Photo= Jacquier shaking hands with Tsuji, supervising chef (right) = Kikunoi (main restaurant), Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto

As the third cook accepted by the special zone system, in which foreigners can learn Japanese cuisine by working for Japanese restaurants in Kyoto City, Clara Jacquier, a French cook, has begun her apprenticeship in the restaurant Kikunoi in Higashiyama Ward. Working hard to master the skills and sprit of Japanese cuisine, she said, "I would like to create a new cuisine from Japanese Kaiseki, or tea-ceremony dishes, and French Cuisine."

Jacquier is from southern France and came to Japan for the first time late last year. Having been interested in Japanese culture through cartoons and music, she chose to learn Japanese in senior high school. She started to work for a restaurant in Pairs when she was 20 years old. It was when she encountered sushi in a local Japanese restaurant that she became fascinated by "extremely delicious" Japanese cuisine ingredients.

She applied for Kyoto's special zone system, of which she had heard from a Japanese friend, and started at Kikunoi, where she will work for two years, as a result of an introduction by the Japanese Culinary Academy, an NPO. The restaurant has another French cook through the special zone system. She is learning zealously, saying, "I appreciate everyone's kindness in giving me advice."

When she saw sashimi in the kitchen, she was impressed because "it is amazing how the handling of fish differs from France." She described her future vision, saying ambitiously, "I would like to master everything about Japanese cuisine and make Japanese food with French ingredients." Masahito Tsuji, the supervising chef of Kikunoi said hopefully, "I hope she will grasp the gap between what she imagined in France and authentic Japanese cuisine, and get a true sense of what she can learn only in Japan."

The special zone system is a preferential measure that allows foreign people work for Japanese restaurants in Kyoto City to promote Japanese cuisine abroad. Starting from 2014, two French chefs have already used this system.