Longtime local Japanese restaurant closes; Dispensary to take over property
In what has become a sign of the times, a venerable Las Vegas restaurant has closed, the property reportedly sold to a dispensary.
Osaka Japanese Cuisine, which had been at 7511 W. Lake Mead Blvd., closed Sunday after more than two decades. It had been owned by Joy Nakanishi Faas, whose brother, Gene, operates Osaka Japanese Bistro at 4205 W. Sahara Ave. and 10920 S. Eastern Ave. in Henderson. The businesses operated separately, and the bistros will remain open.
The siblings’ father, Sam — a native Las Vegan who despite his American citizenship was confined to a Japanese internment camp in California during World War II — opened the original Osaka on West Sahara Avenue in 1968. Said to be the city’s first Japanese restaurant, it was named for the hometown of his wife, Aiko. Sam Nakanishi died in 1998.
Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.