Misasa

Mitsuwa Marketplace, as it is officially named, is really a small enclosed mall featuring shops specializing in Japanese books and magazines, liquor , health products, table ware, video rentals and a travel agency. But the real reason homesick ex-patriot Japanese and other Asians, nostalgic Americans who once lived in Japan and curious ordinary Chicagoans, flock to Mitsuwa is clearly the food. Between the large supermarket that occupies most of Mitsuwas floorspace, and the cases of bento (boxed lunches) and little restaurants ringing the food court, the Mitsuwa experience is all about the food – and the emotional associations that go with it.