Our guest is Takumi Kuwabara who is the toji or brewmaster at SakéOne in Portland, Oregon.

SakéOne (https://www.sakeone.com/) is a unique sake brewery. It was founded in 1992 by Momokawa Brewing in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, which was founded in 1889. SakéOne started sake-brewing in 1997 and since then, its sake has won multiple awards at prestigious competitions like the U.S. National Sake Appraisal and the San Francisco International Wine Competition. And of course, a big part of its success has come from Takumi’s craftsmanship.

In this episode, we will discuss how Takumi studied sake in Japan and also in the U.S. after he arrived in the country in 2004, the unique terroir Oregon offers to make high-quality sake, challenges in making sake outside of Japan, how he sees the past and future of the American sake market and much, much more!!!

Our guest is Yoshinori Ishi who is the executive chef and producer of Auberge TOKITO https://www.aubergetokito.com/en/ in Tachikawa, Tokyo. Chef Ishii’s background is unique and spectacular. He worked at one of the top Kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto called Arashiyama Kiccho as a sous chef and moved abroad to cook at the United Nations Ambassador's Residence in Geneva and New York. Then he moved to London to open Umu, which earned two Michelin stars—the first two stars by a Japanese restaurant in Europe. After 10 years of success at Umu, he decided to open Auberge Tokito in the suburb of Tokyo.

In this episode, we will discuss how Chef Ishii’s philosophy of Japanese cuisine transitioned and expanded over the last 35 years of his career in Japan and abroad, why he decided to go back to Japan to start a new project, the innovative concept of Auberge TOKITO, which focuses on the Japanese cuisine that never existed before and much, much more!!!

The documentary film TOKITO: https://www.tokitofilm.com/en

Our guest is Isao Yamada who is the chef-owner of Yamada https://www.yamadanewyork.com/ in New York. He was classically trained in Kyoto as a Kaiseki chef and opened his own restaurant at the age of 25 in his hometown Fukuoka. He could have successfully built his career in Japan but he decided to move to the U.S. in 2006 to pursue new challenges.

Chef Yamada’s career in the U.S. evolved as he worked closely with the legendary chef David Bouley in New York. He earned a Michelin star as the executive chef at Chef Bouley’s Kaiseki restaurant Brushstroke. In April 2025, Chef Yamada opened his own beautiful restaurant Yamada in Manhattan.

In this episode, we will discuss Chef Yamada’s unique career, how he collaborated with the legendary Chef Bouley, his Kaiseki dishes at Yamada that seamlessly merge authenticity and creativity, his joy and challenges in cooking in America, how Japanese cuisine in America has changed in the last two decades and much, much more!!!

Follow Chef Yamada on Instagram @chef_yamada.isao, as well as his restaurant Yamada @yamadanyc!