Yuko Sakurai

Macrobiotic Cooking School Lima main campus instructor
Macrobiotic Cooking School Lima Fujigaoka branch (Nagomi) founder
Graduate of Macrobiotic Cooking School Lima Master’s program, certified instructor, certified medical chef.

Yuko was born in Hong Kong and raised there until the age of 6. During that time, the sight of mothers and children begging on the streets due to the wealth disparity in Hong Kong remained in her head, leading her to research wealth disparity and inequality during her times when she was a university student. Yuko’s research focused on Bhutan’s “Gross National Happiness” which even lead her to travel to Bhutan to investigate, continuously questioning what true wealth and happiness mean. After becoming an adult, she quit her job and went to a graduate program in the Philippines, continuing her research on street children (child labor) while doing observation in the streets and slums. She works towards world peace from the perspective of these socially vulnerable children, wishing to protect them from danger, free them from hunger, and provide them with education. read more…

Patricio Garcia de Paredes

Patricio Garcia de Paredes
Born in 1970 in Spain, Patricio was raised on the Mediterranean island of Formentera, which still preserves a natural environment suitable for self-sufficient living. At the age of five, he began following a macrobiotic lifestyle after his mother successfully improved her severe kidney disease, which had left doctors at a loss, through macrobiotics.

After immigrating to the United States and graduating from high school, Patricio traveled the world and realized the necessity of macrobiotics for solving problems such as poverty, conflicts, and diseases. He studied macrobiotics under the guidance of Michio and Aveline Kushi at the Kushi Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and Becket. Subsequently, he traveled through the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia as a freelance macrobiotic instructor, giving lectures, working as a restaurant chef, private chef, coach, and consultant. read more…

Yukari Isogai

Yukari was born in Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture. From a young age, she has had a strong desire to know the “truth”. However, she continued to have the question of what exactly the “truth” is.

During her troubled middle school years, she made the decision not to go to university because she was concerned that if she just went to school, she would become a “machine gear,” and if she continued to study in the current way, she would become a man. She spent a relatively fulfilling adolescence.

Yukari was told from the beauty school teacher to eat brown rice, and from the language school teacher, to stop eating sugar, and at the age of 22, she started wanting brown rice. At that time, she came across a book, “Introduction to Proper Brown Rice Eating”, and learned about yin and yang, and why not to eat four-legged animals, and was shocked. She finally realized that the truth she had been seeking all this time was this. Thinking this is her way to go, she studied under Hideo Omori and got married to Masahiro Isogai, who was Hideo’s follower, at the age of 25. Yukari gave birth to three sons and three daughters, four of them at home in the city and two in the countryside. When she lived in Tokyo, she ran a cooking school. At 36 years old, when she had her fifth child, Yukari started the Macrobiotic Wado in Tomioka City, Gunma Prefecture with her husband. She provides meals and smiles to many people with health problems. read more…

Yasko Ojima

While living in Sydney, Australia, Yasko’s family caught some illness, which led her to study nutrition, natural therapy, and massage. While living in Sydney, she she unexpectedly discovered a macrobiotic cafe called “MACRO” nearby, had the opportunity to work there, and experienced the joy of macrobiotics.
After returning to Japan, she began studying in a leadership program at the Kushi Institute in the United States. The following year, she learned macrobiotics from experienced leaders in Japan, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
While leading the macrobiotic cooking class “Mirai Kitchen – A Way of Life – ,” she works as a macrobiotic instructor and private chef both domestically and internationally, spreading the greatness of traditional Japanese cuisine and fermented foods. read more…

Tomoo Takakuwa

Head of the Yukikazu Sakurazawa Data Room
Born in 1970, Tomoo unintentionally joined the Japan CI Association in 2001, where he was impressed by Yukikazu Sakazawa’s yin and yang philosophy. He decided to serve as an assistant to Hideo Omori. After becoming a freelancer and going independent, Tomoo became involved in setting up and running the Yukikazu Sakurazawa Data Room in 2011. read more…

