Post #698877 by Michelle66 on Sat, Nov 9, 2013 1:16 AM

Well, I'm sad to report that TV Tokyo's long-time general manager, Larry Murakami, has left the company...

Larry's final day was 10/31/13 and his departure is sure to leave a void.

The reason Larry had to step down is because he reached the New Otani Hotel's mandatory retirement age of 60... (If any of you have ever met Larry, he looks and acts much younger than that.)

I'm not privy to any more details, but apparently if he had continued, it would have set a precedent with the hotel which they obviously didn't want to deal with.

There are bound to be changes to the restaurant now that Larry's gone. He championed things like classic Trader Vic's recipes, as well as special seasonal events (like the amazing Cinco de Mayo brunches in May and June), so the new manager will need to be on his toes if he wants to balance the classic and the modern as well as Larry did it for more than 20 years.

Most of the decorations that the restaurant was decked out in for the holidays were Larry's own, so with him gone, things are sure to be less colorful and festive from a visual standpoint.

The New Otani Hotel also used Larry's departure to make changes to the staff, and some of the long-time waiters and waitresses have been reassigned to other areas of the hotel.

I'm very leery of how things will play out at TVT now that Larry is gone.

Most American restaurants that open branches in Japan will sooner or later adapt their menus to Japanese tastes - often becoming nothing like their US counterparts, apart from the name.

I've seen this play out countless times before, and I just hope that TVT bucks the trend and continues to offer the same food I occasionally crave and can only get there.

[ Edited by: Michelle66 2013-11-09 01:17 ]

[ Edited by: Michelle66 2013-11-09 01:17 ]