Kurosawa Restaurant Group?!

On the back of my ticket to the AK Centenary Exhibition is a small advertisement for the Kurosawa Restaurant Group. Following the link provided there can be found the website (http://9638.net/eng/index.html). Apparently, this is a group of four Kurosawa-themed restaurants in Tokyo! I’ve never heard anything about these, and after searching akirakurosawa.info I couldn’t find anything posted here either.

This is the blurb from the website:

“Kurosawa, world-renowned cinema director, was also an expert in the culinary arts. The restaurant group ‘Kurosawa’ transforms ‘Kurosawa’s Cinematic Conceptions’ into ‘Kurosawa’s Dining Atmosphere.’ You can experience Japanese cuisine in an old Japanese interior setting that transports you back to the World of Kurosawa. Our restaurants are unique and intricate, incorporating the joy of food and an extraordinary ambiance for the dinner. ‘Kurosawa’ runs four restaurants in Tokyo, and each one differs in terms of its ornate style.”

One restaurant specializes in shabu-shabu; another in “Kurosawa’s favorite Japanese black beef steak”; another in soba; and the last in udon. While the udon and soba restaurants are reasonably priced, the shabu-shabu and the steak places are a bit expensive.

Looking at pictures of the restaurants I’m unsure what the connection is to Kurosawa although one of them has a picture of Ran in it.

Does anyone know anything about these?

I keep seeing references to this restaurant group, and had often wondered what it had to do with Kurosawa, if anything (other than using his name and brand). I never found their website though (which is strange, considering that it seems to be the first search result for “kurosawa restaurant” on Google). Thanks for the link! I suppose they have somehow licensed the Kurosawa brand.

By the way, there is also a Mifune themed restaurant in Tokyo.