Tragic promise drove world's first Michelin-starred woman sushi chef
PARIS – Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy.
In March, the 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband Shunei Kimura won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris.
For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was shortlived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022, aged 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star.
Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down to her husband. 'If Shunei had never received a star, I wouldn't have been particularly attached to obtaining one myself,' she said.
'But he was proud that his restaurant was recognised. So, this star has become very important to me,' she said in her tiny traditional sushiya, which seats only nine.
The Michelin guide was glowing in its praise, saying a 'sensorial journey is guaranteed thanks to the dexterity with which the nigiri are made, the use and working of superb fish and the subtle seasoning'.
But Chizuko Kimura never set out to be a top chef, only falling into the business when her husband, who had worked in France for decades, decided to open his own restaurant.
'He was already ill at that time. That's when I started helping him. I was working as a tour guide and lost my job due to Covid,' she said.
She learnt at his side how to cut the fish, cook the rice and how to run the restaurant while caring for him as he grew more ill.
'I got better day by day and I still train on my days off . I am always studying ,' she said, travelling back to Japan when she can to continue her training there.
After her husband's death , Kimura took over the reins of the restaurant. She strengthened her team by hiring master sushi chef Takeshi Morooka, refined the dining experience by adding 'tsumamis' (small appetisers typically served with sake) to the menu and modifying the rice recipe.
Now, 'my first goal is to maintain this star,' she said, 'and to keep it, we must strive to offer even better service and ensure impeccable quality.'
Traditionally, becoming a master sushi chef requires at least a 10-year apprenticeship. Kimura got her star in five. 'If this recognition can inspire or encourage other women, I will be very happy,' she said. And she is not stopping there. Her goal now is to surpass her husband's achievements as a tribute to his work and his memory. AFP
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
34 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Ozzy Osbourne died of a heart attack, death certificate shows
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE — Ozzy Osbourne performs during a 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert, at Madison Square Garden in New York, on Oct. 30, 2009. Osbourne, the heavy metal and reality television star, died of a heart attack and had suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson's, according to a death certificate filed at a registry in London. (Chad Batka/The New York Times) EDINBURGH, Scotland – Ozzy Osbourne, the heavy metal and reality television star , died of a heart attack and had suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson's, according to a death certificate filed at a registry in London. The document, which was submitted by Osbourne's daughter Aimée Osbourne, lists cardiac arrest and coronary artery disease among the causes, noting that he had Parkinson's disease. Osbourne's occupation is recorded as 'Songwriter, Performer and Rock Legend.' The certificate says Osbourne died of '(a) Out of hospital cardiac arrest (b) Acute myocardial infarction (c) Coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease with autonomic dysfunction (Joint Causes).' The New York Times obtained the document on Aug 5. On July 22, the day of Osbourne's death, an air ambulance flew to the singer's home near the village of Chalfont St. Giles in Buckinghamshire, England. A spokesperson for Thames Valley Air Ambulance service said in an email that its team had been 'dispatched to provide advanced critical care at an incident near Chalfront St. Giles on July 22,' but gave no further details. After stopping near the singer's home, the ambulance flew about 13km south-west to Harefield Hospital, in Uxbridge, a London suburb, according to Flightradar24, a company that collates data on aircraft movements. The helicopter spent 'about an hour' at the hospital with its engines running, a Flightradar24 spokesperson said. When Osbourne's family announced his death on July 22, they did not state a cause, although the 76-year-old singer had received treatment for numerous health problems in recent years, including a variant of Parkinson's and spinal damage. He told a radio station in February that he could no longer walk. Many heavy metal fans had feared this year that Osbourne was reaching the end of his life, especially after his wife, Sharon, announced in February that he would perform what the family expected to be his last concert. That performance, held July 5 at a soccer stadium in Birmingham, England, was staged just a few minutes' walk from Osbourne's childhood home. (From left to right) Ozzy Osbourne's son Louis, daughter Aimee, son Jack, widow Sharon and daughter Kelly arrive to lay flowers at the Black Sabbath Bridge bench on Broad Street in Birmingham, England on July 30. PHOTO: AFP At that concert, called 'Back to the Beginning,' Osbourne performed two brief sets: one of his solo music and a second with Black Sabbath, the band he formed in 1968 with three fellow Birmingham musicians. During those performances, Osbourne had referred to his health problems. 