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Who is Shuji Bon Yagi? NYC's 'Mayor of Little Tokyo', 73, faces $95M suit over sexual assault allegations

Nozomi Horikoshi, the vice president of operations at TIC, was allegedly sexually abused by Yagi when she was unconscious
PUBLISHED JUL 13, 2022
Shuji Bon Yagi and his company TIC Restaurant Group are facing a $95 million lawsuit after allegedly sexually assaulting a top executive of his group when she was unconscious (Photo: Fred Katayama/Facebook)
Shuji Bon Yagi and his company TIC Restaurant Group are facing a $95 million lawsuit after allegedly sexually assaulting a top executive of his group when she was unconscious (Photo: Fred Katayama/Facebook)

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: New York's very own unofficial mayor of Little Tokyo, Shuji Bon Yagi, was accused of sexually assaulting an executive at his company in a new lawsuit of $95 million. A top executive at his company, TIC Restaurant Group, has accused Yagi of having sex with her when she was unconscious and unable to consent. The rest of the details were included in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit which was filed on Tuesday, July 12. 

New York Post reported that Nozomi Horikoshi, the vice president of operations at TIC, was allegedly sexually abused by Yagi when she was unconscious and unable to consent after going out drinking with other co-workers on December 10, 2021. Horikoshi told The Post, "I woke up at his apartment and I wasn’t wearing anything. I realized I was naked from the waist down … that was so embarrassing. I was like what happened? I have to go home. I knew that something happened already. There was a feeling of shame." Her lawsuit further says that Yagi invited himself to celebrate the birthday of another female colleague “knowing that his wife was in Japan throughout the weekend." 

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The birthday girl had soon left to meet up with others, while Yagi, Horikoshi, and another woman co-worker went to a bar, followed by a karaoke spot for more drinks, according to the suit. Soon, the other co-worker who herself was "quite drunk" left the party and went home. This left Yagi with Horikoshi alone, but the 51-year-old married mother claims that she met the birthday girl once again before Yagi took her to another bar. According to the suit, sometime after 2 am, she claims that Yagi got into a cab with her and this is when he started touching and grabbing her inappropriately. The file alleges that Horikoshi "tried to push Yagi off her and told him to stop, but due to her level of intoxication, plaintiff eventually lost consciousness inside the taxi." 

Shuji Bon Yagi allegedly raped a top executive of her T.I.C. group while she was passed out. (Photo: @T.I.C.)
Shuji Bon Yagi allegedly raped a top executive of her T.I.C. group while she was passed out. (Photo: @T.I.C.)

Who is Shuji Bon Yagi?

Shuji Bon Yagi, 73, owns multiple restaurants in Manhattan, with most of them set up in the area of East Village on Ninth and Tenth Streets which are unofficially called Japan town or 'Little Tokyo.' He has been called the 'mayor' of that area by several publications in the past. According to the website of TIC. Restaurant Group, Yagi "moved to New York in the 1970s, searching for the opportunity to bring Japanese cuisine beyond the conversation of 'sushi and instant noodles' to NYC." He has been credited with inducing the microcosm of Japan into New York City. The man started his career as a dishwasher and now owns some bubbling places like Rai Rai Ken, Curry-Ya and Otafuku, among others.

Shuji Bon Yagi as per T.I.C., 'In 1975 Yagi made money by selling handmade jewelry in the Ginza and Roppongi districts in Tokyo.' (Photo: T.I.C. Restaurant Group)
Shuji Bon Yagi as per T.I.C., 'In 1975 Yagi made money by selling handmade jewelry in the Ginza and Roppongi districts in Tokyo.' (Photo: T.I.C. Restaurant Group)

The lawsuit further claims that when Horikoshi woke up, she found her boss laying on top of her. She then left for home in Queens in a cab with the feeling that she had been penetrated and also had a bruise on the back of her head. Upon confronting Yagi the next day, the boss-man “abruptly ended their phone conversation." Horikoshi further said, "I have been working there for nine years and the more I talk to him, I start feeling lost,” Horikoshi said of the aftermath of the conversation. “I trusted him. I totally lost the trust. I felt deceived … I felt like he was looking down on me, like I was invisible.” 

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Louis Pechman, an attorney for Yagi, actively denied the allegations saying in a statement, "The undisputed facts are that Nozomi got black out drunk, fell on a sidewalk and smashed her head, and texted a friend the next day that she had no recollection of even being in Yagi’s apartment. Now she wants 300 million dollars, claiming that a man who had his prostrate removed has raped her. There was never any sexual assault. Full stop." On the other hand, Horikoshi's attorney Christoper Brennan said in his statement, "Mr Bon Yagi assumed that because he was Ms Horikoshi’s boss and a prominent local business person, he was permitted to betray Ms Horikoshi’s trust and violate her sexually, as described in the complaint filed today. Mr Yagi underestimated Ms Horikoshi’s strength of character and her willingness to take the steps necessary to hold Mr Bon Yagi accountable for his actions.”

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