Preserving and nurturing Japan's shoku culture — delivering experiences that stir hearts, worldwide.
Inheritance alone does not keep a culture alive. Only by nurturing it into experiences that move the heart does it carry on to the next era. That is what JSTARs exists for.
Why do storied restaurants vanish, noren and all?
Shortages of people, the difficulty of management, the absence of successors. Japan's restaurant industry carries structural challenges, and restaurants of real craft and real story close quietly, their value never handed on. Protecting craftsmanship and the noren before that value is lost, and carrying them to the next generation — that is where JSTARs begins.
Business
We maximize the value of compelling food-service brands and realize long-term growth together.
Investment-led brand growth
Respecting each brand's philosophy and values, we invest our own capital, share the risk, and stay accountable as partners in management. We provide end-to-end support — operations, marketing and hiring — realizing sustainable growth and profitability through a co-creation model in which the brand stays itself.
Brand expansion support
We extend the brand IP of Japan's finest restaurants — name, philosophy, taste, craft and experience — into hotels, retail destinations, overseas locations and product development. As an exclusive agent we handle the single point of contact, contracts and execution, protecting the owner's core work while co-creating new value with the world of the brand intact.
Executive search & hiring
We help storied and high-growth brands hire the high-caliber talent who will carry their future — from management to head-chef level. With a network deep in the restaurant industry, we identify rare talent rarely visible on the open market and create matches that resonate with the brand's philosophy.
What we promise
We set down here only the promises we can keep.
- We meet everyone who works in food with deep respect.
- We will not trade trust for short-term gain.
- We make no promises we cannot keep, and we see through what we take on.
- We work toward a future where those who work in food are more justly rewarded.
- We place pride in Japan's food at the root of every decision.
Member
Anna Hattori
服部 晏奈A graduate of Meiji University's Faculty of Law, Anna worked in organizational and HR consulting at Recruit and launched a new venture in the pet-care industry before founding the staffing company VCP in 2023, where she serves as Representative Director. In May 2025 she co-founded JSTARs. Three high-school years in France convinced her that food is not nutrition but a culture that connects people; since then she has visited several hundred restaurants a year — from casual spots to Michelin establishments in Japan and abroad and Asia's 50 Best — sharing what she finds with tens of thousands on social media.
Mikiya Sugihara
杉原 未来也A graduate of Keio University's Faculty of Law, Mikiya co-founded JSTARs after a career in a global consulting firm and in corporate planning at a listed company. His strengths lie in corporate and business strategy, M&A and alliances, and organizational and HR strategy. Immersed in fine dining since his university years, he loves sushi above all and has visited a great many of Japan's finest restaurants.
Masakazu Matsumoto
松本 将和A serial entrepreneur involved in founding more than ten companies, beginning with Macbee. He is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Macbee Planet, Inc. (TSE Prime Market) and serves on the boards of several group companies, bringing deep marketing and technology expertise to the growth of Japan's culinary culture.
Satoshi Ryuto
龍頭 聡Fifteen years at Dentsu as an account lead and business producer, building brands and businesses for major clients. At 37 he took an MBA at MIT Sloan, where a dinner table he hosted in Boston gathered 111 people from 37 countries — proof, firsthand, that a shared table crosses borders. He now serves in the leadership of several companies across education and hospitality, implementing AI, CRM and data infrastructure with his own hands.
Kensuke Miyake
三宅 健介A graduate of Keio University's Faculty of Economics. After a career at Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, he joined the Japanese Culinary Research Society, serving as Vice Chairman from June 2015 and as Chairman from June 2022. He also serves as an outside director of food-related companies, a founding partner of a luxury sake brand, and a co-organizer of solo exhibitions for a renowned overseas ceramicist. Appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of Japanese cuisine by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (February 2017), and holds an MBA.
Takayuki Fukuda
福田 貴之Fourth-generation head of Kioicho Fukudaya, a historic ryotei awarded two Michelin stars for nineteen consecutive years. Carrying the aesthetics of Rosanjin Kitaoji, he embodies the beauty of Japanese tradition across cuisine, ceramics, space and hospitality — honoring that tradition while pursuing dining for a new era, and anchoring the quality and philosophy of JSTARs.
