Justin Potts

After teaching in higher education and helping redefine the style of play that Japan was sharing internationally, fate (?) brought him to the significantly better-half of Potts.K, and closer to local/rural food, culture, lifestyle, and most significantly - local saké - flowing throughout Japan.

Directing food, agri, sake-centric projects for the better part of a decade, the vision of Potts.K finally began to coalesce in 2016.

Currently 3 brewing seasons in at the boutique and slightly off-kilter Kidoizumi, crafting funky, natural, and aged sake. Working with other breweries and sake-producing regions on communication and Sake Tourism development in the off-season.

Certified sakasho (酒匠 - master of sake, for lack of a better equivalent) by Japan's Sake Service Institute, of which there are only about 300 (as of Jan. 2017), and apparently, only the 2nd non-Japanese to hold this certification. A nihonshu gakukoshi (日本酒学講師 - Japan Sake Service Institute certified Sake Instructor), of which there are not too many of those, as well.

Currently designing sake-centric living through travel, dining, education, and family. Based in Isumi.

Miyuki Iwasawa

The significantly more talented, well-grounded, indispensable better-half of Potts.K. Raised in a local udon and bento kitchen in Kanagawa, Japan, Miyuki's slightly uncanny sense for the nature of the kitchen has allowed her to soak up and share incredible food in kitchens from Japan, to Italy, to India, and scores of dining tables in-between.

Following several years in the kitchen at Roppongi Nouen, the restaurant that defined the farm-to-table movement in Tokyo, Miyuki organized cooking and food experiences for families in the big city, as well as private culinary lessons in Japanese homestyle cooking for international visitors. 

With the birth of the 3rd pillar of the Potts.K troupe, Miyuki shifted focus to sharing the magic of simple food, recipes, fermentation, and traditional Japanese ingredients with families with young children, turning the kitchen into a family experience that's healthy and easy to reproduce for busy parents.

Based in Milan, Miyuki shared Japanese food experiences while soaking up local Italian cooking techniques and recipes as part of Peace Kitchen throughout 2016, with food travel and study stints to Spain and across Northern Europe sprinkled in-between.

Currently organizing and hosting local food experiences at a lovely new kominka space for international visitors together with Brown's Field.

Miyuki is a licensed tour guide (通訳案内士) with the Japan National Tourism Organization.

Musume

The unrivaled life (and motivating) force behind Potts.K. 

Favorite foods: mikan, blueberries, ume-chan, koji rice, focaccia

Favorite artists: Daft Punk, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Jenny Lewis