Congratulations on winning the EAT JAPAN Sushi Awards 2011! Can you tell us about your winning entry and the inspiration behind it?

The name of my sushi entry was "Precious memories". It wasn¡Çt a very traditional type of sushi. I wanted to create something alternative and new. I¡Çm from Nagano and my mother has an Italian restaurant there, so I grew up with lots of Italian ingredients. I used that as my inspiration and tried using a lot of Italian ingredients to create something unique.

We understand that you were the first ever female Japanese sushi chef to take part in the awards ceremony. Is it rare to find female Japanese sushi chefs in Japan and other countries?

Yes, but not as difficult as before. I left Japan 11 years ago but I believe that now in Japan there are more female sushi chefs. I trained here in England to be a sushi chef.

You have over a decade of experience as a Japanese chef in the UK. What made you decide to move here?

I wanted to learn English so that¡Çs why I came here first. I came here when I was a student and had to work somewhere. I thought that cooking was probably the only thing I could do. Since I was 10 years old I always helped at my family¡Çs restaurant in Japan. I used to cook with my mum all the time. We cooked dishes such as pizza and spaghetti.

What have you discovered about British peoples¡Ç tastes with regards to Japanese food, and what have you found to be the most popular dishes?

Sushi is very popular now! But I think before people didn¡Çt really like to eat raw fish. Now many people have tried it through sushi and it¡Çs very popular. Also tempura! I think British people especially like the texture of crispiness and crunchiness. Things with teriyaki sauce are also popular. I think British people tend to like things with a strong flavour. If something doesn¡Çt have strong seasoning I often see people adding a lot of soy sauce, for example!

In the UK we have a lot of traditional food for Christmas time whereas Japanese people have more traditional dishes at New Year. Could you tell us about the seasonal dishes that are served at this time of year?

At Christmas in Japan there are no traditional dishes, just party food. Anything goes! But for New Year we have osechi ryori which is very nice! There are lots of traditional dishes such as kazunoko (herring roe), kamaboko (broiled fish cake), and kuro mame (black soybeans). Osechi ryori uses lots of seasonal vegetables, and colours are very important. For example kohaku-namasu is a dish made of daikon and carrots which are pickled in sweet vinegar. The dish is ¡Æred and white¡Ç, which are special colours for times of celebration in Japan. In fact all dishes at New Year have special meanings, which are often plays on words. The kazunoko (herring roe) is associated with a wish for many children since kazu means number and ko means child. Mochi (rice cake) is also traditionally eaten on the first day of the New Year in soup. But it is a different kind from the usual miso soup.

It¡Çs difficult to find the ingredients to prepare this kind of food here in the UK but at our restaurant we do import ingredients from Japan to make a special osechi ryrori menu that runs after Christmas and into the New Year. I recommend British people to try osechi ryori for a different style of Japanese food. Even for me as a Japanese person, there are many Japanese dishes I didn¡Çt like but it¡Çs worth trying them. After trying a few times you get used to it and Japanese food is very healthy, so it¡Çs good for you!