Born and raised in the family that owned the traditional Japanese restaurant “ryotei” in Wakayama prefecture, Chef Okuno came to appreciate only the highest quality ingredients. After graduating from university in the US, he came back to J ap an and worked for a real estate investment firm . Despite his successes, he was drawn back to the culinary world. After being introduced to the complexity of Italian cuisine while training in Tokyo, he moved to Italy to be trained in Michelin starred rest aurants mainly in the northern regions of Italy such as Piedmont, Liguria and Lombardy. And so naturally, the provenance of his signature dishes such as egg gratin with sliced truffles and linguine with fresh basil pesto sauce tend to draw their genealogy from these regions.

Currently, he owns the Brianza Group that has four restaurants and consults a number of restaurants.