The Person Behind Wa + Sabi
Hello, I’m Kaori.
I’m the founder of Wa + Sabi, where I share Japanese home cooking, food wisdom, and the traditions and seasonal ways of living that have shaped Japan for generations.
Born and raised in Tokyo, I spent my entire school years in an international school, from kindergarten through Grade 12. Surrounded by classmates from many different countries and cultures from an early age, I grew up seeing Japan both from within and, in a sense, from the outside.
Perhaps that is why, as I grew older, I became increasingly curious about the Japan I had grown up taking for granted.
A winding path back to Japan
After graduating from Sophia University (Japan), I worked at an advertising agency as an account executive and TV commercial producer. It was a very different world from what I do today, but it taught me a great deal about communication, creativity, and telling stories.
After leaving the agency, I became fascinated with making things by hand. I explored pottery, carpentry, weaving, felt-making, and all kinds of crafts.
Then, through my years of making things by hand, I began spending time around wood-fired kilns, where we took turns tending the fire around the clock over several days. Everyone brought homemade food to share during those long hours, and I became captivated—not only by how delicious the food was, but by the care, creativity, and sense of connection behind it.
Over time, these experiences sparked my own fascination with making food by hand. I began experimenting more seriously with cooking, homemade preserves, and seasonings, discovering that the kitchen could be another kind of workshop—a place where ingredients, time, skill, and creativity come together.
Looking back, this was when cooking began to become much more than something I simply enjoyed eating. It became one of the ways I wanted to create, learn, and connect with the world around me.
Around the same time, my parents moved from Tokyo to Kobuchizawa (Yamanashi Prefecture), where my mother immersed herself in making homemade food and preserves in the woods. Watching her work with seasonal ingredients and learning to preserve and prepare food from scratch quietly influenced me as well. (Read more about our 100+ year old Japanese houses my parents rebuilt in Kobuchizawa > https://wasabiplus.com/the-story-behind-wa-sabi/ )
Finding my way to Kyoto
I had always wanted to go to art school. At the time, however, the Japanese university system did not allow graduates of international schools like mine to apply to Japanese art universities in the way I had hoped.
After much thought, I found another path.
At the age of 32, I enrolled at Kyoto University of Art and Design (now Kyoto University of the Arts), studying Japanese Historical Heritage as a correspondent student, which brought me to Kyoto and other parts of Japan for my classes.
I wanted to study the “real” Japan—not only its history, but its art, traditional culture, performing arts, craftsmanship, and the preservation of what had been passed down through generations.
And I wanted to study these things in Kyoto, where so much of that living heritage still surrounds you, learning from people who had devoted their lives to understanding and preserving it.
Studying in Japanese was a challenge, having never received my formal education in Japanese, but it became one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.
The more I learned, the more I came to appreciate that Japanese culture is not simply a collection of beautiful old things. It is a way of seeing and doing—a sensitivity to nature and the seasons, an appreciation of materials and craftsmanship, and a quiet wisdom woven into everyday life.
I began to feel that these were things worth sharing with people who could see their beauty and significance.
From what I love to what I share
Looking back, my path may seem rather unexpected:
International schools → Advertising → Making things by hand → Cooking → Kyoto → Japanese heritage.
But to me, these pieces have always been connected.
They all come back to the same curiosity: how people create, live, and find meaning in the things they make and share.
That eventually became the foundation of Wa + Sabi.
I began offering cooking and cultural workshops to people from outside Japan, sharing Japanese food not simply as recipes, but as a way of experiencing something about Japan itself.
Because behind a dish there is often much more than a recipe.
There is a season. There are ingredients that have been used for generations. There are techniques developed to preserve food and make the most of what nature provides. There are customs, celebrations, and ways of gathering around a table.
Food as part of life
Becoming a mother deepened my relationship with food in another way.
I wanted my children to grow up not simply knowing what they should or shouldn’t eat, but learning how to choose, make, appreciate, and enjoy food for themselves.
In our home, cooking and making food from scratch became part of everyday life. I wanted them to understand that food is not simply something that appears on a plate. There is pleasure in making it, curiosity in knowing where it comes from, and value in sharing it with others.
For me, cooking has never really been a chore.
It is a creative part of everyday life. A chance to work with my hands. A way to connect with the seasons. And one of the simplest ways to bring people together.
Today
Today, I continue to explore Japanese food, traditions, and the seasonal rhythm of life—not because I believe the past should simply be preserved exactly as it was, but because I believe there is still so much wisdom in it for the way we live today.
Through Wa + Sabi, I share what I have learned, what I grew up with, and what I continue to discover.
Sometimes that means cooking a traditional Japanese dish. Sometimes it means learning about an ingredient, a seasonal custom, or an old food-preserving technique. And sometimes it is simply sitting around a table, cooking together, and noticing that the seasons have quietly changed again.
I feel fortunate that the things I have loved throughout my life—food, making things by hand, Japanese culture, craftsmanship, history, and sharing stories—have eventually come together in the work I do today.
Perhaps that is what Wa + Sabi really is for me: a way of sharing the Japan that I have come to love, understand, and appreciate more deeply with every passing season.
And if you have ever been curious about the Japan behind the food, I hope you will join me at the table—I am more than happy to share that with you, too.
Continue exploring
+ The Story Behind Wa + Sabi – why I do what I do >>
A story of my parents’ Japanese home in the woods, and the experiences that shaped what I care about and why I ended up sharing Japan through food.
+ The Philosophy of Wa + Sabi >>
The ideas and values at the heart of how I teach, cook, and share Japan.
+ Explore Wa + Sabi classes >
https://wasabiplus.com/class_catalogue/