'I've been laid up for six years,' he told the cheering crowd at one point. 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart.' As Black Sabbath's frontman, Osbourne was widely considered one of the creators of heavy metal music. Heavy metal acts like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax have cited him as an influence. In the 2000s, Osbourne achieved a second bout of fame as a reality TV star thanks to the MTV show The Osbournes, which ran from 2002 to 2005 and documented the singer and his family's daily lives in comic fashion. On July 30, throngs of his fans flocked to Birmingham for a funeral procession in which his coffin was carried through the city in a hearse, before a private funeral. NYTIMES
New Paper
3 hours ago
- New Paper
Without using profile photos, Singapore-made bot matchmakes strangers
SINGAPORE - Undergraduate Mia, 26, has been chatting with potential dates on Telegram, but she has never seen their faces. It is only when they meet for their first date that she knows what they look like. She is among thousands who have been using amble, a Singapore-made bot that operates much like a virtual matchmaker. Introduced as a bot on Telegram - as @ambleprojectbot - in April 2023, amble is now also available as an app. On amble, users start out completely anonymous to each other, and do not have any idea what the other person looks like. This is in stark contrast to popular dating apps like Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, where details like a person's appearance, height and occupation are often made visible. For Mia, this has been a great pull. She told The Straits Times that her previous experience using Bumble made her feel as though she was "a tomato on display" at a Sunday market. With looks out of the equation on amble, Mia said she has been able to better determine her compatibility with her matches. "(A person's appearance) just isn't that high on my list in comparison with values or personality," she said. As the conversation between two users progresses, "milestones" are unlocked and more is revealed about the parties. This can include fun facts about them or a picture of them - the latter only if both users have chosen to share a photo. Mia said she and her matches chose not to reveal what they look like, and instead went on "fun, blind meet-ups". She has gone on two such meet-ups and said they were both enjoyable. As a conversation between two users progresses on amble, "milestones" are unlocked and more is revealed about the parties. PHOTO: AMBLE 'Not rushed, not transactional' amble co-founder Alyssa Chua, 27, told ST she began experimenting with the idea of the bot in 2023 as she felt that conversations, particularly those on dating apps, were beginning to feel more fleeting than before. "We swipe, we judge, we expect instant chemistry. If sparks don't fly in the first few seconds, we move on," she said. "And yet, when we do find something real... it's because of a conversation that made us pause, think and see someone beyond the surface." Ms Chua said she chose to name the bot "amble" to reflect how she felt a conversation should feel. "Not rushed, not transactional, but like taking a walk in the park with someone, one step at a time," she said. That sentiment has resonated with enough users for Ms Chua and fellow co-founder Cayden Gwee, 27, to decide to release an app version of the bot in April. Ms Chua said there are now about 6,000 people using amble, both on Telegram and the app. To help users find common ground, amble intermittently poses questions or prompts. These can range from simple ones like whether they have unusual hobbies or talents to ones that provoke deeper thought such as: "Do you think there's any sort of scenario which makes it fair to reveal a secret?" Mr Mac Healy, 27, who began using amble in 2024, told ST the "brainwork" needed to answer most questions has helped him strike up "pretty good" conversations and led to meaningful matches and dates. This is in comparison to popular dating apps, where conversations are "the same... rinse-and-repeat", said the financial analyst. "It's not like 'What's your favourite colour?' - I get sick hearing that every single time I enter a new talking phase... amble adds a good twist," he added. Users can also filter the people they will be matched with based on their intention - whether they are looking for something romantic or platonic. Users of amble can filter the people they will be matched with based on their intention - whether they are looking for something romantic or platonic. PHOTO: AMBLE Ms Chua said users have found all kinds of connections through amble. "Some have met romantic partners - we've received very cute