Latest news with #Tachikawa
Forbes
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Auberge Tokito: Top Chef's New Chapter At Unique Ryokan In Japan
Chef Yoshinori Ishii at Tokito. When you have reached a major goal, what do you do? In the case of chef Yoshinori Ishii, who earned two Michelin stars at Umu in London, he decided to go back to his roots. 'I had been cooking Japanese food outside of Japan for more than two decades. Over time, I grew to realize that I needed to understand Japan at a deeper level. Also, a lot of things have happened in Japan in the last 20 years. I had to update my idea of Japan so that I could serve the most genuine, quintessential Japanese dishes to my guests,' says Ishii. In 2020, after the successful 10 years at Umu, he left the restaurant to start a new project: Auberge Tokito. Auberge Tokito, which opened in April 2024, is an elegant Ryokan (Japanese-style restaurant with lodging facilities) in Tachikawa City on the outskirts of central Tokyo. At Tokito, there are only four rooms designed by the celebrated architect Shinichiro Ogata. The hot spring, or Onsen, was freshly dug from 4,200 feet underground during the construction. Guests can enjoy a free-flowing, open-air Onsen in their room privately. Also, each room has a designated spa treatment space. There is a bar and tea room and of course, a restaurant that represents the concept of Tokito. Guests can enjoy a free-flowing, open-air Onsen privately at Tokito. Serving Japanese Cuisine That No One Has Ever Cooked Before Ishii and his culinary team aim to serve 'Japanese cuisine that no one has ever cooked before.' What does that mean? Before going abroad, Ishii was classically trained and served as a sous chef at one of the top authentic Kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto called Arashiyama Kiccho. 'The experience at Kiccho is the foundation of how I think of cooking. Still, as much as I appreciate the value of tradition, I am frustrated by its slow speed of change. In order to stay valuable, tradition needs to evolve in response to what is happening in its environment,' he says. 'French cuisine in Paris has transformed quite dramatically and successfully in the last several decades, for instance. Japanese cuisine doesn't have to change fast, but we should not resist or hesitate to evolve.' A good example of Ishii's innovative actions is the development of Ujio. It is a condiment that can effectively substitute soy sauce, the most essential Japanese condiment. 'Soy sauce is difficult to use the right amount. A little too much can easily ruin the flavor of ingredients. My answer is slightly viscous Ujio, made simply with the highest quality, umami-rich Rausu Kombu from Hokkaido and salt,' he says. At Tokito, ingredients are sustainably sourced from the best suppliers nationwide. Ishii is not only pursuing new ideas though. He also goes back in time. 'I have been thinking about what is at the core of Japanese food. My anchoring point has become its ultimate origin—how people ate 10,000 years ago during the Japanese Stone Age, Jomon period,' he says. 'It was before any foreign influence arrived in the country. More importantly, people cooked whatever was available and tried to make the most of each bite for survival and nutrition. And perhaps, they tried to make it a little delectable in some ways.' That is why Ishii and his team source ingredients from sustainable fishermen, farmers and hunters who understand nature's honest expression of taste and flavors. They also proactively utilize products that would have been discarded for being off-grade or difficult to use. Guests can find original dishes like sashimi of red snapper from the Sado Island served with Ujio and local wasabi; first-in-the-season Kamo eggplant from Kyoto served with toasted tuna flakes; prized Nodoguro fish sushi served on rice cooked with ginger and balsamic vinegar. Food is served on the exquisite plates and bowls handcrafted by Ishii. 'I have always enjoyed making things by hand since I was little. I started making pottery when I was in London and it has become an important source of creativity.' He has a pottery studio within Tokito and he offers pottery classes to guests on request. Chef Ishii makes Tokito's all serving vessels by hand. Succeeding The Legacy Of The 80-Year-Old Restaurant Tokito is located in Tachikawa, which takes about an hour by train from central Tokyo. Initially, Ishii found it an obstacle to success, but the location has become a part of his life mission. Before Ishii joined, the Tokito project was already set up by the local enterprise Tachihi Holdings whose history goes back to 1924 as an airplane manufacturer. 'Before Tokito was built, there was a beloved local Japanese restaurant called Mumon An. During World War II, young Kamikaze pilots spent the last night at Mumon An and the next morning they flew away on the airplanes our company manufactured with one-way fuel,' says Tachihi's president Masamichi Murayama. When the 80-year-old Mumon An faced financial difficulty, the owner of the restaurant approached Murayama, hoping that he would understand the importance of Mumon An's legacy. Murayama decided to take it over. 