About Japan's hidden gems
About Akatsuki
I spent 22 years helping Japan sell to the world.
I was looking in the wrong direction.
The story behind Nippon Treasures — and why I finally turned around.
Where I come from
My name is Akatsuki — "dawn" in Japanese. The name was given to me by my late grandmother, and I've tried to live up to it ever since.
I grew up in Marugame, in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. You may not know Kagawa. Most people don't. But epidemiologists do — it sits within one of the world's five Blue Zones, the regions where people consistently live longer, healthier lives than almost anywhere else on earth. I grew up surrounded by that, and didn't think twice about it.
At 20, I left for Portland State University in Oregon — five years that became a second home. Then 9/11 happened, and the career path I'd imagined in the US quietly closed. I came back to Japan.
"I got very good at helping Japan sell to the world. What I wasn't doing was looking at what was right beneath my feet."
What followed was two decades building a regional manufacturer's export operations from zero — across more than 80 countries, with subsidiaries in the US, Singapore, Thailand, and the Netherlands. I understood what the world wanted from Japan. I just hadn't understood what Japan had quietly been building for itself.
The turning point
In early 2025, that chapter ended. And in the stillness that followed, I finally started to see what I'd been standing on all along.
The fermented foods my mother made without thinking. The way the elderly men in my neighbourhood walked — slowly, deliberately, every morning without fail. The tea rituals. The skincare passed down through generations. The quiet practices that keep people here sharp, calm, and alive into their 90s.
Japan didn't stumble into longevity. It worked at it — quietly, methodically, over 40 years — as the world's first super-aged society. The rest of the world is only now facing the questions Japan has already answered.
I spent 22 years as a bridge between Japan and the world. I just had the direction wrong.
What Nippon Treasures is
Every week I write about one thing — a food, a habit, a product, a practice — rooted in this extraordinary corner of Japan. Not trends. Not listicles. Real things, with real stories, explained by someone who grew up here, left, and came back with new eyes.
Healthspan
Foods, habits, and wisdom that add life to your years. The fermented foods, the movement rituals, the daily choices Japan has refined over generations.
Beauty
Skincare that honours both tradition and science. Pharmaceutical-grade Japanese cosmetics and COSMOS Organic practices developed for the world's most demanding standards.
Mindfulness
Objects, rituals, and ways of thinking that bring clarity to daily life. Not meditation apps — the art of pouring tea, folding clothes, walking with intention.