7. RICE TOWN

Rice Town is the derogatory but near universal term for the Asian community in the Combat Zone.  From 45^th street south to 47^th and from, the western wall east to Churchend.  Churchend Avenue runs north and south through the center of Rice Town and down into West Church.  Like Chinatown, the streets and alleys here are overcrowded, filled with neon signs and street vendors, but the Neon Signs are often cleverly recycled, the good sold are often used and the food is often a bit past the expiration date or is made of things better left unknown.  With absolutely no law to regulate what gets sold here, anything goes.

The population of Rice town is made up of a wide mix of Asian people, mostly Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Filipino, Laotian, Malaysian, and Indonesian.  They, like most of the residents of the Zone are mostly illegal immigrants or criminals in hiding.  There are Japanese, Korean, and Chinese here as well, most of them exiled here from their respective communities either as former gangsters who failed or shamed their organizations, or as civilians seen by the community as being a troublemaker.  

The community is very insular, and while people from outside the community are welcome to shop here, it is rare that they allow anyone without Asian blood to live among them or set up shop them self.  Nor do the members of the community venture too far or too often outside Ricetown. 

Written By Deric Bernier

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