As I’m a musician and my biggest motivation is to entertain people, I’m on fire while working on this stage, this open kitchen, making ramen to our customers. Any musician would be thrilled to be playing on stage, yeah?

The best part is that I can interact with each customer face to face here from the kitchen. How could I move people through my music if I can’t even make people happy with ramen? It’s just my simple joy watching customer’s reaction after having a slurp with big satisfied smile, or getting reviews from customers who say she was impressed with the presentation I make ramen. For me it’s the same thing to play music toward audience and to offer a bowl to customers. Honestly I love watching people having a good time from this counter.

Many of our staffs partly work here to live while chasing dream to become a musician or an actor. Each of us is distinguished and unique in AFURI. We support, strengthen and brighten each other to make the best ramen and to be one and only ramen joint in Japan.

AFURI’s soup is super fragile beyond your imagination. If the temperature goes over the boiling point, delicate taste and smell die and clear shiny soup dim into cloudy liquid all at once. I know how difficult it is to secure the quality and taste of this soup as I used to work as a chef in other restaurant. We make a bowl of ramen as a team with entire staff who work in our company, not only with staff in each shop but also with the staff in central kitchen, right on foot of Mt. Afuri, preparing this subtle soup everyday. Then us, the staff in Tokyo, will take part presenting that sensitive bowl to our guest with a warmest welcome from our heart.

Once I have had a hard time as a shop manager still having the aspect of the artisan chef-spirit. I couldn’t share the feelings of gratitude to team, which made my members fell apart. However thanks to the advice I got from the manager of another branch, ultimately I found the way to make through and learned how to configure our staffs into a piece as a team. And here I am, still enchanted working here toward my dream that one day in my life having my own shop like AFURI!

Why did I start working at AFURI? Well, firstly I was one of the huge fan of AFURI and I liked the style staff works here… they weren’t wearing the long rain boots which other ramen shops usually wear as uniform. That was how easy I began working here without goals or anything in my life. Everyday was a hustle then as AFURI was right after incubating in town. Most of the days and weeks, our staffs were spending time together literally 24-7…

Then somehow at some point, I had a feeling like “Damn, I really want to work more with these guys!”. It was simply that fun for me and they meant for me like extended family. By watching my working attitude after while, our boss finally admitted for me being fulltime-worker. Since then, AFURI has keep giving me chances to challenge, which rock my life! After 2 months being a fulltime worker, I was appointed to a position of manager at Harajuku shop. It was a mission I’ve never expected. Me? Managing people who merely can manage myself? I got to say I wasn’t doing well at all for while, treating my shop’s staff illogically unsparing. But then my senior team member never gave up on me by training with full-trust. I felt lucky being a part of this team.

With being in charge of 2 shops now, Nakameguro and Sangenjaya, I always question myself, “Am I getting closer to a role model of our team?” not to forget the picture of my “ideal manager”. Now we are on the path, climbing the Mount of AFURI step by step as a united-team… and I can’t wait for next step ahead!