Agree. It's rare to find a Japanese place owned and operated by actual Japanese people. Before I moved away from Providence, I used to go almost exclusively to practice casual conversation and even ran into one of Brown's Japanese professors on a few occasions.

That being said, it's usually only Mr. Shimizu at sushi counter so there is almost always a wait.

I've never seen a man work so hard. The guy works like 10 hours a day for decades and has the knee surgeries to prove it. My only fear is that Ranzan won't be open for many more years unless their children decide to move back from Japan to take it over.

I encourage everyone to enjoy their sushi while they can. And also their salad dressing. And give them a pass on their mediocre to slightly above average kitchen foods and glacial service times. Remember that their strength is traditional flavor.