At the age of 97, Nodaiwa Azabu-Iikura Honten’s fifth-generation head chef Kanemoto Kenjiro still works in the kitchen. Beyond safeguarding a restaurant that has endured since the Edo period, he has continually embraced new challenges while guiding the growth of others — a dedication now recognized with The MICHELIN Mentor Chef Award. His lifelong rigor as a craftsman and flexibility as a merchant form a dual legacy, carried forward to the chefs of the future.
The MICHELIN Mentor Chef Award is presented to chefs whose work and careers serve as exemplary models. It recognizes chefs who devote themselves to nurturing the next generation, who offer guidance with passion as mentors, and who contribute to the advancement of the restaurant industry.
Lessons from his father, guidance from his mother
It was his father who instilled in him the uncompromising discipline of a craftsman: the rigor of market sourcing, the precision of every movement at work and the refusal to allow shortcuts. His mother, by contrast, offered the perspective of a merchant — urging humility and never taking pride in the family’s long-established name. She would often remind him, “A restaurant that fails to nurture or guide its people is destined to decline.” From her he learned the indispensable value of cultivating human talent. Together, these two lessons became the twin pillars of his life’s journey — rigor and flexibility — carried forward to the next generation.
A Journey of tradition and innovation
Kanemoto never stood still in the face of changing times. One striking example was his creation of shirayaki — plain grilled unagi (freshwater eel) — topped with caviar and paired with chilled white wine. Surprising at first, the harmony proved remarkable, and the dish is still served today as a way of introducing guests to a new pleasure in eel.
Wishing to bring Nodaiwa’s flavors to customers farther afield, he also developed retort-packaged unagi products in the mid 1970s, which were rare at the time. He later decided to open a branch in Nihonbashi Takashimaya, taking a step forward in tune with a changing society.
Curiosity, passions and the pursuit of challenge
Another side of Kanemoto’s life has been shaped by curiosity and personal passions. He has traveled to France more than a hundred times, often driving himself across the country. His journeys were not limited to Paris, but extended to wineries, regional restaurants and even legendary Three MICHELIN Starred establishments such as Cheval Blanc and Pierre Gagnaire. So deep was his connection that he came to call France his “second home.”
At these temples of gastronomy, he was deeply impressed by how cuisine, service and ambiance could come together in harmony — a lesson he carried back to his own restaurant.
Even at the age of 80, he sought new horizons, climbing the Matterhorn and the Himalayas, driven by the wish to see what lay beyond the next peak. In his book Shōgai Unagi Shokunin: The Spirit and Craft of Nodaiwa’s Two Hundred Years, he reflected that life after eighty was a delight.
Such curiosity and vitality reveal a man who never settled into the comforts of heritage alone. They enriched his own journey while bringing fresh perspective to both his craft and the people he mentored.
Teachings passed on to the chefs of tomorrow
At the heart of Kanemoto’s philosophy lies an unshakable conviction: “A restaurant cannot endure unless it nurtures people.” Even now, he remains at the grill, watching young apprentices at their knives and offering words of guidance. True to the age-old Japanese saying, “Three years for skewering, eight years for cutting, and a lifetime for grilling,” he emphasizes that mastery cannot be rushed. Because habits, once formed, are hard to change, he prefers to train novices from the very beginning. For him, opening a new branch is never the goal but the natural outcome of raising people who are ready to carry the craft forward.
As well as identifying as a craftsman and a merchant, Kanemoto places great importance on his role as a manager. From day one, he has built the foundations of the restaurant through education while embodying a lifelong commitment to learning. Through study groups at home and abroad, professional associations and his many experiences in France, he came to value “the importance of looking beyond one’s own world,” and has woven that ethos into staff development. He invites his staff to dine at top restaurants so they can encounter cuisine, setting and service at the highest level, not for imitation but to absorb the genuine, “experience the real and make it your own.”
Newcomers at the restaurant are received with patience, their strengths carefully drawn out and nurtured. They are given the chance to encounter excellence, and in turn to grow — embodying the belief that a restaurant exists only when people are cultivated. This spirit has created an atmosphere of genuine kinship.
When Kanemoto steps to the grill, the atmosphere shifts. His presence unites the rigor of a lifelong craftsman with the gentle gaze of a mentor who has spent decades guiding others — qualities that define both his cooking and his legacy.
Top Image： © Hisashi Yoshino / Michelin
