The Yamato Spirit
Changing the status quo of noodle-making, sustaining local communities, and making people smile
At Yamato, we believe that success can only be achieved by putting our heart and soul into every task at hand. We have learned how to pour love into what we create from someone who leads by example.
Meet our CEO, Kaoru Fujii, the man responsible for changing the status quo of noodles and sustaining local communities, while bringing smiles everywhere he goes. Mr. Fujii is a pioneer in noodle-making, with 40 years of experience studying the noodle business.
Mr. Fujii is a proud proponent of the Yamato Spirit, a long-forgotten philosophy that engenders perseverance and inclusive teaching. Learning to make delicious, authentic noodles is something that anyone can achieve. This is reinforced through his lectures which emphasize a holistic understanding of the art of noodle-making.
A Message From Our CEO
Over the past 20 years, I’ve conducted noodle schools and delivered countless lectures across the world. With appearances on a variety of media channels and several published books, I’ve amassed a wealth of knowledge about the noodle business that I aim to share with aspiring food entrepreneurs.
I do this by advising over 200 udon and ramen restaurants while traveling across the world every year. Having watched the trajectories of many great restaurants that have opened and closed over the past few decades, I understand what is crucial for long-term success in this industry. It is this know-how that I wish to impart to every single student attending my noodle schools.
On Teaching Excellence
Some of the things I strongly emphasize through my teachings are management principles, philosophy, and different views on life and death. Since I am serious about helping everyone gain what they need in order to realize long-term prosperity, I do not allow students to approach my lessons with a half-hearted attitude.
Instead, I aim to inculcate the Yamato Spirit of all-around perseverance and dedication – a philosophy that is sadly no longer taught and is largely forgotten in Japan. I believe that if one abides by this principle, no hardship can trump your goals. Business efforts of all kinds simply fall flat when there’s no passion in one’s heart.
Building Communities
“The key to a prosperous life is an enduring sense of passion and the state of our heart.”
I wish prosperity upon all the business owners, restaurant employees, and students I’ve met. But in order to prosper, a stable and enduring passion for the craft is required. The era of “all-I-care-about-is-my-own-profit” is long over. Rather, our focus is on teaching aspiring restaurants how they can offer patronage to local farmers, work with producers of seafood ingredients, and give joy to local residents.
Through our noodle school, we urge our students to discover the missions of their businesses. We are probably the only school in the noodle industry that preaches along these lines. But I think it is this way of thinking that has allowed Yamato noodle school to produce exemplary students who’ve gone on to open prosperous noodle restaurants across the world.
Our holistic philosophy has helped us hold the top position in Japan’s small noodle machinery industry. We further aim to develop networks of noodle school graduates to create a socially engaged community that can share its findings with other learners. Recently, I’ve even seen traditional farmers starting udon or ramen restaurants, and we are happy to support them.
The end of the training period is not goodbye for us since we are determined to foster lifetime relationships with our students. I am serious about transforming my students into better cooks and helping them grow more capable of creating joy through what they offer. That is one of our schools’ primary missions.
We are a diverse company with people from different cultural backgrounds, across all ages, and with different kinds of experiences. We value our differences. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to begin to understand and appreciate what people in different countries aspire towards.
Discovering The Science Behind Tasty Noodles
Ever since Yamato was first founded, I’ve been researching different tastes and flavors of noodles, soups, and other dishes at our food labs. This is because I believe that cooking is a kind of science and it is essential to know why something tastes good, scientifically.
This will aid us in our goal to teach and spread wonderful Japanese culture and delicious noodle recipes to the rest of the world. Unless we can explain the taste and deliciousness in scientific terms, we cannot fulfill this dream.
Changing the status quo of noodles, sustaining local communities, and bringing joy to society gives me energy.
Thank you.
CEO, Kaoru Fujii
About Kaoru Fujii
Kaoru Fujii is the CEO of Yamato MFG Co., Ltd. and Sansyo Co., Ltd. and has over four decades of experience consistently studying the noodle business and advising noodle restaurants across the world.
Mr. Fujii is currently engaged in numerous projects, helping noodle restaurants and businesses.
He has a great amount of media coverage to his credit and has written and published several books and ebooks on the management of noodle specialty shops at various scales, all while directing operations at Yamato MFG and Sansyo.
Yamato Noodle Machine
Our most advanced noodle machine for restaurant use and small production. Find out how your business can benefit by using one. Schedule a private demo or take a quiz to find out which machine is the best for you.
Noodle School
At Yamato, we conduct comprehensive classes where professionals and non-professionals are taught everything they need to start their own noodle business. Our courses cover production techniques, operations, and management.
GoldenEgg machine
Many businesses struggle with peeling boiled eggs in a short amount of time and lose many eggs due to damage caused during hand-peeling. The GoldenEgg machine helps minimize this waste by automating the job. Your businesses can make more money by minimizing waste and producing more boiled eggs.
Online Noodle Class
Enjoy free online noodle classes taught by noodle experts. You can watch older recordings with many new classes coming up on different subjects of noodle cuisine. You will be better equipped to earn the loyalty of raving fans for your business.
Noodle Master Labs
Over the past 45 years, Yamato has dedicated itself to diversifying and improving the quality of noodles our production methods create. Our noodle master labs discuss a variety of noodle-making methods, soup-making, knowledge of noodle cuisines, etc.
Visit Yamato
We have physical locations in different parts of the world where you can not only check out our noodle machines but also try fresh noodles made on Yamato noodle machines. You can also learn how to make great noodles from scratch.