Next, to the parking lot of Kizahimo, we grow vegetables using a method called "natural farming." There are many varieties that are rarely seen around here, such as "himoto-garashi," "Tanabe daikon," and "Hinona" I learned about farming from someone who could be called my "life mentor" in Nara. After seeing on TV that if you cook, you should properly understand the people who grow your ingredients, I decided to meet this person. Since then, I have been visiting them at least once a month, and they generously shared their knowledge and skills with me, someone they didn't know before, teaching me about soil, farming tools, seed selection, and more. I am truly grateful.

There was a time when I was studying cooking and living in Wakayama. During that time, I used to visit the Central Wholesale Market in the morning, and I was taken care of by Mr. Nakai of "Kanenaka Suisan."

Miyakonojo is my father's hometown. For me, it's a place of happy memories where I spent my summer vacation playing with my grandfather. My father became a traditional Japanese cuisine chef in Osaka and, in order to live with our family, he relearned the skills of a yakitori restaurant and started "Sumibi-yaki Shima Itcho," where he raised and nurtured us. The view I saw while helping out since I was young was the sight of customers enjoying and laughing in the restaurant. The reason I wanted to cook was because I loved that view. "To see that my efforts can bring joy to people and experience the sight and scenery firsthand," that's what I find rewarding about running a restaurant.

I have been greatly indebted to many people. The joy of the restaurant industry, handling charcoal, farm-to-table restaurants, natural farming methods, the history of ingredients, seasons, handling fish, business practices, Tsuimoto-style hunting and trapping, numerous cooking techniques from Japanese cuisine to French and Italian.