Yuji Okumoto, the dude who played Daniel LaRusso’s
young Japanese rival in The Karate Kid Part II is, in
my eyes, a cinematic legend. Yes, the great Chozen, he who when
confronted by death at the hands of Ralph Macchio’s LaRusso
chose death (“Live or die, man?” “Die!”)!
Wow, this guy was a mean sunuvabitch, kidnapping LaRusso’s
love interest and holding her hostage on a tiny island as bait
to lure Daniel into his deathly game of karate-no-surrender. What
a heel! And who could forget Chozen’s blistering retort
to Daniel when LaRusso cowered from his rival, “I’m
not looking for trouble,” with “Maybe trouble looking
for you!” Pure genius! And now adding to his legendary status
as Chozen is my newly discovered tidbit that Yuji owns Kona
Kitchen in Seattle. Wow, what a find!
Sure, The Karate Kid Part II has
and always will be the weakest of the three Karate Kid
films (I’m not including Hillary Swank’s The Next
Karate Kid in the series), but Okumoto’s Chozen was
always the high point; well, him and those tiny hand held drums.
Yuji had a lot to live up to after Billy Zabka’s Johnny
set the measuring stick in The Karate Kid, but he excelled
with flying colors. If his restaurant is anything like his bad
ass Chozen then I can’t wait to try his marinated short
ribs. Yum, yum!
Located at 8501 Fifth Avenue NE in the Maple
Leaf section of Seattle, the restaurant/lounge/karaoke bar is
a bit away from the action but close enough to Interstate-5 to
make it a short trip for any Seattleite. Rumours persist, at least
on the Kona website, www.konakitchen.com,
and other review sites, that Yuji and his wife frequent the establishment.
Excellent news, indeed, and definitely all the motivation I need
to get there sooner rather than later. So cheers, Yuji, I look
forward to hitting your Kona Kitchen soon!
Additional Note: The Kona Kitchen
website appears to have last been updated in 2006. Hilariously,
there is still mention that if you bring a ticket stub from Yuji’s
last major film, Big Momma’s House 2, you will
receive 10% off your meal (alcohol not included). So send in those
Big Momma’s House 2 ticket stubs to yours truly
and I’ll see if I can still get the discount!
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