Nagahara Hidehiko often visits
places like the National Taiwan
Museum of Fine Arts with his
family.

Hidehiko maintains warm
relations with his customers
with his friendly, thoughtful
manner.

Fortune brought the dashingly
handsome Hidehiko to this
island.

Settling down in lovely Taichung

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Naomi Lai

Life is magical. All I did was spin a globe and stop it with my finger. What did you know--it stopped on Taiwan and thus began a new journey in my life.

I had been travelling frequently between Taiwan and Japan for about five to six years. The first few years were spent working as a technical director for a Taiwanese chain restaurant, as I often moved between Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. Then, about two years ago, I met my darling "other half" and finally settled down in Taichung.

Coming to Taiwan from Japan, I opened the Ku Japanese Cuisine out of my love of sharing great food with people and 19 years of experience in the culinary world.

Having travelled all over Taiwan, Taichung is where I chose to settle in as my second home. The pace of life in Taipei is too fast and people are too distant, while Kaohsiung's pace is too slow. But Taichung is perfect. The mild weather and friendly locals all remind me of my childhood in Osaka, and this is a very comfortable town to live in.

After experiencing life in various large and small cities in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, China and Taiwan, I find myself in love with Taichung. There are many Japanese in this city, making up about 70% of my friends here. It is comforting to find people from your homeland abroad. Also, because I studied Chinese at the Mandarin Training Center of the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei for a year, I have no problems communicating with locals here. The affable, hospitable character of my Taiwanese friends makes me feel as if I am not actually living in another country.

There are many interesting places in Taichung. Over the weekends, I enjoy going to the National Museum of Natural Science, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts or Feng Le Sculpture Park with my darling wife. I also often travel to Xinshe Township in Taichung County for the beautiful scenery there.

Taichung boasts many delicious delicacies. The braised pork rice and goose meat are my favorites. Taichung is also famous for its night markets, with fun, late-evening shopping locations like Feng Jia Night Market.

In order to share my culinary joy with friends, my restaurant is not only about offering traditional Japanese cuisine, but in fact serves a combination of Asian, Japanese and Italian cuisine. All ingredients are personally chosen by me and the menu varies each day according to what is on the market. You are guaranteed to experience new flavors every time you visit our restaurant and I hope to see you there soon.

Left: Tacoyaki is Nagahara Hidehiko's specialty.
Right: The menu is written on the blackboard and varies daily, according to what is on the market.