Reviving Japantown

Todd Kuniyuki left a thriving career making TV commercials in Japan to return to a two-block section of Seattle’s International District known as Nihonmachi, or Japantown. His mission: Revive a local izakaya that was closing its doors.

Today Kaname is a bustling cornerstone of the Japanese American community serving up all kinds of Japanese comfort food for its clientele.

A royal spread of sushi, sashimi and other delicacies at Kaname

Owner Todd Kuniyuki and his grandfather are proud that Kaname is a family place

Perhaps none is more comforting than the tonkotsu ramen that is this izakaya’s specialty. Kuniyuki brought an expert on the Kyushu-style ramen to Seattle for two months to perfect the soup using local ingredients. The result is an authentic and delicious bowl of ramen in soup that has turned white from the marrow of pig bones boiled for two days at a time.

If you’ve always thought of Japanese food as being pricey, then check out Kaname during the daily happy hour from 5 to 6:30, when appetizers and beer are just $3 each and shochu is $4. It’s one of Seattle’s best bargains. Or drop by around noon and try one of the lunch sets. If your waitress is a diminutive woman in her 90s, that would be the woman who ran the restaurant Kuniyuki revived. Instead of letting the restaurant close down when she was going to retire, he bought it, revived it, and now he welcomes her help at lunchtime. She may be joined by Kuniyuki’s 99-year-old grandfather, who helps out in the dining room but claims, “I just get in the way.” At Kaname, the sense of family and community is palpable.