In Yoko’s normal life, she has her own cooking school (IG: @osaka_kitchen) where she teaches Japanese cooking classes, and a tour company (IG: @beyondfoodietours) where she give food tours around the food-heaven city of Osaka, Japan.

We met Yoko through our Osaka friend Tomoko, whom we visit on our Inside Japan Tour.

Like most of our chefs, she works heavily in tourism.

She says that since COVID, “the jobs related to tourists disappeared completely”. But Yoko was able to quickly and adeptly switch to online cooking classes and online English teaching.

The luckiest thing, she says, is that she was also offered a job translating a cookbook, so now she keeps as busy as she can between those three jobs.

Teaching classes with us has given her a good opportunity to continue practicing her English and keep her motivated to try new recipes to add to the menu.

But the best part of our classes are that, “Talking and cooking with someone who is not in Japan is really fun. Also it makes me proud to see the people who have never though about making sushi leave with confidence after my class!”

Meet Yoko for yourself in one of her upcoming classes!