By Kelly Lee
Staff Writer
Senior Kokoro Kusayanagi works rigorously, scooping up warm portions of rice and various
fillings. With swift fingers, she pushes the delicious fillings between the rice, before molding it
into a delicious onigiri. She finishes it off by packing it up alongside a sheet of crunchy seaweed,
ready to deliver to the customers of Kusayanagi’s business: OnigiriLA.
Kusayanagi first developed OnigiriLA after taking a summer business class at Mount San
Antonio College. For a final project, Kusayanagi decided to start her own business, a longtime
goal of hers. With the encouragement of her mother, she began a business that catered to other
Japanese Americans, introducing popular Japanese staples like onigiri and spam musubi.
“I think my mom has always been pushing the ideas of starting a business,” Kusayanagi said.
“She told me, ‘you should do something that is eco-friendly, healthy and easy to eat on t=e go.’
Onigiri is really popular in American culture right now, especially with anime and all the new pop
culture, so I decided to do that.”
Traditionally, onigiri are Japanese rice balls wrapped in seaweed. From there, custom toppings
or fillings enhance the flavors and bring variety. Since onigiri was always a staple food in
Kusayanagi’s family, she developed a menu and recipe inspired by her mother and
grandmother. Kusayanagi offers plain onigiri, regular tuna onigiri, spicy tuna onigiri, imitation
crab onigiri, spicy imitation crab onigiri and spam musubi.
“Koko and I have French together and I heard about her business when she asked us if we
wanted to pre order,” senior Abrina Lu said. “I bought tuna and spicy tuna onigiri and spam
musubis and it was so good. I hope she sells more because it was a hit and I know it will
continue to be super popular.”
Her business officially launched around December 2023. Kusayanagi took pre-orders from her
social media and distributed orders with her club BIEDAC during Unity Fest. Kusayanagi
promoted her business through her social media and Miss Temple City platform. Kusayanagi
hoped to spread cultural diversity with her Miss Temple City title and talked about starting it
multiple times throughout the pageant process and social events with the court.
Although she hopes to one day expand her business, Kusayanagi wants it to stay local to
Temple City. She plans on attending more events like GradNite to cater or sell her onigiri in the
future.
“To anyone wanting to start their own business, I would say plan carefully and organize well,”
Kusayanagi said. “Once the business plan starts to piece together, it is truly an exciting and
rewarding feeling that all your hard work is coming to fruition.”