The Hong Kong I grew up in was a city where Eastern and Western cultures existed in concentrated form within a single space. British order and Chinese vitality, along with the aesthetic sensibilities of people gathered from around the world — all coexisted within everyday life.

What that city taught me was this: places carry their own inherent quality, and those who inhabit them gradually take on that quality. Where you grow up determines what you find beautiful — that feeling is the origin of everything I do.

At sixteen I travelled to Europe, where I studied at a boarding school in Switzerland. In that environment at the foot of the Alps, I confronted for the first time the feeling of genuine richness.

European 'luxury' was not about spectacle. It was the quiet dignity of a century-old building. The silent morning dining room. A well-tended garden and spaces that made no demands — the finest things do not raise their voice. The years I spent in Switzerland imprinted that sensibility in me.

Entering UC Berkeley brought me into direct contact with some of the world's most refined luxury. The unhurried extravagance of a Napa Valley winery, the overwhelming dialogue with nature at a lodge perched on the cliffs of Big Sur, the meticulous artistry of a single dish pursued in San Francisco —

What California showed me was an uncompromising commitment to elevating the quality of experience. Not lavishness, but a serious and deliberate design for changing how a visitor thinks and feels. Knowing that standard in my bones became, upon returning to Japan, a deep conviction.