CP: When and why did you come to Australia?
IA: I first came in 1988 on a working holiday visa, during Australia's 200th anniversary celebrations. At that time, Australia was still relatively unknown to Japanese people. Most Japanese went to America or Europe. With the strength of the Japanese economy, Japan was just starting to invest lots of money in Australia (mostly in resorts on the Gold Coast). In Melbourne, there was hardly any Japanese influence, and so only a few Japanese restaurants, and I was interested in discovering more about this place.

Melbourne did have a lot of restaurants, however, and I was intrigued by the completely different dining culture to what I was used to. When a customer orders food in Japan, they know exactly what to expect. Shrimps, for example, are always twenty centimetres long. Everything is always served exactly the same way. It's very mechanical. By contrast, I discovered that in Melbourne eating out is a form of entertainment for people. Preparing and serving food is a kind of communication.

After my visa expired and I went back to Japan, I tried to develop this new "Australian" atmosphere at the hotel where I worked. I think it was popular with the foreign guests, but the Japanese people didn't understand or appreciate it. So I decided to come back to Australia to try it here.

CP: Why did you want to open your own restaurant?
IA: This time wanted to try something that no-one had done before - something a little different. If you go to a typical Japanese Restaurant in Australia, you will most likely find most of sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, nasu dengaku, gyosa, and shabu-shabu on the menu. In reality, no restaurant in Japan would have all these items. This is because most Japanese restaurants around Melbourne are not run by Japanese people. The owners try to copy the Japanese style, but they don't understand what role each piece of food plays within a meal and the culture behind the food. I think that it's good that non-Japanese people prepare Japanese food, and if my English was better I'd like to train people how to do it properly. By properly, I don't mean cooking everything exactly the same way. Rather, I mean that people should follow certain principles.

For example, lamb is not very popular in Japan - it's hard to find good quality lamb, and usually it doesn't taste very nice. Lamb in Australia, though, is delicious and easy to get. So, I use Australian lamb in a Japanese way, to use traditional principles with local ingredients and not just rely on ingredients that are common in Japan and not so easy to get here in Australia. Not only does this make the ingredients I use fresher, but also helps to keep the cost down. Both of these are good for the customer.

CP: Do you intend to use "exotic" Australian meats, like kangaroo or crocodile?
IA: No. Even though I am using "Australian" ingredients as opposed to "Japanese" ones, I'm not making an effort to use meat like kangaroo. I want to use what is readily available in my cooking. I won't say I will never use these meats, but it is not my intention to use them.