[/floatr]Japan Times: Japanese, Chinese unite to save London mall from ball
Japanese and Chinese residents living in London are fighting plans to demolish a shopping mall that has served their needs for the last 13 years. They say the move symbolizes the Far Eastern community's lack of influence in Britain when compared to other ethnic minorities. Permission was recently granted by the Brent Council to demolish Oriental City in Colindale, northwest London. The mall attracts around 10,000 visitors a week with its range of 40 stores catering to those who have their origins in East Asia and Southeast Asia. The center has a food court selling inexpensive meals from all over Asia, and shops selling Japanese and Chinese crafts and products for the home. The site also has a large supermarket used by the Japanese community, which has concentrated in the area for many years..."We are not happy," said Hideo Tomita, who runs a Japanese tableware shop and has been a tenant since 1993. "There is no reason to redevelop the center. The only purpose seems to be to make more money with the construction of new flats. They are not really thinking about the community"...more...
Oriental City was originally Yaohan Plaza, opened by the Shizuoka supermarket chain of the same name. When the company collapsed under a mountain of debt, the London site was bought by a Chinese businessman. It's original target was the large Japanese family population in London but this began to fall sharply as companies reduced their staff. Japanese students, who rose in number over the same period, had no real interest in the place. By the time the anime and manga boom hit its stride, most bookshops had a specialist section so no-one needed to head over to the place to buy them.
