enclave of Sakura Square that's the heart of the area's Japanese and Japanese-American community. Tucked between Lawrence and Larimer and 19th and 20th streets, Sakura Square features the Denver Buddhist Temple, Tamai Towers (a fixed-income apartment building that caters mostly to elderly Japanese residents), a Japanese market, a Japanese-American-owned barbershop, two restaurants, an Asian antiques store, an all-Japanese book, magazine and video shop, and a Japanese-owned travel agency. Sakura Square is the smallest of Denver's Asian ethnic hubs but also its oldest. The development was built in 1972 on the site of the existing Japanese district, which had been in place since before World War II and blossomed after the war, when Japanese-Americans who had been released from internment camps throughout the West settled in Denver. Jolie Noguchi remembers growing up around her grandfather George Inai's grocery store, Pacific Mercantile, which was opened 60 years ago and used to sit on the same block where it's currently located in Sakura Square. Noguchi serves as the store's secretary and treasurer, while her brother Kyle Nagai is president. She appreciates Pacific Mercantile's continuing importance to the Japanese community but notes that the store's clientele has grown to include the non-Japanese residents moving into the lower downtown neighborhood's condominiums and apartments. "This area has grown, so we're reaching out to them," she says. "We've started free cooking classes every month to show them what to do with some of the items we carry." Read the related story about businesses and restaurants in these Asian hotspots. |
