The popular sushi joint has been closed since the Woodlands Inn and Resort in Wilkes-Barre went belly up last year…
For a lot of people in Luzerne County, Shogun Japanese Restaurant, located inside the Woodlands Inn and Resort in Wilkes-Barre, wasn’t just a place to grab a spicy tuna roll or sit through the familiar, slightly ridiculous joy of a hibachi onion volcano.
It was occasion dining.
Birthdays. Prom nights. First dates. Family dinners where somebody cautiously ordered chicken teriyaki while somebody else got brave enough to try sushi for the first time. Inside The Woodlands, Shogun occupied a particular kind of suburban sweet spot: part dinner theater, part sushi bar, part dependable local institution. For nearly two decades, it became woven into the dining habits of Greater Wilkes-Barre.
The once-bustling resort came apart in November 2025 under the weight of unpaid bills, power shutoffs, and code violations serious enough for officials to declare the property unsafe. Like every business tethered to that sinking ship, Shogun went dark. And as of this writing, the Woodlands remains shuttered.
For many restaurants, that would have been the end.
Fortunately, this isn’t how this story ends for Shogun.
This week, management confirmed that the longtime Japanese restaurant plans to reopen inside the Friedman JCC in Kingston, with renovations and design now underway. No opening date has been set, but after months of uncertainty, the message was clear: one of the Wyoming Valley’s most recognizable sushi brands isn’t finished yet.
That’s significant because Shogun was never just another interchangeable sushi spot.
Founded in 2009 by owner and sushi chef Lin, the restaurant helped define a generation of mainstream Japanese dining in NEPA. This was the era when sushi stopped feeling exotic and started becoming part of local regular rotation. Shogun’s menu met people where they were: hibachi for the skeptics, specialty rolls for the curious, sashimi for the committed, plus bento boxes, tempura, teriyaki, and enough familiar favorites to make it both a celebration spot and an easy weeknight fallback.
Purists can sneer all they want about broad-market sushi, but places like Shogun are often where food culture actually takes root. Not in rarefied tasting rooms. In loud dining rooms, around shared tables, where kids learn to use chopsticks badly, and adults discover that sushi can mean a hell of a lot more than raw fish.
Shogun filled that role for Wilkes-Barre.
Its relocation to Kingston isn’t just a move, it’s a comeback. Gone is the Woodlands setting; the stream views, the resort energy, the strange magic of dining inside a local landmark that ultimately couldn’t save itself. In its place comes a new setting, one that will require Shogun to preserve its identity without leaning on old geography.
That may be the real test.
Can it still feel like Shogun without The Woodlands?
If the food remains sharp, the hibachi grills stay hot, and the restaurant remembers why people cared in the first place, the answer is probably yes.
For now, loyal customers still have Myst Mountain Top, Shogun’s sister location, to hold them over. But the real anticipation is for Kingston, where one of the region’s best-known restaurant names is preparing to prove that closure doesn’t always mean extinction.
Sometimes, if the customer base is loyal enough and the knives are still sharp, you get another round.
