Akila Inouye runs the Tsukiji Soba Academy in Tokyo. A fan of molecular cuisine, his teaching method relies on getting to know the history of soba, grasping the underlying chemistry of its preparation and of course cooking and eating them in different ways.
In November 2023 I embarked on a research trip to Japan for my book on what we could learn from Japanese craftspeople, shokunin, to improve how we live and how we work.
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns had limited my means of exploration to doing online interviews, which gave me the opportunity to talk with extraordinary makers about their work and lifestyle. The video series The Essence of the Shokunin was the result of some of these conversations.
However, when it comes to doing a deep dive into craftsmanship, especially from a culture as different to my own as the Japanese one, the reach of words is extremely limited. Tacit knowledge and mastery are almost impossible to transmit with words alone. The way forward was to acquire knowledge through direct experience, to talk by making.
Read the full article in The Craftsman Newsletter.
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