Many Japanese corporations have names that, to Westerners, sound like mere foreign

assemblages of syllables but actually have translatable meanings.

Nintendo becomes, leave luck to heaven.

Mitsubishi means, three diamonds.

And way back in 1899, an Osaka named Aikichi Matsuda opened a restaurant in a Tokyo

fish market whose name loosely translates to, House of Good Fortune.

Mitsuda designed its logo, a white-shaped bullhorn ringed with grains, evoking the chain's

signature dish, a beef and rice bowl.

Post-World War II, the budget-friendly chain became a sensation in the land of the

rising sun, with some locations open for 24 hours and hitting a million dollars in

sales in the 1960s.

In 1975, the first North American branch opened in Colorado, and as the chain grew in the

US, its Japanese locations became reliant on the importation of cheap and fatty American

beef.

Over 1400 worldwide locations, mostly centered in Asia, the chain is thriving internationally,

but flagging in North America, having gone from locations across the West and New York

City to now just existing in two states, Nevada and California.

Perhaps hoping to reverse its domestic struggles and walk back its reputation for cheap and

grimey cuisine, it recently began retrofitting some stores as an upscales, chipotle inspired

Japanese kitchen concept.

So is this House of Good Fortune, a House of Good Food?

This week on Do Boys.

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