Yukio Kijima was born on February 12, 1953 in Saitama prefecture, Japan. He has attended schools in Japan through high school. After high school, he started working at high-end Japanese restaurant as chef trainee and that where he learned how to make authentic Japanese cuisines. In 1973 when he was 20 years old, he was scouted by the owner of Japanese Kitchen and he came to United states. Denver was his first location, and he has worked in Florida, Chicago and Washington D.C. He met his wife, In Hee Kim, in D.C. It took them 10 days to moved to Fresno in 1987 in a car and a U-Haul van. They were married at Fresno Buddhist Temple in 1990. He worked at Clovis Japanese Kitchen and Yoshino Japanese Restaurant before he opened Kijima Japanese Restaurant in October 1996. He has operated his restaurant until April 2023 when he retired. That is 26 and half years in business. He was 70 years when he retired. Six months after he has retired in September 2023, he was diagnosed as having stage 4 cancer. Despite aggressive chemo, radiation and transfusion treatments, his battle with the cancer ended on October 17, 2024.
He is survived by his wife; In Hee Kim Kijima; his sisters; Junko Kijima, Hiroko Hirahara and Sachie Sakamaki.
Memorial Service for Yukio will be held Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 11:00 am at Fresno Buddhist Church Temple Hondo, 2690 E. Alluvial Ave, Fresno, CA 93720.
