Discovery

From 2005 to 2022, while I was running Joto Sake, I traveled throughout Japan, mainly to small, remote towns. I was so fortunate to experience a wide range of Japanese cuisine, varying by restaurant type, dishes, regions, ingredients, and techniques. One of these experiences  left an impression that was the seed of this business. 

One our sake makers had a friend down the street who was a craft shoyu maker. They produced a range of soy sauces, "usukuchi," which is light, "amakuchi," which is sweet, "koikuchi," dark and rich, ponzu, which has citrus, and dashi, which has fish broth. I had never visited a craft shoyu brewery. The ceilings of the fermentation room were covered in tar-like stalactites. Some of the brews had been aging for years, lethargically bubbling. I was amazed, and thought people should know about this. I wanted to dive in deeper. 

I led groups to our sake breweries every year. We stayed in onsen with gift shops of local food, sake, and beer. On the road, we made pit stops at local markets. Most of the produce had the names of the farmers. Sometimes there were pictures of them holding giant daikons or sweet potatoes. The shelves were stocked with local shoyu, dried fish, and tofu. We would then leave from airports that had gift shop of local sweets, savory items, sake, or shochu. We cruised through train stations that had vast food and gifting courts. 

Inquiry

Back in New York, I would shop for Japanese ingredients — rice, shoyu, vinegar, sweets, and snacks. I found it hard to find ingredients from craft producers. The packaging was mostly in Japanese with minimal information. I could read that a product was organic or from a certain region, but I still didn’t learn much from that. Most consumers wouldn’t even get that far  

My Japanese friends complained about the difficulty in finding authentic local products. My non-Japanese friends described shopping at Japanese markets, only to leave with cookies and candies, instead of cookingingredients. 

Exploration

In 2020, during COVID, I started participating in food shows that had moved online. I met with more than thirty suppliers of rice, tea, seaweed, shoyu, vinegar, and more. I also researched on my own.

I started thinking more about branding, strategy, portfolio, and sales. I started talking to my friend, Randy Hunt, who had been the Design Director at Etsy. Randy was living and working in Singapore. He was intrigued by the idea of making artisanal Japanese products accessible to export markets. He got it as a foreigner living in Asia, a traveler to Japan, and as a designer. 

We talked and explored. I wrote our business plan. I kept working as GM of Joto Sake. Then I took some consulting work. Randy came moved back to New York. We kept talking and I kept chipping away at my plan.

Development

In December, 2024, I decided to work on Shokuya full time. Fortunately, I have support around me and it was just time to do it.  

I had also been researching Japanese designers. In February, 2025, I found Jarin Moriguchi, who was based in Chicago. I loved his work and his style was in the direction I wanted to go. We became quick collaborators and colleagues. A native of Hawaii and fourth-generation Japanese-American, Jarin has brought his own passion and vision to Shokuya. 

I had reconnected with Eric Medsker, a food and beverage photographer, I had met years ago. In addition to doing beautiful work for restaurants, brands, and chefs, Eric has a passion for Japanese food. In May, 2025, I took Eric to Japan to shoot suppliers, regions, and the tea harvest.

I recently brought on Satomi Arai, who had worked for me at Joto Sake some seventeen years ago. Satomi is now researching and coordinating with our suppliers. 

We are grateful to our suppliers, investors, friends, and vendors. We hope to deliver value to you, our customers, by carefully selecting, adjusting every brand and product to bridge the gap between our suppliers and our buyers.

Thank you for coming on this journey with us!