New Member Company: Restaurant Stockholm

William Ross | 2010-02-01

It’s been a long time coming, but Restaurant Stockholm, the famous and long-term center of Swedish cuisine in Tokyo, finally became an SCCJ Member in 2009. “Nakazato-san has been asking me about this for ten years,” Kozo Asaki says with a laugh. But, with a number of other businesses to manage along with the Stockholm, extra time was something he simply didn’t have. “I always worry that if you join too many things, you get stretched too thin.” But, he adds, he has been a long-time attendee of Embassy and other Swedish events—and someone who known nearly everyone in the Swedish community—so it just made sense to become a member.

Restaurant Stockholm got it start in Kobe in 1970, when Prince Bertil, attending the Osaka Expo, dined at Kitano Club, the Asaki family’s other restaurant. “The Crown Prince liked our food, and suggested that we open up a Swedish restaurant in Japan,” Mr. Asaki says. “The Sweden Center (in Roppongi) was about to be built then, so my grandmother and father started the original Restaurant Stockholm 38 years ago.”

That building was demolished with the start of the Roppongi Hills development, and the Stockholm moved to its current location right across from Akasaka Mitsuke Station. But even so, Mr. Asaki says his dream is to rebuild the Sweden Center building, with Restaurant Stockholm as one of the tenants. “I’m sure we could fill the building up right away, if a new Sweden Center were built,” he says. “Land prices are down now, and there are lots of vacancies, but there are a number of companies who would really want to be in a Sweden Center.”

One thing that would not be in such a building, he says, is a second Asaki-family-owned Swedish restaurant. “We started Old Town, a restaurant in Yotusya, a while back, but quickly closed it,” he says. “Swedish food just isn’t well enough know for there to be two big Swedish Restaurants in Tokyo. So now there is Lilla Dalarna, which is more of a café-style place, and us. We have a very good relationship, so that won’t change in the future.”

Mr. Asaki is also very proud about the food his restaurant serves. “It seems to me that Swedish food culture is expanding in Sweden, so much so that some of the traditional features are starting to disappear,” he says. “I feel that, here in Japan, we’re helping to preserve and showcase Swedish culture. Most of our 1,200 to 2,000 customers monthly are Japanese—we couldn’t survive on only Swedish business!—and they can learn about smorgasbord etiquette and about Swedish food here. People know French food, so if you try to tell them about how to enjoy French food they might get angry, But that’s not the case with Swedish food, so we are education as well here. And we have some pretty unique staff members who are ready to help!”

Mr. Asaki is indeed a busy man, with not only his family’s restaurants but also wedding-ceremony halls and duty-free shopping business to run along with his brothers. “So, it is hard for me to take part in events, but since becoming a member, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting SCCJ events at Restaurant Stockholm. So I am participating, even if it is as just another staff member!”

Because of the many different business activities he and his companies are involved in, Mr. Asaki would also be very happy to hear from anyone in the Swedish community who knows of Swedish companies wishing to enter the Japanese market. “If someone knows of some interesting opportunities, I’d be very happy to talk with them,” he says. “If a company needs a window into the market, we have a nationwide network in place that could be of help to them.”

Finally, he also reminds SCCJ members of a little special service they can receive at Restaurant Stockholm. Please take a look at our website,” he says. “If you look at the Swedish-only pages, you’ll understand why many Swedes have been coming here for many years to enjoy reasonably-priced, authentic Swedish food.”