Olivia Wang

The interior of Sushi Kuni is decorated with traditional Japanese decorations throughout the restaurant, such as Japanese calligraphy framed on the walls, and fabric used to create traditional Japanese attire on display.

Four weeks ago, Oregon hit low temperatures in the teens and freezing rain covered the road. The conditions canceled a whole week of school for all students in the district. On Jan. 18, a state of emergency was declared due to a winter ice storm, which did not just cancel school, but caused conflicts with businesses in the community.

Sushi Kuni, one of the affected businesses from the ice storm, is an asian-owned restaurant that specializes in Japanese cuisine. Agatha Chan, owner, started the restaurant to bring the Japanese eating experience to West Linn.

“Our fish is high quality, and we import [the fish] by ourselves [from Japan]. We’re [an] authentic Japanese restaurant,” Chan said. 

Sushi Kuni opened in 2020 during COVID-19. Japanese community members came during the opening, including Portland’s Japanese Embassy.

“We didn’t think the pandemic would be so long. We thought it would be okay to open [during COVID-19],” Chan said. “During the first half year we were really struggling. No new customers, always the [same] old customers.”

An employee from Sushi Kuni drives up to Seattle every week to get fish shipped from Japan. During the ice storm, Chan drove up to Seattle to retrieve the week’s shipment of fish.

“We have a regular schedule for our [fish] shipment. We cannot stop it,” Chan said.

After receiving the fish shipment for the week, they were only able to serve the fish for one day before they had to close their restaurant. The rest of the fish shipment couldn’t be served at the restaurant and had to go to waste.

Although Chan lives in West Linn, her employees don’t, meaning the restaurant stayed closed for the rest of the weekend, as they couldn’t commute.

“[My] employees suffer because they cannot come back to work. So many people suffer,” Chan said. “Some of the servers are so young, I don’t want them to take any risks.”

Sushi Kuni is not the only business that faced the outcomes of the ice storm. Mapel Boutique, a clothing store located in Lake Oswego, also had to close from the cold temperatures that bursted their pipes.

If another ice storm were to hit West Linn again, Chan doesn’t think there would be a solution to trying to overcome the weather.

“Even if I can open [the restaurant] and buy every employee tire chains, what about the customers? They can’t come,” Chan said.

Sushi Kuni reopened on Jan. 19, once the temperatures went back up and the roads were cleared.