'I regard this project as social capital,' he says. 'We need to pass the precious page of Japanese history on to the future generations.' Ishii resonated with this idea profoundly. The dining room at Auberge Tokito. Ishii is now managing Tokito as the producer, leaving the primary responsibility of the executive chef to Kenji Okawara, who has been Tokito's general manager and an accomplished chef himself with a Michelin star in Kyoto. Ishii says, 'My mission is not only to make Tokito a special place and reason to visit Tachikawa, but to create the future of Tachikawa and the surrounding Tama area with the power of sustainable food and hospitality.' Ishii and his team's path to opening Tokito for 540 days has been beautifully depicted in the documentary Tokito . The film has been featured in the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Warsaw Film Festival and also shown on Apple TV. 'One day, I want to go back to cooking abroad and open my restaurant. I don't know where it will be, but I have already been training young chefs in Japan. We will introduce the true essence of Japanese cuisine to the world,' says Ishii. A water fountain at Auberge Tokito.
NHK
08-05-2025
- NHK
Tokyo police arrest 2 men after 5 staff injured in elementary school rampage
Tokyo police arrested two men on Thursday after they behaved violently and injured five faculty members at an elementary school in western Tokyo. No students were hurt. Investigative sources say the two men are acquaintances of the mother of a student at the school in Tachikawa City. They say the mother visited the school on Thursday morning to discuss a problem. She failed to reach an agreement with the school and contacted one of the men, which led to the rampage. Police received an emergency call from the school about an intrusion shortly before 11 a.m. They say a man in his 40s and another in his 20s went into a classroom on the second floor and assaulted the homeroom teacher. The men then went to the staff room on the first floor and began smashing windows before being restrained by faculty members. They were arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault. Police say the men had brought sake bottles. Police say five male faculty members were injured, but none seriously.
Japan Times
08-05-2025
- Japan Times
Two men arrested after storming Tokyo elementary school and injuring staff
Two men were arrested after breaking into an elementary school in the city of Tachikawa, western Tokyo, on Thursday morning, injuring five staff members in the process, police said. According to Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, the incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. at Tachikawa Municipal 3rd Elementary School. A school staff member called emergency services after the intruders entered the school building and began smashing windows. The men, in their 30s and 40s, entered the first-floor staff room, where they began smashing windows there. They also made their way to a second-floor classroom used by second-grade students. School staff subdued and detained the suspects on-site. Five teachers or staff members — including a school clerk in his 70s and a teacher in his 50s — sustained injuries, though authorities said none appeared to be serious. No students were harmed. Officers from the local police station arrived at the scene and arrested both suspects on the spot on suspicion of assault. According to police, the incident began when the mother of a female student visited the school that morning for a consultation, as reported by the Asahi Shimbun. Unable to reach an agreement with the school, she contacted one of the men, who is an acquaintance. Later, the two suspects entered a classroom on the second floor and the staff room on the first floor, eventually causing a commotion in the hallway outside the staff room. Police are questioning the mother about the incident. The incident prompted concern among local residents and passersby. 'I went outside when I heard the sirens and saw emergency vehicles everywhere,' a 79-year-old man who lives near the school told NHK. 'There have been a lot of incidents like this lately. It's very worrying,' he added. A woman working near the school commented, 'The sound of sirens was intense. I looked out from my workplace and saw police cars. I have a friend whose child attends this school, so I'm really concerned. It's frightening to think something like this could happen to anyone, anytime.' Information from Jiji added
Japan Times
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Former sekiwake Toyonoshima is new head coach at innovative women's club
