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For the season opener next Tuesday, when the Dodgers take on the Cubs at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite Japanese dishes to enjoy during the game.
What’s on the menu? Items on sale at Tokyo Dome include fried octopus balls, pan-fried noodles and bowls of curry rice.
Where can I get them? In L.A., you're never far from great Japanese food.
Read on ... for a list of our local favorites.
Dodgers fans, rejoice! The official start of the 2025 baseball season is Tuesday, when the Dodgers face the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome in Japan in a two-game series.
The historic matchup will be the first time two teams will feature Japanese starting pitchers, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers and Shota Imanaga for the Cubs.
If you plan to watch it live, we salute you — the time difference means first pitch is at 3 a.m. (LaSorted's in Chinatown will be hosting their own viewing party if you need a place to watch).
For those who can't be in Japan but want a taste of the experience (literally), we've checked out what's on offer for hungry fans at Tokyo Dome and put together a guide to where you can get (some of) it in L.A.
Because what goes better with some early-morning baseball viewing than fried octopus balls?
As they like to say in Japan, katto-base-yasu!
At the Suntory Stadium Bar in Tokyo Dome's infield section, you’ll find karaage, a popular bar snack that goes great with a cold beer. Juicy bits of chicken are marinated with soy sauce and garlic overnight, coated in a starchy flour batter and then deep-fried. The crispy, crunchy morsels are usually served with a side of rice or thinly sliced cabbage slaw.
Karaage was said to be the late Anthony Bourdain's favorite food in Japan, something he'd buy at convenience stores like 7-11 whenever he was there.
Where to get it in L.A:
In the 4F infield section, you’ll find the Tsukiji Gindaco Public Bar. Gindaco is a popular Japanese chain specializing in takoyaki, fried octopus balls.
The piping hot fritters are filled with chunky bits of octopus tentacles, tempura bits and pickled ginger. They're made to order; you can watch the staff pour batter into a specialized cast iron molded pan, giving them their spherical shape. Once cooked to crisp perfection, they’re served with toppings like sweet and tangy takoyaki sauce, seaweed, bonito flakes and mentaiko mayo, made with spiced pollock roe.
Where to get it in L.A:
You'll find Rookie Curry in the Gourmet Street section on the first field level of the Tokyo Dome. It offers fast-casual curry options with ground beef, sausage and eggs, among others.
The roots of Japanese curry rice can be traced to the mid-1800s when the British brought over spices from India. The flavor has since evolved, reflecting Japanese taste, and is now known for its sweet and savory profile and thick consistency, similar to American-style gravy. The curry sauce is usually paired with short-grain white rice and a katsu fried chicken cutlet.
Where to get it in L.A:
Can't decide on just one menu item? The bento box is for you.
It started in 12th century Japan as small boxes containing various proteins, rice and vegetables. Today, bento lunches are known for their segmented trays, bought in a restaurant or as a quick grab-and-go option at convenience stores.
During the regular season, when the home team Yomiuri Giants play at Tokyo Dome, you can buy bento boxes hand-picked by your favorite player as part of the Giants Gourmet menu. Otherwise fans can head over to Dome Shop 109 for options like Makunouchi Bento which contains rice, fish, meat, pickles, eggs and vegetables or the Asakusa Imahan Sukiyaki Bento, which comes with braised beef, rice and veggies.
Where to get it in L.A:
A popular Japanese dish usually made with pan-fried buckwheat soba noodles, cabbage, green onions, julienned carrots, and a choice of thinly sliced pork belly, beef, chicken or tofu. The mixture is then doused with a sauce made with Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup and sugar, garnished with magenta-colored pickled ginger.
The history of yakisoba began in the 1930s when Chinese noodles were first introduced and sold at food stalls. As the dish's popularity caught on, it started being sold to diners and at various outdoor events and festivals.
Fans can head to Dome Shop 207 at the Tokyo Dome for a great to-go option. However, if you want to take it to the limit, order Giants Helmet Cup Yakisoba, a plastic baseball helmet filled with yakisoba.
Where to get it in L.A:
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Crews have now recovered the bodies of all nine backcountry skiers who were killed in an avalanche in Northern California earlier this week. It marks an end to what authorities on Saturday described as an agonizing five-day search and recovery operation complicated by intense winter storms northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Why now: Until Saturday, authorities had not confirmed the death of a ninth victim, a skier who had been missing and presumed dead. Officials say their body was found near the eight other victims that have now been recovered.
Updated February 22, 2026 at 12:04 PM ET
Crews have now recovered the bodies of all nine backcountry skiers who were killed in an avalanche in Northern California earlier this week. It marks an end to what authorities on Saturday described as an agonizing five-day search and recovery operation complicated by intense winter storms northwest of Lake Tahoe.
"While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home," said Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon during a Saturday news conference.
