Taka Watanabe has been making sushi for over 20 years. He arrived in the U.S. in 1986 from his native Brazil, where he was raised by Japanese parents but educated in Portuguese. His parents instilled in him a love of good food, and cooking. He remembers fondly watching his mother make sushi for the family on special occasions. As soon as he arrived in the Bay Area, he immediately found work in a Japanese restaurant, where he quickly learned to make sushi. In 1989, he met and married his wife, Susan, and shortly thereafter, relocated to Sacramento.