BIO
Glen Yoshiaki Gondo was born in Los Angeles, California in 1948. Soon after, he and his family moved to Watsonville, California to open labor camps as part of the Bracero Program. After spending most of his childhood in Watsonville, Glen and his family moved to Dallas, Texas to open a Japanese restaurant in 1962. To finish high school and graduate, he moved back to Watsonville and then went to Denton, Texas to study Economics at North Texas State University in 1967. After a year, however, Glen moved back to Los Angeles to be with his girlfriend and attended junior colleges there. In 1972, he moved to Miami, Florida because his family opened another restaurant there. After working for a year, Glen and his wife Kathleen got married in 1973 before moving back to California where he worked in the frozen food business. After two years, he moved to New York City to join his family in the jewelry business until 1984 when he moved to Houston, Texas to be General Manager of one of his family's restaurants, Tokyo Gardens. Glen's son Robert was born in 1985, and in 1987 Glen started a sushi catering business, live sushi bars, and sushi bars in Fiesta supermarkets. He also began consulting for Japanese companies like Toshiba, started an international trade business, and opened retail stores at Bush Intercontinental Airport. In 1998, Glen sold Tokyo Gardens and began catering for Continental Airlines and at universities, culminating in the opening of sushi bars in HEB supermarkets in 2002. He is active in the Asian American political sphere, nonprofit organizations, and many other areas of the Houston community.