photos - while others have discovered shared passions with like-minded hobbyists," she said. But with the online dating scene increasingly filled with scammy profiles and bots generated by artificial intelligence (AI), how sure can users be that the person they are chatting with is real? Ms Chua said that on Telegram, bots - like amble - are not allowed to engage with other bots, as part of the messaging app's security measure to prevent potential abuse. On the amble app, every profile is verified through the user's e-mail and phone number. The phone numbers are then cross-checked against databases of fraudulent numbers to prevent abuse, added Ms Chua. AI is also used on the app to assess users' answers to questions set out by amble during onboarding. "Behind the scenes, we use AI to evaluate these responses by looking for indicators of intent, sincerity and alignment with the kind of meaningful conversations amble is built for," said Ms Chua. "This helps us ensure that the people on the platform are real and genuinely here to connect." App not the end for Telegram bot Ms Chua said Telegram was chosen as the platform to first roll out amble as it gave the bot's creators the flexibility to test ideas, and without requiring users to download something that was new. Mr Ryan, who wanted to be known by only one name, said he found it convenient that he did not have to download yet another app onto his phone. "(It) definitely pulled me to using amble," said the 29-year-old commercial pilot, who has been using the bot since early 2025. Ms Chua said Telegram also "felt like a natural place for real conversations to happen". However, the messaging platform also limited what Ms Chua and Mr Gwee could do with amble. For example, the bot is only able to let users speak to one match at a time. "With an app, we are able to introduce concurrent matches, letting people explore multiple connections at once," said Ms Chua. While users can only experience a simple chat interface on Telegram, an app allows for custom interfaces that could stimulate more thoughtful conversations, and even introduce game-like elements to inspire more playful interactions. The app, though, does not spell the end of the amble Telegram bot. Noting that some users preferred the bot's simplicity on Telegram, Ms Chua said she is exploring ways to keep it as an option alongside the app. "But moving forward, the app will be our focus - because it allows us to build amble the way we've always envisioned it, without compromises," said Ms Chua.
Straits Times
9 hours ago
- Straits Times
Rare pristine first edition of The Hobbit found during home clean-out, up for auction
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Caitlin Riley, a rare books specialist, poses with one of the first editions of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. LONDON – Caitlin Riley, a rare books specialist, was flicking through photographs of tattered volumes from a routine house clean-out in Bristol in 2025 when she stopped, shocked, at a familiar green cover. There, between the pictures of faded 20th-century reference books and crumbling veterinary tomes, was The Hobbit, proud and nearly pristine. 'I literally couldn't believe my eyes,' said Riley, a books and works on paper specialist at Auctioneum, an auction house in the English cities of Bath and Bristol. 'How could it possibly be in and amongst all of this rubbish?' The first edition, first impression of The Hobbit – the literature-reshaping, generation-defining epic by English writer J.R.R. Tolkien that has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide – is up for auction on Auctioneum's website. It quickly passed a presale estimate of 10,000 pounds (S$17,000) to 12,000 pounds, and was up to 19,000 pounds on Aug 4, with bidding set to close Aug 6 evening. Such a copy is remarkably rare: Only about 1,500 were printed in September 1937. The way the book was found – after decades tucked away in a home library – may have been even more unusual. 'The idea that one sat untouched on a shelf for so many years without anyone realising its value is not just unusual,' Pieter Collier, a Tolkien specialist and bookseller, wrote in an email. 'It's astonishing.' First editions of The Hobbit have surfaced before, and can prove very valuable at auction. One copy, given by Tolkien to a student, sold for 137,000 pounds in an auction in 2015. Another sold for 60,000 pounds. But few are in as good condition as the one in Bristol, said Oliver Bayliss, the owner of Bayliss Rare Books in London, who thinks it could fetch more than 50,000 pounds. Riley knows little about the person who owned the book most recently: The clean-out was overseen by an executor, she said, and she does not know any family members of the person who died. She does know that the book came from the library of the Priestley family, who had ties to the University of Oxford, where Tolkien was a professor, and who had corresponded with Tolkien's friend, English writer C.S. Lewis, who also taught at Oxford. It is possible, she said, that the original owners knew Tolkien, perhaps 'through C.S. Lewis and through them running in the same circles'. NYTIMES
