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Dear ZENKICHI guests and friends,



After providing 18 years of authentic Japanese dining experience in NY and Berlin, ZENKICHI reached its final day on Sunday, 17th of December.
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ZENKICHI strived to serve as a cultural institution through Japanese culinary arts. I am proud to have worked with our professional chefs and Sake sommeliers, top quality ingredients as well as boutique Sake breweries of Japan. We appreciated receiving compliments on our Ikebana-decorated private dining booths, and truly enjoyed interacting with our fun and inquisitive diners.
I share my reminiscence below, in hopes that we will cross paths again in the future.
When ZENKICHI NY opened in 2006, I was a Tokyo native in my twenties with crippling homesickness. Craving my Heimat in the Big Apple, I chose the name "ZENKICHI" after my great-grandfather's nickname, which meant a "compassionate one". My then 88-year-old grandmother was so pleased with it, she flew all the way from Japan in honor of her beloved fathers' memory. 
By the time our Berlin location opened in 2015, I was in my thirties with two daughters. Now teenager and preteen, they both grew up in ZENKICHI since they were a few weeks old babies. As toddlers, they loved stuffing their pockets with pebbles from the restaurant decorations, and happily pointed out every Jazz number they heard in town, exclaiming "it's the music at ZENKICHI!" 
With the rest of the world, ZENKICHI came to a standstill in 2020 with Covid-19. The NY team was dispersed immediately, and while the Berlin team persevered, our beautiful Johannisstrasse location was lost due to unrelated construction works.
The dedicated ZENKICHI team did above and beyond their best. Despite a huge downgrade in their working conditions, they have been creating true magic at our temporary pop-up on Auguststrasse 11. The team and I were all optimistic, proactively searching for the opportunity to start fresh in a new, permanent location.
A few years passed while we patiently negotiated with lawyers and architects for numerous potential locations. The team was heartbroken each time a prospect didn't materialize, and I was overcome with guilt for failing to deliver proper conditions they deserved. They have been giving way past their capacity for such a long while...
Looking back at the last two decades, I am filled with gratitude. I thank my ex-partner for the long period of time we were able to work together cooperatively. He pushed me to conceive two ZENKICHIs over different continents, and having two daughters truly enriched my life by opening so many different doors to entirely new worlds.
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I cannot express enough appreciation towards the amazing team of ZENKICHI I was privileged to work with. I cherish our wonderfully kind customers, some of whom I had the honor of getting to know in person. I'm thankful to the suppliers and service providers who closely worked with us even when they faced their own difficulties.
I am indebted to my compassionate friends and family members who turned up to support me, even in situations where I didn't even know how to ask for help.
Closing ZENKICHI proved to be one of the most grueling decisions I had to make. I spent many sleepless nights in struggle, and I pray that having the end to this chapter will allow all of us to turn over a fresh new leaf.  I am extremely grateful for every life lesson I was granted.

I hope to be able to write to you again in the near future to share the next plans and developments.  In the meanwhile, I wish all of you a lot of joy and positive spirits for the coming holiday season!

Sincerely,
Motoko Watanabe



Please inquire at 
Email: contact@zenkichi.de
Phone: +49 30 2463 0810