Sensei of Slurp: Making Soba with a Master

We met Akila Inouye at the entrance to Tsukiji Fish Market bright and early on Tuesday morning. Within minutes, we knew we were going to have trouble keeping pace with this guy. He had darted ahead of us, racing from stand to stand, comparing prices, and buying everything we were going to need. Throughout the day, he never slowed down… and I don’t think we ever really caught up.

Akila Inouye is a master soba chef and founder of the Tsukiji Soba Academy, which trains both professionals and dete...