A Message from the Representative
To move beyond the “givens” of the restaurant industry, and to build the world's shoku upon the shoku of Japan.
For as long as I can remember, food has been at the center of my life. Cooking beside my mother, who ran a cooking school, with vegetables we grew in the garden was play and lesson at once — a precious time in which I came to feel, with my own hands, how much an ingredient is worth.
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The view we work toward
Behind the counter stands the next generation of craftsmen; the noren still hangs a hundred years on. Japan's shoku culture becomes an asset of the world — a view we build together with our partners.
Shoku Culture
Shoku culture is the concept we propose: five elements written with five different characters all read “shoku” — craft, cuisine, hospitality, aesthetics, and the cycles that sustain them.
Reviving, and advancing, the power Japan's shoku has always held.
Craftsmanship職 — 職人の技と精神
Skills and spirit handed down across generations sustain Japan's culinary culture. As the saying about sushi apprenticeship goes — three years for rice, eight for forming — craft earned through long discipline is the very source of the trust placed in Japanese cuisine.
Cuisine食 — 旬を活かす繊細な味わい
At the heart of washoku is the pursuit of delicate flavor drawn from ingredients in season. Dashi and minimal seasoning honor what each ingredient already holds, layering umami over sweetness, acidity, salt and bitterness — techniques refined to bring out the best of sea and mountain.
Hospitality触 — ふれあい・おもてなし
Connection that lingers — hospitality in the spirit of ichi-go ichi-e, the table shared with others, and the words spoken before and after a meal that carry respect for makers and for nature. Japan's culinary culture is, equally, a culture of human relationship.
Aesthetics飾 — 五感で楽しむ美しさ
Washoku is experienced with all five senses. Color in the plating, seasonal garnish, the texture of vessels, even sound and aroma complete a single dish. Reflecting nature's beauty and the turning seasons in flowers, ceramics and setting — this is Japanese aesthetics itself.
Cycles埴 — 育てる・素材の循環
Beneath it all lies a cycle of ingredients in coexistence with nature. Fermentation and preservation are wisdom against waste; seasonal rites and shared meals have long nurtured the bonds of family and community. As the world asks how to sustain itself, this element only grows in value.
Restaurants we walk with
From brand stewardship to growth support, our involvement takes different forms — each noren, each story, alive in its own place.
Sushi Murayama（Japan / Tokyo）
Edomae craft and the seasons, at a Ginza counter.
One Michelin Star — Tokyo (2021–2024)
Visit site
Sushi Wadatsumi（Hong Kong / Tsim Sha Tsui）
A world-rare Edomae house — Michelin-starred sushi crafted by a non-Japanese itamae.
One Michelin Star — Hong Kong (2016–2026)
Visit site
Kioicho Fukudaya（Japan / Tokyo）
A ryotei founded in 1939, carrying the aesthetics of Rosanjin Kitaoji.
Two Michelin Stars — Tokyo (2008–2026)
Visit site
Firmamento（Japan / Tokyo）
Italian craft in resonance with Japanese ingredients, in Nihonbashi Ningyocho.
MICHELIN Guide Tokyo — Selected
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Yakitori Bonzo（Japan / Osaka）
Charcoal-grilled Miyazaki jidori — authentic yakitori in Shinsaibashi.
Visit siteBuild it with us.
Making Japan's shoku culture an asset of the world is not work we can finish alone. To those with places, those who carry a noren, those who invest in what lasts — an invitation. We work most often, and most often by introduction, with those who carry genuine craft and a genuine story and mean to grow its value over the long term.
Chefs & storied restaurants
Succession, management, the next stage of growth. Before the value of a noren and its craft is lost, let us think through the next move together.
Venues, real estate & events
Hotels, retail destinations, resorts, special events. We bring Japanese gastronomy experiences to life in your place.
Investors
A standing invitation to a conversation about long-term investment in Japan's culinary culture.
Company
News
Contact
Business inquiries, partnerships, press — we would be glad to hear from you.