How I got here
I was born in Nobeoka, a small city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. My parents were living in San Francisco at the time, but in keeping with tradition, my mother returned home to have me. A few months later, we flew back to the United States.
Childhood vacations brought me back to Miyazaki to visit family. It was there that I discovered my love of food. My grandfather took me fishing before dawn. My great-grandmother sent me into her field to harvest daikon. Dinner was built around whatever the season handed us.
Back in San Francisco, and later Napa Valley, I cooked alongside my mother from the age of four or five. In high school, I picked up web design, building sites for a local internet provider and several wineries just as the commercial web was taking shape. That led to a twelve-year career in technology marketing, including more than four years at Netflix back when it still mailed DVDs.
I started No Recipes in 2007 as a place to send dinner guests when they asked how I’d made something. In 2009, I left tech to work with food full time, first as a private chef and then as a recipe developer and food photographer. That work eventually took me around the world, from Saudi Arabia and Bhutan to Australia.
In 2011, I appeared on Food Network’s Chopped and moved to Japan. Returning to my roots gave me the chance to immerse myself in a food culture I wanted to be part of every day. After a few years in Sapporo, I settled in Tokyo in 2015.
The following year, I began co-hosting Bento Expo on NHK World, sharing Japanese bento culture with viewers in more than 160 countries until the show wrapped in March 2025. During that run, I co-authored Ultimate Bento with Maki Ogawa, which received the 2020 Gourmand Food Culture Award. I also co-founded Global Food Pro, a consultancy that helps Japanese food companies expand overseas and international brands find their footing in Japan.
These days, I wear a number of hats, including host, photographer, recipe developer, and consultant. Whatever I’m working on, I still find myself returning to the kitchen. It’s where most of my best ideas begin.
