You wouldn't put your soul in a dishwasher!

Japanese chefs believe our soul goes into our knives once we start using them. You wouldn't put your soul in a dishwasher!

I always have dashi in my refrigerator—it's the almighty Japanese ingredient.

When I'm on the road, I wake up early and walk a lot. I'm very healthy. But when I come back home, I am more tempted by guilty pleasures, such as eating too many sweets and sleeping a lot.

No rules. Don't be afraid to do whatever you want. Cooking doesn't have to have rules. I don't like it that way.

Culture and tradition have to change little by little. So 'new' means a little twist, a marriage of Japanese technique with French ingredients. My technique. Indian food, Korean food; I put Italian mozzarella cheese with sashimi. I don't think 'new new new.' I'm not a genius. A little twist.

I buy soy sauce and flavor it five different ways: with sake, mirin, sugar, kombu and bonito flakes. I use them on lots of dishes at home.