left for an hours-long bus ride with only what they could carry.

Little Tokyo Business Association Senior Vice President Glenn Osaki remarked that Yamauchi was an active member of LTBA and a vocal advocate for his fellow restaurant owners.Hiroshi Yamauchi worked long hours to create a strategy that kept Kouraku in business.

Photos by JUN NAGATA / Rafu ShimpoFrom left: Mariko Lochridge.who then introduced four Latino members of the restaurant staff who each have worked there for 20 to 30 years.the City of Los Angeles recognized the eatery as the oldest continually operating ramen restaurant in the U.

The identity of this restaurant is very strong.adding that the first ramen shop in Little Tokyo was Sapporo Ramen.

stated Bill Watanabe of the Little Tokyo Historical Society.

Hiroshi Yamauchi assumed ownership of Kouraku in 1986.the Military Intelligence Service.

My familys story is not divisive.recalled remarks he had given during a memorial for 442nd member Kazuo Masuda in 1945: ‘Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color.

and something I will fight to restore.during the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.