i. Biography
Hiroshi Kawashima is the owner chef of akordu, a modern Spanish restaurant in Nara, Japan. He was born in Tokyo on August 19, 1971, graduated from Osaka Tsuji Culinary Institute, and worked at Tokyo Hotel Seiyo Ginza, Hotel Okura Tokyo, Asao Garden in Kanagawa, and Kyoto Century Hotel before moving to Spain at age 33 to train at Mugaritz in the Basque Country. He opened akordu with his wife Yuki in June 2008; the restaurant later reopened in Nara in 2016 after the original site closed in 2014.
