[LINK] "Vintage Toronto Ads: Come Be Pampered"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist has a brief note on Toronto's first Japanese restaurant.

Toronto's first Japanese restaurant was House of Fuji-Matsu, which began a three-year run at 17 Elm Street (now home to the Fraternal Order of Eagles) in December 1955. The Star covered opening night and enjoyed "12 Japanese hostesses who will teach customers how to handle chopsticks, will cook a traditional sukiyaki Japanese shrimp or beef-base dish right on the foot-high tables and will act as 'baby-sitters' while parents enjoy the cuisine." Curious diners dropped by, but the hospitality and child-watching service was not enough to keep the restaurant afloat. Among the reasons owner Richard Tanaka later blamed for its demise were blocked attempts to secure a liquor license, possibly due to a YWCA located across the street. "One day I called my accountant," he noted in a 1972 interview, "and asked if we were still losing money. When the answer was yes, I said only two words: 'Close it.'"

The ad, hosted at the original post, has to be seen to be believed.