Makino, Kaku, 1943-

Kaku Makino, the King of Japanese Buffet, was born in 1943 and raised in Tokyo, Japan, in a traditional, wealthy family. After surviving mumps at age four, he suffered a severe hearing loss. His father encouraged Kaku to play baseball, and he excelled. But his father died when Kaku was twenty years old, and, the oldest of four sons, he had to support the family, and he became a chef--an occupation he followed for twenty years in Tokyo before following his younger brothers to the U.S. in 1989. He opened his flagship Todai restaurant in Santa Monica in about 1992, eventually opening a total of eighteen Todai locations in California, Florida, and Hawaii (many have since rebranded as Makino). In 2000, Kaku came to Las Vegas and opened Makino, his nineteenth restaurant and the only one he continues to personally operate.