Chizuko Fukuyoshi, ‘the heart and soul’ of groundbreaking Japanese restaurant Sagami, has died at 79

The future of the landmark Sagami Japanese restaurant in Collingswood is uncertain after the death of Chizuko Fukuyoshi, 79, who had operated the restaurant with her husband, Shigeru, since 1974.

Mrs. Fukuyoshi died Monday of complications related to pneumonia, the couple’s daughter, Mimi, said.

“She was literally the heart and soul of the restaurant,” Mimi Fukuyoshi said late Tuesday, after she and her father met with staff to gauge Sagami’s long-term future. Some of the older workers at the meeting expressed a desire to retire, while younger employees floated the idea of a plan to buy the restaurant. Shigeru Fukuyoshi is not sure what he wants to do, Mimi said. Either way, she said, Sagami will not reopen any time soon.

A widely shared post on the Facebook account of the son of a sushi chef on Tuesday announced that the restaurant was permanently closed, but Mimi Fukuyoshi said that was not the case. She said she planned to meet with the restaurant’s accountant on Thursday “to be able to make informed decisions.” Sagami’s website says it’s “closed for the foreseeable future.” (The post has since been deleted.)

The restaurant had been closed since June 23 for its annual vacation and was scheduled to reopen this Friday.

Though not in top shape, Mrs. Fukuyoshi had wanted to be there, her daughter said, citing her tireless work ethic. Mrs. Fukuyoshi — who otherwise had seemed strong and healthy, said her daughter — had taken ill Memorial Day weekend and was hospitalized. She appeared to be recovering and was transferred to a rehab center last week.

Born in Tokyo, Mrs. Fukuyoshi immigrated to the United States in 1969 and waited tables at a Japanese restaurant near United Nations headquarters in New York, where Shigeru Fukuyoshi was apprenticing as a sushi chef. Their daughter, an only child, was born in 1972. Two years later, the family moved to Collingswood, near one of Mrs. Fukuyoshi’s relatives, to open Sagami, and later moved their home to Haddonfield.

The Fukuyoshis bought the building on Route 130 because it had an apartment upstairs. “The stories that I’ve been told is that they got a really good price because Collingswood is a dry town,” Mimi said. “The person that was selling them the restaurant said restaurants can’t survive here because you’re never going to be able to serve liquor. And my parents said, ‘We’re going to make it work anyway.’”

What followed was a steady stream of customers to their modest, low-ceilinged dining room, a block from the Ferry Avenue stop of the PATCO Speedline. Japanese cuisine, especially sukiyaki and sushi, was not commonplace in the Philadelphia area in the 1970s, and Sagami maintained a stellar reputation as its popularity grew.

Sagami was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2017 and 2019. Shigeru Fukuyoshi was a semifinalist for Outstanding Chef in 2023. Mimi said he could not be considered for the finals because the Fukuyoshis had not replied to an email asking to sign the Beard Foundation’s code of ethics and conduct. By the time she saw the email — her parents were not proficient with email, she said — the deadline had passed and officials denied her request for an extension. “I was disappointed that he didn’t win because I feel like they’re getting old and that would have been a good way for them to kind of retire on,” she said.

When Mimi expressed her frustration to Mrs. Fukuyoshi, “My mom was like, ‘We don’t do it for the awards. I don’t care about any of that. We do it for the customers.’”

Family and friends will gather at 11 a.m. Friday at Kain-Murphy Funeral Services, 15 West End Ave., Haddonfield. Word of Remembrance will begin at noon. Burial will be private. The family requests donations to the ASPCA.