Until Saturday, authorities had not confirmed the death of a ninth victim, a skier who had been missing and presumed dead. Officials say their body was found near the eight other victims that have now been recovered. Authorities said avalanche hazards and weather conditions were too dangerous most of the week to search for the remaining victim or recover the bodies.
Four of the bodies were recovered on Friday, and the rest of the bodies were recovered on Saturday, all in the Castle Peak area where the avalanche – one of the deadliest in California history — struck. Six people from the group of 15 skiers survived Tuesday's disaster, the last day of a three-day backcountry ski trip. One guide and five travelers were among the survivors.
Helicopters with the California National Guard as well as the California Highway Patrol were used to hoist the remaining bodies from the mountain, officials said at the press conference.
On Friday, officials were able to use specialized techniques with the help of Pacific Gas & Electric to reduce the avalanche risk.
The ski trip was organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides, an outdoor tour company based in Truckee, Calif. Moon confirmed the identities of the victims. Three guides were killed: Andrew Alissandratos, 34, from Verdi, Nev.; Michael Henry, 30, from Soda Springs, Calif.; and Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. The other victims, who had signed up for the group trip, are: Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, Calif.; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, Calif.; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, Calif.
The Sierra Avalanche Center classified the avalanche between a D2 and D3 on the avalanche danger scale.
"A D2 would take down a person. A D3 would take down a house, so it was right in between those. It was described by them as a football field length of a path of the avalanche," Sheriff Moon said on Saturday.
Multiple agencies are investigating.
"We are investigating the incident to determine if there were any factors that would be considered criminal negligence," Ashley Quadros with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office said in an email to NPR on Sunday. "It is a standard investigation. It is too early to know if criminal charges will be applicable, as the investigation is preliminary and remains active and ongoing."
The area will be closed to visitors for several weeks.
Copyright 2026 NPR
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California Senator Adam Schiff is the latest Democrat to say they will boycott the State of the Union on Tuesday.
Why now: In a video posted Saturday on social media, Schiff cites as reasons a number of President Trump's actions.
I won’t attend Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday.
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) February 22, 2026
This isn’t business as usual.
Here’s what I’ll be doing instead: pic.twitter.com/54GcZdvApP
"Donald Trump is violating the law and constitution. He's ignoring court orders. He has weaponized the Justice Department to go after his enemies. He is letting loose ice troops in our streets that are getting people killed. I will not be attending the State of the Union. I've never missed one. I have always gone both to inaugurations and to states of the Union, but we cannot treat this as normal," he said in his message.
What's next: Instead, Schiff plans to attend The People's State of the Union, organized by Democratic advocacy organizations MoveOn and MeidasTouch on the National Mall that same night, joining a number of Democratic lawmakers who'll also be skipping President Trump's address to the nation on Tuesday.
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Local non-profit SoCal Marimbas is dedicated to the promotion of marimba performance. And you can catch live performance at a 'marimba salon' near you.
The backstory: A percussion instrument deeply-rooted in African music, the marimba shows up in everything from atonal avant-garde pieces to modern American pop songs. And yes, many people might know about its clear, playful tones through the iPhone ringtone of the same name.
A marimba club? But with its couch-sized layout of wooden bars and metal resonators, it's not always as accessible as say a guitar or more compact instrument.
Ariel Campos, director of Southern California Marimbas, hopes to change that. He and his colleagues put on regular 'marimba salons' where you can hear a wide-array of music performed on the percussion instrument, from pop to atonal music.
Read on ... to learn about the next event, and find out why Campos fell in love with the instrument.
A percussion instrument deeply-rooted in African music, the marimba shows up in everything from atonal avant-garde pieces to modern American pop songs. And yes, many people might know about its clear, playful tones through the iPhone ringtone of the same name.
But with its couch-sized layout of wooden bars and metal resonators, it's not always as accessible as say a guitar or more compact instrument.
Enter a man and a local non-profit on a mission to bring marimba to the masses.
From his home studio, Ariel Campos remembered one of the first times he really got intrigued by the marimba. He was listening to local radio.
“And I hear Tom Waits ‘Swordfishtrombone.’ That was like before Shazam and all that. And I was like, ‘what’s going on over here?!’” he said.
Campos teaches percussion at Mt. San Antonio College and he’s director of Southern California Marimba, a group dedicated to the promotion of marimba performance.
With its roots in Africa, Campos said American history is rich with the sounds of the marimba. That includes musicians like Clair Omar Musser, who toured with the instrument -- which can weigh hundreds of pounds -- back in the 1920s.
Musser might not ring a bell. But the marimba master was a big deal in his day, even organizing a 100-piece marimba orchestra for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933.
In his studio filled with an array of other percussion instruments, Campos explained that the marimba is usually played with two, four or even six mallets. When I met with him earlier this month, he demonstrated the dexterity needed to pull that off on his own antique marimba: A hulking Deagan marimba he estimates was built in the 1920s.
