In 1977, Masayuki “Nick” Niikura who had owned a restaurant in Tokyo before coming into the United States, opened sushi restaurant called “Niikura” which was the one of the first sushi restaurant in San Fernando Valley.  After 9 years later of its opening, Niikura opened “Kushiyu” as his 2nd restaurant in the Valley introducing kushiyaki which is Japanese style charbroiled items on skewers. Within a couple of month of opening “Kushiyu”, he quickly realized that serving only kushiyaki  would not be enough to sustain his new  venture.  So he combined his small sushi restaurant “Niikura” and brand  new kushiyaki restaurant “Kushiyu” into  one.  That was the grand debut of “Kushiyu” in 1988. Since that time, “Kushiyu” has developed an amazingly devoted clientele that consistently fills the seats at both sushi bar and tables.  As a result of his success and excessive demand, “Kushiyu” went through  major expansion and refurbishing, double the size in 2002 and firmly established as one of the premier Japanese restaurant in the Valley. Now, more than 80% of its customers are  regulars and repeaters, and keep continuing to be crowded.