The West’s recent love affair with Japanese food has drawn attention to its impeccable culinary culture. And it’s becoming increasingly apparent Japanese chefs can cook just about any cuisine as well as, if not better than, the world’s best chefs. This ambitious spirit is alive – and blossoming – in Niseko.
There are a few world-class restaurants and other food businesses in Niseko that you will never read about in Powderlife. Not because we want to keep them a secret, but because their owners do. Cash jangling in the till isn’t what drives them. More than business people, they are shokunin.
The closest English translation for shokunin is artisan or craftsman, but it has a much deeper meaning in Japanese society. Shokunin don’t have just technical skills; they have a cultural imperative to achieve excellence and harmony in their craft for the general welfare of the people. They are perfectionists with their goal not necessarily profitability so much as fulfilling their role in society.
It’s a cultural trait that runs deep in Japanese society. This single-minded obligation to pursue perfection is one of the main reasons Japanese chefs are being recognised by their peers as the best not just in Japan, but the world. Upon publishing the first Michelin Guide to Tokyo in 2007, then Michelin head Jean-Luc Naret praised Japanese restaurants not only for their meticulously prepared food, but also for presentation and their unique hospitality. “They have a level of subtlety that we do not possess,” the Frenchman said. High praise indeed from the ultimate authority. There are now more three-star restaurants in Tokyo than there are in Paris.
Today, Japanese chefs cook almost every cuisine imaginable. And they’re no longer asking themselves how they can make their dishes more Japanese, or more faithful to the original. Instead, each restaurant creates its own unique take on a chosen cuisine, pioneering experimental flavours and presentations, and understanding the essence of a high-quality dining experience.
Niseko is at the forefront of a pioneering take on traditional French cuisine – Hokkaido French. This rural northern island is known as “the food bowl of Japan” and regional chefs are adding unique flair to their dishes with colourful, local, fresh, full-flavoured seasonal produce from both land and sea. When Michelin Guide visited Hokkaido in 2012, it awarded a star to two local French restaurants – Kamimura in Hirafu, and Maccarina in neighbouring Makkari. Fortunately their shokunin chefs are happy for us to write about them.
Maccarina’s founder Hiroshi Nakamichi, who trained in France in the 1970s, is leading the Hokkaido-French charge. Michelin awarded three stars to one his restaurants, the superb Molière in Sapporo, and a star to another of his restaurants Asperges in Biei in central Hokkaido. Last winter Nakamichi-san turned his attention towards Niseko, opening Asperges Hanazono at Hanazono.
Kamimura remains the only official Michelin-starred restaurant in Niseko until the guide’s next visit. Charismatic head chef Yuichi Kamimura (pictured above) initially resisted the call to follow his father’s footsteps and become a chef, before chancing upon an opportunity to apprentice under world-famous French-fusion chef Tetsuya Wakada in Sydney. The opportunity unearthed his creative flair and he determined to open his own French restaurant in Hokkaido. While unmistakably French in style, Kamimura-san admits his degustation menu is now less traditional and more influenced by the local landscape and ingredients from local farms.
Several other talented young chefs are taking up the next generation of Hokkaido French culture. Last season Kamimura installed long-time apprentice Tsuyoshi Kawaguchi as head chef at a new restaurant venture outside the ski resort in nearby Kutchan. And this season another French-trained local chef Kazuhiko Kojima takes up residence with his own restaurant in central Hirafu, Bistrot le cochon.