(Japanese) I was in New York for about 2 years, and the restaurant I worked at was truly an amazing sushi restaurant. It was…how should I put it, like a sushi school in those days. It was actually coincidence that I worked there. The place really polished up my sushi skills and by the time I was 27, I had been there for a year and a half, learning various techniques from my senpai (seniors at work). I was certainly lucky to have had the chance of meeting such people.

When thinking of opening my own restaurant, I knew it would be hard unless I had somewhat of a name for myself. And coincidently there was a sushi contest going on with two events; a sushi-making race and a sushi-crafting skill event. I jumped in and found myself in 1st place. The TV and newspaper publicity helped to have everyone remember me, and it’s helped me ever since. Even this location was coincidently bought from a friend who was retiring.

I love this location because I can go to the fish market every day. I go that day, buy something if its good, bring it back, and serve it to the customers, trying not to change the fresh taste of the fish. And I tell them that this is what really good sushi is. Recently, there have been more customers who exclaim, “Wow, this tastes like this? It’s really good.”