This Academy aims to learn about koji from the past and present, from the microscopic (koji mold) to the macroscopic (a global, macroscopic perspective and the scale of human history). By touching, tasting, and discussing koji, we aim to utilize it in the future.
The event is scheduled for Thursday, February 20, 2025!
This time, we welcome Mr. Shoya Imai, CEO and brewer of LINNÉ, as our guest speaker.
mentor
Instructor Profiles
Yuichiro Murai
29th Generation Head of Kojiya Sanzaemon
After graduating from Keio University, he earned an MBA in Global Management in Arizona, USA. After gaining hands-on experience in the family business, he assumed leadership in 2016. Aiming to create a new fermented culture, he is involved in new ventures to expand the market for koji starter. As the owner of a koji starter manufacturer, he gives lectures both domestically and internationally to promote koji. In 2022, he earned a Master of Arts degree from Kyoto University of the Arts. He currently lectures at the same university and published his first book, "Hatsuko as Liberal Arts for Business Elites" (Asa Publishing) in 2024.
Shoya Imai
Representative and Brewer, LINNÉ
Former Toji of WAKAZE. After graduating from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Agriculture, he joined the current Oisix Ra Daichi as a new graduate, where he was involved in e-commerce, retail, and corporate planning. From 2015, while training at sake breweries such as Aramasa Shuzo, Masuda Shuzo-ten, Abe Shuzo, and Hijiri Shuzo, he co-founded WAKAZE in 2016. He established breweries as the first Toji in Tokyo and Paris respectively, and after four and a half years of sake brewing experience in Paris and California, USA, he returned to Japan in 2024. With a desire to "unleash the unknown potential of koji" to the world once again from Japan, he founded Linné Co., Ltd. in April. His family home is Hijiri Shuzo in Gunma, established in 1841. His eldest brother is the 8th generation brewery owner, his second eldest brother is a kurabito (brewery worker) at Nito in Aichi, and his mother and grandmother also come from sake brewing backgrounds. Photo: ©AKANE
Takeshi Imasato
Executive Chef, Hotel Arc Riche Toyohashi
Born and raised in a family that ran a restaurant in Nagasaki Prefecture, he began his culinary career under Mr. Katsumi Kamigakimoto, one of the leaders of the French culinary world in Japan. After training at L'Hotel de Hiei and French restaurants in Osaka, he became the head chef of the main dining room when Hotel Arc Riche Toyohashi opened, and was appointed executive chef in 2014. He has inherited the concept of "local production for local consumption" and the cuisine that maximizes the quality of ingredients, appealing to all five senses, which he has cultivated since the hotel's opening. As a member of the "Escoffier Association of Japan," he is committed to the development and promotion of French cuisine. He also contributes to society and activities to make Higashi-Mikawa a mecca for food creators as part of the "Higashi-Mikawa Food Valley Initiative" promoted by the Sala Group, to which the hotel belongs.