Koji Koizumi

The Climb

Apprenticeship in a close kitchen is measured less by title than by access to decisions. Early in his career, Koji Koizumi worked as right-hand man to Chef Hideki Ishikawa in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, Japan (until 2008), a position built on repetition, timing, and the ability to read service before being asked. Kagurazaka supplied a focused setting for that formation, but the craft lesson was inside the restaurant’s daily mechanics. At Ishikawa, Koizumi worked near enough to the center of the operation to see how menu, room, and chef’s intent have to move as one system. The role demanded attention before expression: watching, anticipating, supporting, and developing judgment through use. Taking over a former mentor’s room changes the nature of the work without erasing its source. In 2008, Koizumi became chef and owner of Kohaku (since 2008) in the former Ishikawa space, after Hideki Ishikawa moved his restaurant. Kohaku made the apprenticeship visible in a different form: not imitation, not rejection, but ownership of the standards that had shaped him.

Today

Chef-ownership requires the craft to pass through operations every day. As chef and owner of Kohaku (since 2008), Koji Koizumi works in the same physical setting that once held his years beside Chef Hideki Ishikawa, now with the responsibility for the restaurant’s name, decisions, and continuity. The present work at Kohaku is defined by a precise change in duty. What had once meant serving another chef’s direction became the task of building and maintaining his own. The room did not require a break from lineage; it required Koizumi to convert learned discipline into a restaurant with its own authority.

Signature

Wagyu beef with uni places two high-impact ingredients in the same frame, so the work is in control rather than excess. Koji Koizumi’s named signature depends on the meeting of Wagyu beef’s depth with uni’s marine intensity, a pairing that leaves little room for loose handling.

In Their Words “Don’t over-think. Do what I can for now, diligently. Innovation is born from the cumulation of day-to-day activities.”

Recognition

Michelin recognition for Kohaku stands as a trade marker of consistency at the restaurant Koji Koizumi built in the former Ishikawa space. His honors include Two Michelin stars for Kohaku.