The Most Important Person (in Japanese Food) You’ve Never Heard Of

Saori Kawano, who stocks both traditional and modern Japanese knives, and has converted many American chefs to the latter. — Photo: Cole Saladino/The New York Times

When Saori Kawano arrived in New York City in 1978 from Yokohama, most Americans’ ideas of Japanese food ended at instant ramen and onion volcanoes. Since then, if you’ve enjoyed hand-cut soba noodles or an omakase dinner, or admired the graceful curves of a rice bowl or the flash of a Japanese knife blade, you can probably thank her.

Kawano is the founder and owner of Korin Inc., an importer of knives, kitchen tools and tableware from Japan that has become a place of pilgrimage for restaurateurs since opening in 1982. It’s the main US supplier for big-name chefs like Nobu Matsuhisa, Daniel Boulud, Masaharu Morimoto and Eric Ripert; restaurants like Buddakan, Sugarfish and Eleven Madison Park; and hotel chains like the Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental.