No doubt your first impression will be that Chef Akira Tanaka is a rather severe man of few words. As you begin to eat you can see his sincerity, passion and determination as he puts his all into making truly delicious sushi for you. And you may be surprised as you settle in that he gladly answers any questions with ease and kindness.

Born in Hakodate - the stunning port town in southern Hokkaido – with his imposing demeanour it is not exactly surprising to learn that Tanaka‘s father was a policeman. Tanaka was an excitable child, regularly causing trouble for his parents. He dropped out of high school and took himself to Nagoya at the age of 17, needing to be far away from all he had known. His older sister’s boyfriend at the time was a sushi chef, and he had once prepared a sushi meal for Tanaka’s whole family. That’s when the sushi infatuation began. Tanaka saw first-hand the great satisfaction in pleasing others through food. He learned the fundamentals of sushi over eight years at a Nagoya sushi restaurant, but did not neglect the importance of a varied repertoire, seeking experience in washoku traditional Japanese cuisine, and other cuisines as well.

Returning to Hokkaido at age 24, Tanaka still made time to roam the country in search of new ideas. This led to an encounter with a chef Tanaka now names as his biggest influence – Chef Nakazawa of Sushisho. It was Nakazawa who showed him that sushi is not about simply shaping seafood-topped ovals – it’s an entire cuisine. And it was Nakazawa who inspired Tanaka to open his own sushi restaurant in 2003. At first, he pursued Sushi kaiseki, infusing refined washoku taste in to his style, but constant trial and error eventually led Tanaka to the revelation that the key to his appeal is his Hokkaido connection. It occurred to him that all he did was take freshly caught local seafood and turn it into sushi. The focus was entirely on freshness; there was no special treatment for the seafood, and no application of his Edomae sushi skills. And at the same time there was no special significance to being in Hokkaido if he simply served Edomae Sushi just like in Tokyo. That is when he realized that his style and competitive advantage must come from combining Hokkaido seafood with Edomae sushi techniques – the style that has earned him much acclaim and a constant stream of highly satisfied guests.

VISION
The chef is far from believing his sushi is perfect, but plans to keep working to achieve nothing short of that. While there is no shortage of high-end sushi options, Tanaka is intent to serve sushi creations that entice customers back time and again. He does this following one simple tenet: addition not multiplication. That means reinventing traditional Japanese ingredients as new sushi creations, not introducing non-Japanese items such as caviar and foie gras. He intends to never veer from that course, all the while focusing especially on local seafood. He doesn’t feel the need to be number one in Sapporo, but his deep wish is to continue as the leader in Hokkaido-born Edomae sushi.