History of Japanese Restaurants in New York City

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical development of Japanese restaurants in New York City (NYC). There are two main findings. First, the postwar expansion of Japanese companies into the US led to an increase in corporate demand for Japanese restaurants for entertaining their clients, which stimulated development of upscale Japanese restaurants. In some cases, Japanese companies directly invested in expanding Japanese restaurants into NYC. Second, the only Japanese cuisine known to Americans in the past was sukiyaki, tempura, and teriyaki, but through the efforts of various entrepreneurs, less well-known Japanese dishes such as sushi and ramen have become new icons of Japanese cuisine. More recently, Japanese cuisine has been further subdivided into a variety of restaurants, including izakaya (Japanese-style pub) and restaurants specializing in items such as yakitori (skewered chicken), curry rice, motsunabe (a hotpot dish with mainly beef or pork), karaage (fried chicken), okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake), and yoshoku (Western-influenced cooking). Because of this collective effort by entrepreneurs, NYC has achieved a diversification of Japanese cuisine not seen in any other part of the US.