Cooking, dressmaking, knitting, baking. My mother was good at everything she did. The time I spent making bread and roll cakes alongside her was a precious time for me as a child. When I became a high school student and was thinking of going to a vocational school, my homeroom teacher asked me, "How about cooking?" I don't remember why the teacher said that, but I feel like the roots of my decision to do so are rooted in my mother, who was a good cook.

After graduating from a culinary school, I aimed to be able to do everything by the time I was 27 or 28, and gained experience in hotels, restaurants, wedding halls, and private shops. After that, I basically changed jobs every 2-3 years, gaining experience at well-known brands and prestigious places. I was contacted by HAPPO-EN when they were organizing their pastry section. I had almost no prior knowledge of HAPPO-EN, but when I saw the garden for the first time, I was blown away and thought, "There's a place like this in Tokyo?" I even mistook it for a hotel and asked, "Can I stay there?" Before I knew it, it had been more than 5 years since that beginning. It's the workplace I've been at for the longest time in my career.

At HAPPO-EN, we probably serve over 100 new patisseries a year, including wedding cakes, seasonal menu items at the cafe, and event catering. Some I do myself, but many are assigned to my juniors, who work together to polish the plans and designs they come up with. The world of sweets may seem glamorous and value taste, but you can't serve them to customers without also considering practical aspects such as the facility where they will be served, the sales medium, price range, operations, and whether you can provide a stable supply.

For example, the menu item "Whole White Peach Parfait" was a dish that a member in his second year at the company struggled with for a year before finally being able to release it to the world. It became a hot topic both inside and outside the company, and was uploaded to social media many times, so as a boss, I was genuinely happy that it led to success. Even for work that customers don't see, when I see young members properly creating a scheme from ordering to preparation, and properly following what they were taught no matter how busy they are, I feel a much greater joy than if I had accomplished something myself. I may criticize them harshly if they get too busy and neglect the obvious, but I always praise them when they make something good. By repeating this, I can feel that the level of each member is improving.

HAPPO-EN 's purpose is "Making Japan Beautiful." For me, as a pastry chef, this means using ingredients and tableware from producers all over Japan, creating beautiful pastries through my own sensibilities, and introducing them to customers. However, aesthetic sense and planning skills are not something that can be acquired overnight. It all comes down to keeping your antenna up and building on your daily efforts.

I myself am inspired by natural flowers and greenery, the gradations and gloss of women's clothing and nail designs. I have a lot of skills throughout my career, such as starting with ingredients and deciding on the dish first and then tailoring it to match the color and shape. The more sources of inspiration you have, the better, but above all, you have to find them yourself. That's why I try to "show" my juniors as much as possible rather than "teach" them, and I try to share my knowledge, techniques, and sweets themselves so that they can realize many things. When I think about it, this is what my mother did for me when I was a child. Because making sweets is so much fun and so profound. As long as there are juniors, I think I will continue to work for a while longer.