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My nephew Hayato's arrived from Tokyo today.  He was originally scheduled to go camping by the sea in Chiba but my sister was concerned about the contamination of the Pacific ocean from the March earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan. So in lieu of sea camp, we invited Hayato to come to Los Angeles. This is his first visit to the US.

On our way home from the airport, I had to do a quick errand in my old neighborhood of Santa Monica. I took Hayato to DiDio's Italian Ices. Ice cream shops have a universal appeal.  Even though Hayato was jet lagged, he didn't refuse my offer. DiDio's is where my son, Sakae, used to go when he was a boy. It's has a nostalgic ambience. You will find more than 40 varieties of Italian ices and gelatos to choose from. They also sell an array of old fashioned candies, including dots-on-paper (candy buttons), wax bottles, gum cigars, licorice whips, ring suckers, Charleston chews.  So American!  Of course, Didio's  was an instant hit with Hayato.  Some of the ices were strange to a Japanese boy. He'd never heard of blood orange, bubble gum or root beer.  He went for green apple and cherry. His lips turned bright red. It was a good way to start a holiday in America.