Our founder, Ryan Tanaka, was born and raised in rural Michigan where he learned the value of tenacity and grit.

At the age of 16, he studied abroad in Japan for a year. It was at this time that he fell in love with the country and the language. Upon returning to the US to finish high school, he made it his mission to return to Japan to work as a salary man … and that he did - spending almost 15 years working with Japanese corporations.

In his free time, he enjoys training blocks for distances from the marathon to 100 miles. He is adamant that he is not a runner because, as the stoics would say, you never arrive anywhere. It’s the practice to achieve perfection that is more important than anything.