Yamato Sukiyaki Menu

Early in his career, Kaz landed a job with Tom Kamifuji, a nationally know illustrator and designer and one of his idols in art school. One of his first challenging assignments was to illustrate part of the Yamato Sukiyaki Restaurant menu. Yamato Sukiyaki was undoubtably one of the best known restaurants in San Francisco. From its founding in 1946 through the 1950s the menu featured traditional imagery, Tom updated the look with bold graphics and colors that was modern and still reflected the Japanese tradition. Kaz contributed to the design and painstakingly hand cut each shape and line for the illustration. 

 

Working on an array of illustrations and design for two years at at Tom’s studio was equivalent to 3-4 years elsewhere, This experience left a positive lasting impression for the rest of  Kaz's career.