Kimono Mom: Sharing Japanese Food and Family with the World

This event is Moe’s onstage Q&A and photo op.

Moe is a former geisha who launched the YouTube channel Kimono Mom in 2020 to share her love of Japanese food and family with the world. Over the past five years, she’s made almost 800 videos and created a global following with over 3 million subscribers. 

Moe’s videos spotlight Japanese home cooking recipes often made side-by-side with her daughter Sutan or husband Moto, and together they showcase their love of food and the honest ups and downs of family life in Japan. Kimono Mom’s latest project is an American cross-country road trip, with Moe, Sutan and Moto traveling around the U.S. to make videos, meet fans and celebrate the American launch of her Umami Sauce.

Japan Society is excited to welcome Moe for two events on June 28 as part of her cross-country trek—a family-centered cooking workshop and a larger on-stage Q&A with her fans from all around NYC. Japan Society invites you to meet Moe for this special talk about her career, family, food, videos and fans. Moe will speak about her time as a geisha, the start of her channel, its growth and global following and especially all the people she’s met and foods she’s eaten while travelling across the U.S.A. Moe will further talk about the creation of her Umami Sauce and suggested recipes from tempura and udon… and even to ice cream.

All attendees will receive a free bottle of Umami Sauce at this event and can meet Moe as part of a photo op following her on-stage Q&A.

About Moe

Japanese mom Moe wants to share her love for Japanese home cooking, and her accessible recipes are watched by millions of people throughout the world. Ever since she was little, Moe enjoyed food and making traditional Japanese meals with her mother and grandmother are some of her earliest memories. Moe’s first profession was as a maiko, a junior geisha. She always had a love for the traditional Japanese world because her grandfather worked in the kimono industry. At age 16, she had a chance to study the traditional professions of Kyoto while she was in high school, leading her to become a maiko and then a geiko in Gion. Moe started her YouTube channel to showcase the unique intersections of her identity and interests—kimono and cooking. What first started as a way to overcome postpartum depression by connecting with others online quickly gained traction with an international audience. Moe hopes to spread Japan to the world through her kitchen, and her greatest joy is seeing people from various countries trying to make Kimono Mom recipes.

About Umami Sauce

Umami Sauce is a vegan, gluten-free, non-alcoholic and MSG-free sauce made from tamari soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms and kelp extract. Created by Kimono Mom in partnership with a soy sauce brewery with a history spanning over 330 years, Umami Sauce is a umami-focused sauce designed to help global food lovers add Japanese flavor to their cooking. It doesn’t contain any additives, preservatives, sweeteners, coloring agents or artificial flavors.

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Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Japan Society Food Events are sponsored by Kikkoman Corporation.

Additional support for cultural programs is provided by an anonymous donor; Sendon and BuyJapon; the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund; and Anime NYC.