About Our Staff

Katsuhiro Yamasaki, Executive Chef & Owner
His root comes from two parts, one from a cozy sushi restaurant that his parents ran in Wakayama and another from Kitcho, one of the highest Kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, Japan where he began his chef career. He learned the most fundamentals of the perfection of Japanese cuisine from these two different styles of restaurants. After 13 years of extensive experience as a chef in Japan, he came to the Bay Area with his wife, Mayumi, and started to work at a busy sushi restaurant, former Toshi’s Sushiya, that was later changed to a Japanese Kaiseki restaurant, Kaygetsu, in Menlo Park. His superb skill and experience as a Kaiseki chef has contributed to the reputation of Kaygetsu as follows:
* San Francisco Chronicle's 2007 Top 100 Bay Area Restaurant
* 2007 Zagat Survey San Francisco Bay Area,
TOP 1 Japanese Restaurant (28 points for food)
* 2008 Michelin Guide, San Francisco

Mika Kawasaki, Chef & Kitchen Manager
Born in a family with three generations of renowned history for serving Japanese cuisine (her late grandfather was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun for his superiority as a chef), she has accumulated extensive experience in food service industry both in the US and Japan. Now she has decided to join Wakuriya to further pursue her passion to evangelize real Japanese cuisine to the world.

Mayumi Yamasaki, Floor Manager
Mayumi started her career at Kitcho in Kyoto, Japan. There she learned the basic technique to serve authentic Japanese cuisine with real Japanese hospitality in her mind. She further develop her experience at Toshi’s Sushiya and Kaygetsu after she came to the US with her husband, Katsuhiro.

Hiroaki Masuda, Co-Owner
Since he came to the Bay Area in 1988, he has traveled worldwide and enjoyed eating wide variety of food globally. This massive experience on food, together with his love for sake and wine, finally has let him realize the real value of Japanese cuisine. He is supporting kitchen and floor members from backside.