When I heard there was a kushikatsu (deep-fried, skewered meat and vegetables) restaurant in Higashishinsaibashi that doubles as a shrine to the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown, I promptly got on the train and made my way to the 10-seat basement restaurant on Hachiman-suji street to see for myself.
Rhythm and Kushikatsu Agatta! is owned by singer Haruko Sakuragawa, who opened the restaurant in 2015 after working at a tonkatsu (deep-fried pork) eatery for six years.
"James Brown has a lot of songs that contain the phrase 'I got,' such as 'I got soul' and 'I got rhythm.' When he sings, 'I gotta,' it sounds like the word 'agatta,' which means fried in Japanese," says Sakuragawa, explaining the origin of the restaurant's name.