It’s been a good run for Kazu Mukai and his wife Kaoru helming the ship that is their Japanese restaurant Kaido in Grass Valley.
However, they have announced that their 22-year-old restaurant will close for service at the end of November. As to why they are closing, Mukai said it is part of his culture to care for elders, and his parents fit into that category.
“I’m 68 years old,” Mukai said. “My parents are living together, and they are in (a) care house at this moment, and I’m an older son of them, so it’s about time.”
He and Kaoru will make their way back to Mukai’s native Kyushu, the third largest of and southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. After The Union spoke with Mukai, the region was struck with a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake Tuesday morning.
When coming up with a name for his Grass Valley eatery, Mukai said the inspiration was two-fold.
“There’s two meanings here,” he explained. “One is ‘under the sea,’ the root of the water running through and…’kaido’ means road by the sea. That’s a kaido too.”
Mukai took over the spot after Kura-Kura Japanese restaurant decided to vacate, though Mukai went in with his own ideas, his own menus that would ultimately serve sushi, tempura, and other delights from his native land.
Mukai grew up in the restaurant business, so opening Kaido was sort of a no-brainer.
“My father had a small coffee shop, but a restaurant, more like,” he said. “And then he operated there in my town I came from, and he’s been there. I realized I already smell like more restaurant smell.”
Over the years, Kazu and Kaoru have enjoyed serving their diners, those loyal and those who might just be in town for a visit.
“Obviously when we created the food and give it to customer, it looks like a happy moment,” Mukai said, acknowledging that food is a bridge that can connect people and cultures. “They already know (what’s) good at Kaido, so they’re coming back. So that’s very good.”
Mukai said his life motto is “Ichigo Ichie,” which translated from Japanese means “once in a lifetime”; in other words, you never know what you are going to get and the exact moment one is experiencing will never happen again.
While Mukai will put his efforts into helping his folks, he will also take time after closing Kaido to pursue his hobbies, the main one being photography and videography. He has a number of curated collages from his travels which have inspired his passion; unsurprisingly, many of the images are of spots along local waterways. Now, his photos will just be captured in a different landscape.
Mukai is a spry 68-year-old, who said he has stuck mainly to the Japanese diet, though he’s not adverse to some more American fare.
“I like fast food sometimes—pizza (and) hamburger I do, but very minimized. I try to stick with veggie and organic stuff, and then rice, miso soup, those kind of stuff.”
There are, of course, things Mukai will miss about running his popular restaurant in addition to the familiar faces that have graced his tables over the years. He’s come a long way from being curious about looking into potential locations in the Sacramento area to staking his claim in little Grass Valley.
UCHI SAIKO (HOME SWEET HOME)
“This town, Grass Valley, is a very cozy and friendly town,” he said. “I will miss this town very much. When I came here to look for the restaurant and I finally hear oh, this is the place exactly. Then I was lucky. I came here, knocked the door. ‘Hi, you want to sell the business?’ She said, ‘I was looking for you.’”
Mukai said that in the grand scheme of things, he is grateful for the life and livelihood he and Kaoru have created in their adopted hometown. They still see the importance of a family gathering around a meal, or a place where unknowns can become friends over the simple act of eating.
“Food is very important factor that you know between the people,” he said. “Food can create people to grow close. I’m very proud of it myself. I could do it. I never done that kind of stuff until that something happened like this.”
Kaido Japanese Restaurant is at 207 West Main Street in Grass Valley. For more information please visit kaidosushi.com or call 530-274-0144.