The Little Tokyo Community Council on July 22 honored Restaurant Aoi, a family-owned restaurant on First Street, which closed on June 30. Grace Maruyama and Hiroko Yamagata, wearing flower leis, are joined by, from left, LTCC board members Chris Aihara, Evelyn Yoshimura and Craig Ishii. Yamagata and Maruyama, who are sisters, opened Aoi in 1976 and built the restaurant into a popular fixture in J-Town, serving Japanese dishes such as agedashi tofu, katsudon, miso eggplant, nabeyaki udon, okonomiyaki, saba shioyaki and zaru soba. (MARIO G. REYES/Rafu Shimpo)
Arigato, Aoi
