Who is Ryu Aomi? Introduction of the foodie running this website!

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I've been asked questions about myself and I couldn't really answer some of them. 
So, I gave some thought to why I started the Ryu Aomi blog, and what I look forward to getting out of this journey!

 Can you tell me about yourself?

I was born in Shonan, next to the sea just south of Tokyo in Japan.

The meaning of my name is “Ryu=龍” which means dragon, and "Aomi=青海" meaning blue ocean.

I'm born in the year of the dragon, and in Chinese myth, blue dragon is one of the most important dragons. Water has a lot to do with our values and beliefs in Japan, too, which makes it a good name to have.

Aomi comes from the fact that I like blue and the ocean, as I was born and raised near the ocean. I like the smell and the sound of it. 

Blue ocean also means you are aiming the opposite of red ocean, where there is less competition and you are aiming towards uniqueness, not aiming at winning a race.




I like the manga "One Piece." I'm fascinated with the idea of the cook of the pirate group Sanji. He is on a journey with Luffy the captain to find the "All Blue" where all seafood from the 4 Blues= refers to the ocean (North, South, East, and West Blue) meet.

I'm also on the drive to find the "All Blue" in the real world, or perhaps on the internet.

Video by Shin Yamazaki

You don't look Japanese lol And why is your English so good?

Well, I'm pure Japanese lol When I was 8 years old I moved to San Francisco and spent 7 years there till I came back to Japan. My mother still lives in Silicon Valley, so I visit her once in a while, too. I've worked as an interpreter and translator flying back and forth between Singapore, Japan, and Europe.

Gabriel from Singapore who was a private banker and the owner of an online media, Savour BlacBookAsia, helped me a lot in learning a Singapore business mindset on top of English, which I am so thankful for.

You've started a food blog.  Why food and can you tell me your story on this?

Well, cooking is in my blood as all of my family members cook, even my two grandpas.
So naturally, I became a foodie too. Experimenting and the pairing of the food and drinks that sometimes make 1+1=3 or 4 or even 100, fascinates me.

All I think about is food related, so it's kind of silly I didn't start this kind of food blog earlier.

I actually couldn't decide on my career path for a long time.
But when I met Kamimura, a Michelin chef in Niseko, it really changed.
I lived with his family and his sommelier for a winter season, and he really opened my door to wine pairings and I really took off into food related projects since then..
Can't thank him enough.



I just found out that my former boss when I was a writer started a wine trade business GUBI GUBI in Amsterdam, selling Japanese vin natur.

My dream is to start a trading business making Rotterdam and Fukuoka the hub of a food trade business in between Europe and Japan, so I was really happy to see the start of Gubi Gubi.

Life is really becoming more interesting than ever for me :)

Do you often make plans for your life? What is your plan for the next 5 years?

I think it’s a mix of plans and spontaneity. But yes I plan to travel to countries that have a high reputation in food in the next few years and will be developing a content business out of this travel.


The country list is:
  • Asia: Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, and India
  • Middle East: Turkey, hopefully, Lebanon
  • Africa: Ethiopia, Tanzania
  • Europe: Italy, France, Portugal, Spain,
  • North/ Latin America: Chile, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Louisiana, and California.
The main purpose is to find out distinct flavors from Japanese cuisine. If anybody knows any country that is very different from other cuisines, please DM me :)

You said you travel everywhere in this world. Which country do you want to stay in longer and why?


So far, I want to travel to find out for myself where the most interesting food culture is, and I want to start staying long-term for the trading business.

In 5 years, I dream of going back and forth to these countries.
  • France 3 months
  • San Francisco 3 months
  • Japan 3 months
  • somewhere new 3 months.
Currently, Vietnam is a country that amazes me with its food culture, and would love to stay longer.

Do you regret any things in your life? What is it?

I might have taken the private banking job offer I got from a Swiss and Singaporean Bank. I declined the offer because I didn't think I was capable of doing well in the job, but now I can understand why the bank was telling me I will suit the job well.

But generally no regrets. I had so many good experiences happen to me because I declined the job, too. No point regretting or wishing to go back to a place or time you can't :)

What is your biggest fear? How do you overcome it?

Being stressed. I have very little resistance to stress and used to get emotionally destroyed quite easily. I structured my life to be able to have stress in the first place, took quite a lot of work and time but definitely worth it :)

Would you say you have a different mindset from the other Japanese in terms of mindset and point of view..?

Perhaps yes, I'm more of an "in-between" of Japanese, American, French, and Singaporean... I was probably influenced by the countries I spent the most time in :) I'm very thankful that they shaped me into who I am right now.

Especially for the Japanese, Japan is an extremely comfortable place to live in, and our values are very different from other countries as the culture developed on its own while we closed the ports to the world for a long time.

So personally I love to interact with people outside of Japan, but it also makes sense to me that the majority of the Japanese prefer to stay in their comfort zones, there's nothing wrong with that. They have their own way of pursuing happiness, which I'm glad I was able to see.

Which field are you good at?

Probably Relationship Management. I’m really good at collecting data and ideas that fit clients' needs. That's probably why I did fairly well in the writing world quickly after getting the job offer without experience out of nowhere. My clients and friends tell me my translations and writings from EN to JP are of very good quality. That's probably the main thing I'm good at.

Can you tell me about your achievements in your life and work?

Hmm… Difficult to answer. I have moms, friends, mentors, and people who support me across the world when I need help, and that means the world to me. Trying to keep being foolish, inspire people, and grow from each other.

I always try to do only the works that I genuinely want to, work with the people I want to, and work in the place I want to. If that's met and I am happy at the end of the day. It involved a tremendous amount of hard work, failures, and sacrifices but there are moments when I feel it was worth all of this.

Did you meet any difficulties when living in the US because you are Japanese?

Yes, there is definitely racism and that is one of the reasons I prefer having my main base in Asia. But, generally speaking, Japanese are lucky to be Japanese. A lot of people were nice to me from the beginning because I'm Japanese, and I really need to thank my ancestors for this. Well, even if I face racism I try not to think of it as a difficulty, it’s a challenge or opportunity to grow and embrace what’s happening :)

Any other comments for your readers before we wrap this up?


I think the internet helps us to access potential friends that have similar values. I do meet food enthusiasts wherever I am, but the internet enhances this, which is one of the art of this blog.

In Japan we have a quote "rui was tomo wo yobu"=類は友を呼ぶ meaning "The same type attracts friends that are similar types."

People say I'm too crazy when it comes to food, but I happen to get along with crazy chefs well lol I'm amazed by the passion put into the dishes, like the prosciutto I was a big fan of in a Japanese Restaurant in Vancouver, Dosanko or the Hokkaido Hotate poele and tart ice cream from Kitchen in Niseko. I used to frequently visit the chef's opinion on my experiment on the best-tasting ramen egg or the matcha espresso which was so much fun.

I hope I get to find friends that are passionate about food culture, and this will lead to meetups and the exchange of food information that will help the world to be a little happier :) Look forward to spending time with you, future friends!




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