Campos said he’s also interested in the rich marimba heritage of countries like Mexico and Guatemala, where the instrument is still very much alive.
In Guatemala, where the marimba is the national instrument, it’s not uncommon for three or more people to play the same instrument at the same time, Campos said.
“There’s a great band right now from Mexico. They’re called Son Rompe Pera,” Campos said. “Their slogan is like: cumbia is the new punk. And so they play cumbia punk music on the marimba.”
A working musician who’s played marimba with acts like Brooks and Dunn, Campos has a wide repertoire: from classical to pop songs like the Los Bukis classic, “Tu Cárcel.”
For over a year now, Campos and his colleagues at Southern California Marimbas have brought an eclectic array of live marimba music to audiences in L.A. He calls them ‘marimba salons’ and they even include some of his weirder, more avant-garde creations. For some of his atonal pieces, Campos uses his fingers, bare hands and even a bass bow to bring out the more subtle sounds of the instrument.
Campos said his goal with the marimba salons is to bring the marimba out of the academic setting and into neighborhoods where people can experience it up close.
“It’s the idea of bringing people together, especially now, in these times. We need to build a sense of community. And that can look however we want it to look,” Campos said.
“And I think using the marimba to do that is a great opportunity.”
The next SoCal Marimba salon is coming up on Sunday March 22 at 8pm at Sunspace in Shadow Hills.
Sunspace
9683 Sunland Blvd.
Shadow Hills, CA 91040
Sunday, March 22
8 - 9 p.m.
Mt. San Antonio College will also host a marimba festival and competition July 25-26. Check out Southern California Marimba’s website for more info as it becomes available.
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East L.A. Film Shop started in 2020, when owners Frank Ledezma and Jennyfer Gramajo needed to pivot their event photography business as the pandemic shut everything down. So they started to sell film for old-school cameras.
Why it matters: Unlike many pandemic-era businesses, East L.A. Film Shop not just survived, but thrived after COVID 19. And now, the husband and wife team is turning their shop into a community space for the neighborhood and beyond.
Read on ... to learn about their story, and a cool event happening there Sunday.
In early 2020, Frank Ledezma and Jennyfer Gramajo moved into a new storefront for their event photography business on First Street in East L.A.
But like the story of so many small businesses during the pandemic shutdown, the husband-and-wife team soon found themselves needing to pivot.
"We would do events for quinceañeras, baptisms, weddings," Gramajo said. "At that moment, all of our events were canceled."
Unlike the roller-coaster experiences that have defined so many mom-and-pops, though, their East L.A. Film Shop has been a story of unexpected success.
Gramajo and Ledezma went from shooting photos to selling film to photographers, during a crazy-making time when there probably wasn't a better way to kill time than to take your camera out and capture a suspended world.
"You couldn't find film. People were still shooting," Ledezma said. "People still wanted to go out and shoot."
The couple was already selling some photo supplies before the pandemic, but not much. After the lockdown, Gramajo said Ledezma asked her if he should pour their savings to go all in on the switch, based off a friend's suggestion, on a wing and a prayer.
"I'm like, 'Well, I think you should just buy a couple of rolls and see how it goes,'" Gramajo remembered.
With that, East L.A. Film Shop was born.
The couple started advertising their goods on social media. As word of mouth spread, customers sought them out.
" We started meeting people like at the Jack in the Box parking lot. We would go deliver film like if it was Uber Eats," Gramajo said.
" They were like, 'Oh, go with Frank. They have it in stock. They always have it in stock,'" Ledezma said.
After reopening, the demand for film rolls stayed strong, so much so that East L.A. Film Shop expanded their offering to include film development and other services. Their clientele, Gramajo said, has always run the gamut, from seasoned pros to novices, including an elderly man who needed help loading a new roll into his old camera, or a woman who brought her kid to get a crash course on all the different knobs and buttons.
Since last year, East L.A. Film Shop has relocated to the storefront next door, a much bigger space to accommodate more equipment and a growing staff.
The extra room also allows the couple to create a community space for music, photo exhibits and more.
On Sunday, East L.A. Film shop is hosting its monthly "Barrios Sunday," where small local vendors are invited to set up shop for the day to sell their goods and get the word out about their business.
The couple is also asking photographers — analog and digital — to post their photos on the walls of the shop. The works will be displayed for a week.
As for Ledezma and Gramajo, they still go out and shoot. It's a kind of second nature — especially for Ledezma, who grew up helping his father, an event photographer himself, on his shoots.
"When I open a fresh roll, like the smell, it takes you back [to] when I was a kid and my dad's like, 'Oh, gimme this roll,’" he said. "You still get that smell of fresh film. You know, it just takes you back."
East L.A. Film Shop
3541 1st St., Los Angeles
Feb 22. Sun., 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
