What would kind of response would you give as the superior to your employee coming in 20 minutes late saying,"I am sorry I am late?" Would you shout and scold with anger? There is one boss here who will call out in worry to his employee first,"is everything alright?" When informed of the situation by the staff, the reason was that his cat delivered kittens this morning and he had to take care of the kittens. This boss' happy response is "how many born in the litter?" I sense this is a difficult response to give as a superior. Yet, one word that a boss can give to an employee can change the mood for the entire day, and wouldn"t it be largely thought to have an influence on one's work? Chef Akira, who has even provided meals for Japan's emperor, talks of his philosophy that "if we come to work together for a day, then I want us to move our minds together for a day," and thinks that a boss has to pass on the spirit of "wanting to give it your all," which, on the contrary, some might think makes people feel less motivated or incompetent. The owner chef featured in this article believes that certainly one�fs experience can serve as a foundation in cooking, but we'll find out this time about the importance of the spirit of deep thoughtfulness and caring amongst him and the staff with whom he works.

Akira is both a chef and businessman, and is business partners with a fellow staff member. He emphasizes the importance of a staffs' learning to take on a role as a team member but also educating in the foundations of understanding individually to each employee. Akira is a warm and caring owner, as he shares all of the joys with all of the staff when there are good events, and acknowledges honestly his responsibility when he makes mistakes even as the boss, and this influences his employees to do the same. His mental attitude is "Akira-style," where working with staff is to gradually raise their level of abilities, by starting out speaking in easy to understand explanations, matching his words with the level of understanding and experience of the trainee. This is how he passes on what he learned and experienced in his personal training. Akira is a truly learned and enthusiastic man, as he is always working to expand his understanding of the situation by holding weekly meetings to pass out in-store information as well as support one another in knowing what's going in the outside world. He supports his staff in positively directing them and showing them his own deep sense of contemplation and caring about the store and in the way he relates to the customers. His idea is to always show sincerity to the customer and make sure they go home satisfied. One very attractive gesture as an employer is that, once a year, Akira will rent out a restaurant on otherwise a usual workday the store and throw a big party for the staff and their hard work throughout the year. He believes in expressing his gratitude to all of his employees by being able to take a usual workday and turn it into a holiday or suddenly make it unnecessary to show up for work and give someone a day off.

It is hard to take the focus off of someone like Akira, nicknamed the "Chef of Flavor," who believes in always learning as much as possible for the development of the cuisine world and for improving the path of enlightenment for others and him. "Maison Akira," the restaurant of the wonderful chef Akira, is definitely worth a visit.