Tomoko Murai

Around 2010, due to a family illness, Tomoko started to seriously consider what I should do to live a healthy life, and started to read works by Toru Ano, Takaho Watayo, etc.
Through her daily meals, she searched for ways to become healthy both physically and mentally, which led her to encountering macrobiotics. Tomoko studied and graduated from the Lima Cooking School of the Japanese CI Association, where I learned up to the level of a teacher (now the Master Course). While studying at the cooking school, I also started to volunteer at the Yukikazu Sakurazawa Data Room and began organizing activities for Yukikazu Sakurazawa’s works. read more…

Tamaki Sakurazawa

Host of the Macrobiotic Cooking School
Catering & On-site Cooking

Certified Macrobiotic Cooking School Instructor
Senior Instructor of Yamamura Juku
Concierge of Kushi Macrobiotics
Food Safety Manager
Oki Yoga-style Kanda Family Yoga Instructor
Managed the Macrobiotic Cafe Amrita in Oshiage from 2014 to 2017
Worked as opening staff in the kitchen at Bio-terrace Organica Hakone in 2018
Teaches all aspects of food including Macrobiotic French cooking. read more…

Takeshi Hatano

Takeshi Hatano (nicknamed Tao-san)
Representative director of the TAO Juku General Incorporated Association and food ecologist.
Graduate of Kumamoto University Graduate School (Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding).

After being inspired by the holistic medicine due to the death of his grandmother, Takashi Hatano, delved into Eastern philosophy and medicine. He studied macrobiotics at the Japan CI Association and the Seishoku Association, obtained a national license as an acupuncturist, and worked as a staff member at the Kushi Institute in the United States. After traveling through Europe without money, he returned to his hometown Oguni and founded the TAO Juku School. After, Takeshi subsequently collaborated with medical professionals to organize the TAO Retreat and TAO Food Education Garden, which focuses on healing the mind and body. read more…

Takeji Saito

Born in 1935 in Kasukabe city, Saitama prefecture, Takeji now lives in Saitama city. In the autumn of his third year of high school, he was given the book “Eternal Boy” (written by Yukikazu Sakurazawa) by his teacher, Mr. Yorifumi Tsukada, and was impressed by the view of seeing things through food and became captivated by the fascinating nature of the Musou Principle. From the following January, Takeji began working to improve his food life at home. However, he was not understood by his family and, at 19 years old, left his house and entered the “Maison Ignoramus” led by Yukikazu Sakurazawa in Yoyogi Nishi-hara, Shibuya-ku. He first worked as a kitchen helper and then, after half a year of experience selling food and books at the agency, he got involved in editing the newspaper “World Government,” which was his lifelong goal along with Yoshimi Climac. read more…

Shugo Nanabayashi

Born in Tokyo in 1984, Shugo was raised by parents who practiced macrobiotics. From elementary school to university graduation, he brought brown rice bento lunches to school.
At the age of 15, Shugo became interested in macrobiotic food and began incorporating its principles into his life.
After completing a Master’s degree in business management, he joined the Japan CI Association and worked in magazine editing, learning about macrobiotics around the world.
Along with Yasuhiko Katsumata, the President of the Japan CI Association, and Tomoo Takakuwa, the current director of the Sakurazawa Research Center, Shugo helped establish the Sakurazawa Research Center and worked to organize Sakurazawa’s materials. After transferring to Ohsawa Japan, he mainly engaged in trade operations and worked as a intermediator for macrobiotics with oversea countries.
In 2011, following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear contamination crisis, Shugo worked to propose a solution to the issue using the approach of macrobiotics. This led to the publication of “Cool Fusion” (Low-Energy Nuclear Transmutation) by Edward Esko and Alex Jack of the American Kushi Institute. In response, he translated and published a Japanese version of the book from AMA Japan, which his father was responsible for. read more…