East Meets South-of-the-Border : Culture: Japanese by the busload flock to a Mexican restaurant to hear mariachi sounds--and an echo from back home.

The tourists listened with quiet curiosity and politeness as Mexican mariachis strolled through the room, plucking guitars and violins while crooning such canciones as “El Rey” and “De Colores.”

But the patrons at Los Angeles’ La Fonda Mexican restaurant abruptly came to life as the band struck up its next song.

It was “Sakura,” a Japanese ballad.

Eighty Japanese tourists who were finishing off enchilada dinners nudged one another with astonished grins as mariachi Juan Jose Almaguer sang softly of cherry blossoms and love.

A ripple of applause swept through the restaurant, followed by a blinding explosion of photo flashes aimed at Almaguer from cameras that suddenly materialized from pockets and purses.

“ Arigato !” Almaguer said, thanking his audience in Japanese when the song ended and the clapping died down.

Like Disneyland and Universal Studios, the 21-year-old Mexican restaurant that boasts Los Angeles’ best-known mariachi band has become a favorite stop on the Japanese tour circuit.

Visitors by the hundreds pile off buses that stop nightly outside the Wilshire Boulevard restaurant. They are escorted inside to reserved tables close to the tiny stage used by musicians and dancers during a one-hour show.

The restaurant’s owner, mariachi group leader Nati Cano, said he got the idea of inviting Japanese tourists to the restaurant after his band played in Hawaii and attracted enthusiastic crowds of Japanese vacationers there.

“Individual Japanese visitors started coming in on their own,” Cano said. “Pretty soon, the travel companies found out and they started sending organized tours.”

Cano’s polished mariachi band has a repertoire of about 600 Mexican songs. But “Sakura” is its only Japanese ballad.

Almaguer, who also plays the violin during the show, memorized the song after a tour guide gave him a copy of the lyrics. The 15 other mariachis in the group learned the music from a cassette tape lent by a Japanese man.

If the sight of Mexican mariachis singing in Japanese is a shock to Japanese, it is also a jolt to many of the Latinos who crowd the 172-seat restaurant nightly.

“The regular customers are surprised to hear it,” Almaguer said. “Some ask me if I’m Japanese. I just laugh and tell them, ‘No, I’m from Mexi”

Almaguer says the band members also know a few Italian and French tunes that they play when tourist groups from those countries visit La Fonda.

Visitors from Europe are far outnumbered by Japanese, however. Statistics compiled by the Los Angeles Visitors & Convention Bureau indicate that as many tourists come from Japan each year--an estimated 1 million--as from all European countries combined.

The crowds of Japanese at La Fonda prompt occasional grumbles from regular Latino patrons who complain that tourists get the best seats for the mariachi shows.

But the Japanese were seated at tables scattered about the restaurant the other night, intermingled with several large Latino family groups that had come to celebrate birthdays.

The Japanese joined in the applause when the mariachis sang “Happy Birthday” in Spanish and waiters presented the birthday guests with dishes of flan decorated with wobbly candles.

Such scenes help make the Mexican restaurant a favorite tour stop for Japanese, said Shawn Neider, a Japanese-speaking college student who works as a tour guide for one of several travel companies that send buses to La Fonda. So does the song “Sakura.”

“They think it’s neat that someone has taken the time to learn a little of their language. They appreciate it,” he said.

La Fonda’s menu, however, remains strictly Mexican. The Japanese like enchiladas, tacos and tequila, but shy away from refried beans, hot sauce and Mexican beer. The beer isn’t hardy enough for their tastes, tour leaders say.

Before the end of the mariachi show, Almaguer coaxed Takeo Naka of Kyoto from the audience for a brief, impromptu duet. Laughing, visitors Tsuyoshi and Kahoru Shimizu snapped pictures of the pair.

At a nearby table, Hayato Nakamura of Osaka paused over a frothy green margarita to savor the moment.

“The music is very good,” Nakamura decided. “And the food here is very good.”

When pressed, however, Nakamura admitted that La Fonda’s mariachis are not his favorite American band. “This group sounds very nice. But I like the Eagles better.”