The professional and amateur sides of Japan's national sport came together last month with the founding of Tachihi Holdings Women's Sumo Club. With longtime NHK announcer Fujio Kariya as director, the club immediately signaled its intent by signing former sekiwake Toyonoshima to a one-year deal as head coach. The first order of business for Toyonoshima will be helping Airi Hisano — currently the club's only member — to reclaim gold at this September's Sumo World Championships in Thailand. Hisano topped the podium at the 2023 tournament but lost out in the semifinals to Iryna Pasichnyk of Ukraine last year. Describing that loss as painful and detailing how she struggled with injury over the past few years, the former college sumo standout admitted she had considered retirement on more than one occasion before being approached by Kariya. At a news conference following a training demonstration on May 1 at Tachihi's new purpose-built dohyō in Tachikawa, Hisano said that after graduating from Nihon University, she was "debating whether or not to continue with sumo.' Deciding to keep going, she trained in her free time with a former classmate while also working for a security company. But after taking gold in October 2023 at the World Championships in Tokyo, the 172-centimeter, 125-kilogram veteran injured her back later that month at the World Combat Games in Saudi Arabia. The injury lingered, and she failed to reach the final of the 2024 World Championships in Poland. 'My goal had been to win a world title, but I hadn't thought about what came after that. I had won the championship, my back was hurting, and as an athlete, the injuries would continue to pile up, so I was conflicted about what to do. 'It felt like time to call it quits, and I was close to retiring when Kariya contacted me last October.' With few opportunities for women in Japan to continue in sumo once their college careers come to an end, Hisano decided to join the new club and work toward both her own individual success and growing the sport as a whole. Hisano said that when told of Toyonoshima's appointment, she was 'really surprised but also excited because I had seen his bouts on TV.' Despite having only had a few sessions together — she works weekdays in a corporate job — the former world champion is already seeing the benefits of training with someone who has so much high-level experience. Describing herself as prone to overthinking, the Tochigi native said she appreciates Toyonoshima's pared down approach. 'My technique isn't great, but he explains everything in a way that is easy to understand,' she said. When pressed for examples, Hisano cited breaking an opponent's grip on the mawashi. "It's not something I had given much thought to, but it's a very important part of sumo," she said. While Hisano has had to battle with much larger opponents from Russia and Ukraine, that physical gap pales in comparison to the one that Toyonoshima faced in professional sumo. Over an almost two decade career, the 168 cm Kochi Prefecture native not only survived, but thrived while facing men 30 cm taller and 40 kg heavier than him. In November 2010, he went 14-1, defeating Kisenosato, Kakuryu, Kaio and Baruto along the way before ultimately falling to Hakuho in a playoff for the Emperor's Cup. It's a background that would seem to offer ideal insight for his new position, but the former sekiwake said that for now, he is focusing on the basics with Hisano and will leave advice about how to topple larger opponents for later in the year. One of the difficulties for his new student is the lack of training partners with similar dimensions to the opponents she regularly faces in international competition. According to Kariya, while it's possible for Hisano to train at university sumo clubs such as Nihon, Waseda, or NSSU, there are no women there able to offer the kind of physical challenge she needs. It's a major reason that the longtime face of NHK's sumo broadcasts approached Toyonoshima to become head coach of his new club — though Kariya also said that seeing how smoothly and succinctly the former sekiwake explained what was happening when on the Hakuho Cup broadcast convinced him that he had the skills needed to be a good teacher. There is of course one suitable opponent in Japan in the form of two-time defending heavyweight world champion Ivanna Berezovska — but the possibility of a training session with Hisano appears to be low. The Ukrainian star, who came to Japan in 2023, trains at the Kyushu Institute of Information Sciences, but the distance from the capital isn't the only obstacle. 'Of course if she came to Tokyo, I'd like to train with her,' Hisano explained. 'But basically, I want to defeat her in a tournament. Wanting to beat her for real is the priority.' The two faced off in the over-80 kg and openweight title deciders during last October's All-Japan Women's Championships, with the massive Ukrainian emerging victorious in both contests. With a new sense of purpose, and a coach who knows more than perhaps anyone about taking down giants, Hisano will be looking to avenge those defeats in September in Bangkok. Regardless of how that contest goes, however, the creation of a corporate team is a huge step forward for women's sumo, and Hisano, Kariya and Toyonoshima are making history together as they attempt to grow the sport.
