21- A class only I could create
As the year went on, my vision started to sharpen.
Shooting food during the pandemic had been fun—and lifesaving.
But I could see the writing on the wall:
Anyone can buy a decent camera now.
I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting in a crowded field where the gear keeps getting cheaper and the prices keep getting lower.
So I made a new decision:
When the borders reopened, I would be ready to launch something only I could offer—
a sushi class for international guests.
With that vision in mind, every Saturday at Tokyo Sushi Academy felt like more than a lesson.
It felt like putting another brick into the foundation of my future business.
In that dojo of stainless steel and cutting boards, my inner motivation became clearer:
- I wanted to differentiate myself as a guide, walking the streets of Tokyo not just as “another English-speaking guide,” but as someone who truly understood sushi—super different from other walking guides.
- I wanted to share the joy of cooking with my guests, not just take them to restaurants.
- As a food photographer, I wanted to understand sushi from the inside, not just from behind the lens.
- And most of all, I wanted to create a place where people of different ages, careers, hobbies, and nationalities could gather around one shared thing—
sushi—
and feel the simple happiness of making and eating together.
Week after week, as I shaped rice and sliced fish, I realized:
I wasn’t just learning how to make sushi.
I was learning how to build the next chapter of my life—
one nigiri at a time.
