Hiroaki did indeed live an incredibly rocky life.
October 9, 1938: Hiroaki “Rocky” Aoki, founder of Benihana, wrestler, businessman, and Japanese playboy, was born in Tokyo, Japan.
His life was anything but smooth. And by accident or fate, when he moved to the U.S. in the early 60s, he changed his name to “Rocky” because Americans couldn’t pronounce Hiroaki. He then ended up living up to this name, way before Stallone.
Rocky was just six years old when bombs flattened Tokyo during World War II. The city was left in ruins. More than 100,000 people died. That trauma fueled Rocky’s lifelong ambition and work ethics.
Even as a kid, Rocky was a handful. He got in trouble selling risqué magazine clippings to classmates and pushing kids down stairs in grade school. But he also excelled in sports like karate and track and field. He became the captain of the wrestling team at the prestigious Keiō University. However, he was expelled from school for fighting during his first year. With a wrestling scholarship, he decided to attend college in New York. There, he won the U.S. flyweight wrestling title three years in a row. But he also broke a student’s leg, another’s nose, and was expelled from college yet again.
From an Ice Cream Truck to Benihana
To support himself in the U.S., Rocky worked a series of odd jobs, including dishwasher and busboy. But his big break came selling Japanese-style ice cream from a truck in Harlem. He hustled hard, saved $10,000, and convinced his father to co-invest in a small four-table teppanyaki restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. The name “Benihana,” meaning safflower, came from a lone red flower Rocky’s father once saw blooming in the bombed-out rubble of Tokyo.
The first few months were a disaster. Rocky slept on the restaurant bathroom floor. Fortunately, legendary food critic Clementine Paddleford discovered them. She was amazed by the chefs cooking theatrically in front of customers, something unheard of at the time. Her review changed everything.
Benihana became a sensation. Rocky became a celebrity.
Speedboats, Nightclubs, and Scandals
But success didn’t tame him. In 1970, Rocky opened a six-story nightclub called Genesis in New York. It became a playground of drugs, women, and gambling. He lost $2 million on the venture. In 1973, he launched Genesis magazine, a softcore men’s publication.
He raced cars and boats, survived a near-fatal powerboat crash in 1979, and helped fund the first successful trans-Pacific balloon crossing. He even once tried to buy the San Francisco Giants.
Rocky was married three times and had at least seven children, including EDM star Steve Aoki and model Devon Aoki. At one point, he boasted he had “three kids from three different women at exactly the same time.”
In 1998, Rocky was charged with insider trading and fined $500,000. He was placed in deportation proceedings but was ultimately allowed to stay. He later became a U.S. citizen.
A Lasting Legacy
Rocky Aoki died in 2008 at the age of 69 from complications related to diabetes, hepatitis C, and cirrhosis of the liver. But he left behind a cultural empire.
He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995. His Benihana restaurants popularized Japanese teppanyaki cooking around the world. And his rollercoaster life became the stuff of legend.
His name “Rocky” might’ve been chosen by accident, but it turned out to be perfect. Some say he lived recklessly. Others say he lived fully. Either way, it was never boring. And he stood out like a red flower, a benihana, in the middle of a giant rubble.