The Skeena
In 2019, a beloved Campbell River sushi restaurant announced that it was closing after almost forty years in business. Koto Japanese restaurant was a local institution that brought the delicacy of raw fish to the West Coast before it was widespread.
BC filmmaker Joella Cabalu was invited by the Maeda family to document the final bittersweet days of the restaurant, as they said goodbye to their customers after decades of service. The resulting documentary, Koto: The Last Service, is available to stream on YouTube and CBC Docs and has over 182,000 views.
Back in Campbell River in the 1980s, “the idea of people eating raw fish was probably not going to happen,” says Kenji Maeda. His father, Takeo (or Tony), decided to get creative and invented the ‘Campbell River roll’ with sockeye salmon, Dungeness crab, avocado, and flying fish roe. The west coast-inspired sushi roll was a hit.
“In a time when small-town folks are often painted as small-minded toward immigrants, what I saw counters that stereotype and serves up an example of community cohesion and intercultural exchange.”
Joella Cabalu, director of Koto: The Last Service
In a CBC editorial published alongside the film’s release, Cabalu writes she felt compelled to make the film to highlight positive multicultural relationships in a tight-knit community, especially as she saw rising anti-Asian racism during the pandemic. “In a time when small-town folks are often painted as small-minded toward immigrants, what I saw counters that stereotype and serves up an example of community cohesion and intercultural exchange,” she penned.
After Takeo passed away, Kazue Maeda, the matriarch of the family, took over the restaurant with her sons Taigi and Kenji, keeping it open in the spirit of their beloved husband and father. But after 39 years of serving Japanese cuisine to Campbell River, they decided to close the establishment, providing a note of closure, Kenji says in the film.
“This project made me realize the importance of telling people how much they mean to you when you can.”
Joella Cabalu, director of Koto: The Last Service
For the family, the short documentary is a time capsule of their lives and a testament to how much they impacted their community for the better. Cinematographer Milena Salazar’s careful eye captures every meaningful detail of the interior, like the photos of the family with their regulars throughout the years on the walls. As the final day of service arrives, we see customers pack the booths, enjoying one last Campbell River roll and saying tearful goodbyes.
“This project made me realize the importance of telling people how much they mean to you when you can,” writes Cabalu. “Not only to our friends and family, but even business owners and local neighbourhood proprietors, the people in our community who are part of our daily lives and bring us a bit of joy every day.”
Towards the end of the film, one customer recalls asking Takeo (Tony) what his secret was to making excellent sushi. She recalls him closing his eyes and saying, “It’s love… that was his secret ingredient.”
