Five accomplished chefs gather for a two-day workshop to create new sushi concepts

On October 20, Shiawase Design, a public–private partnership organization working with Toyama Prefecture (based in Hasumachi, Toyama City), held a two-day workshop titled Umi–Yama Fermentation Lab at Minato Kitchen, a shared kitchen located within Shinminato Fishing Port. The workshop was organized as part of the Japan Tourism Agency’s Sea Sushi, Mountain Sushi Gastronomy Project and brought together chefs from across Toyama Prefecture.

The mission of the workshop was clear: to create new forms of sushi inspired by Toyama’s ingredients and food culture, shaped by a dramatic 4,000-meter (about 13,000 feet) elevation range that stretches from the Tateyama Mountain Range to Toyama Bay. Notably, the participants were not limited to traditional sushi chefs. Instead, chefs from a variety of culinary backgrounds were invited to explore sushi in a broader sense, reexamining its possibilities as a food culture rather than a fixed culinary form.