In the heart of San José’s Japantown stands JT Express, a family owned and operated restaurant on Jackson Street. Best known for its musubis, mochi and sushi rolls, the restaurant is set to close by the end of October as the owners prepare for retirement.
Co-owner of JT Express and San José State alumnus Steve Sakai wakes up before sunrise each day to purchase produce for the shop from local markets.
In 2002, prior to the restaurant’s opening, Sakai and his wife Lydia Uchida-Sakai took over Tengu Sushi, a restaurant west of campus that shut down and is now home to Spoonfish Poke.
“A couple of our friends owned the place and wanted to get out of the business, and we said, ‘Okay,’ ” Sakai said.
Sakai said the Tengu Sushi menu was kept short to give students a cheaper alternative to downtown eats because they understood that many college students were struggling financially.
In 2017, Sakai and his wife closed Tengu Sushi and opened JT Express in Japantown, expanding their menu and adding sweets like ice cream and mochi.
“This is my first time here,” said payroll manager Thomas Nguyen. “I follow San José Foos, and they posted on their social media that they were closing so I wanted to check it out.”
At the end of September, Sakai partnered with San José Foos, a social media account dedicated to local news coverage, to announce his and his wife’s retirement on an Instagram post.
“We are going to retire,” Sakai said. “I had a grandchild several months ago and I have to take care of (my) family.”
He said one of the reasons for their retirement after 21 years in the food industry was to care for his father-in-law, former SJSU head judo coach Yoshihiro Uchida, who celebrated his 103rd birthday in spring.
Business administration senior Nina Seoane is on the judo team and has been an employee at JT Express for the majority of her time at SJSU.
“After my freshman year, I moved out into an apartment and I needed a job so I told one of my coaches I was looking for work,” Seoane said. “He called Lydia for me and I came in the next day and had a job.”
Seoane said she is lucky to work at JT Express because management has been flexible with both her judo tournaments and school schedule.
“I’m really sad ... I’m close to all my coworkers and I love the owners so much,” Seoane said. “They’ve been working hard their whole lives and they deserve to retire.”
Freelance interior designer Cindy Marten has been a regular customer of JT Express since she moved to San José several years ago.
“Their spam musubi is the best spam musubi I’ve ever had and I’ve been to Hawaii,” Marten said.
Marten said the routine of purchasing a spam musubi from JT Express and walking a couple blocks to a nearby cafe for coffee is something she’ll miss.
“I want to say thank you for supporting us through our 21 years of service,” Sakai said. “It surprised me that so many people keep saying they are going to miss the musubi.”
