American Hiro: The Adventures of Benihana's Rocky Aoki and How He Built a Legacy

Written by Jack McCallum and Steve Aoki

Narrated by Steve Aoki and David Lee Huynh

"Traveling the world with my father, watching him interact with people, famous and ordinary, observing up close his balls-out sense of adventure, and having a larger-than-life personality to live up to had a profound effect on me and the formation of my character." -From the foreword by Steve Aoki, Grammy-nominated producer and Billboard award-winning DJ

Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki was a man who succeeded in everything he pursued. From wrestling, ballooning, underwater exploration, and car and boat racing to founding Benihana, Rocky's passion for life infected all around him and accelerated the exchange of Japanese culture and cuisine with America. Rocky's rags to riches story, from dishwasher and busboy to owner of a multi-million-dollar restaurant empire, is an American dream realized unlike any other. Running and expanding the business would be all-consuming for most people, but Rocky would not be deterred. His determination for the business rivaled the drive he demonstrated in his other interests, some of which almost killed him. American Hiro by Jack McCallum, who had full access to Rocky Aoki and those in his enterprises, provides the only full inside account of one of the most famous symbols of cultural assimilation and capitalistic zeal in modern United States history-a champion in business, sports, and life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Aug 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798765008829

Jack McCallum

Jack Mccallum began at Sports Illustrated since 1981 and became the chief NBA writer in 1985. His work has appeared in the Best American Sports Writing Anthology, and in 2004 he won the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award for outstanding writing. He is the author of Unfinished Business: On and Off the Court with the 1990–91 Boston Celtics and coauthor of Foul Lines: A Pro Basketball Novel. He lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.