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Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific

  • HBS Engagement Across the Region
  • Bringing a Taste of Japan to the World

Bringing a Taste of Japan to the World

 
Pictured: Masato Nakamura and Yasu Sasago (both MBA 2020), at far right, with team members at the 2019 pop-up ramen event in Cambridge.
For world traveler Yasu Sasago (MBA 2020), being awarded the Harvard Business School Japan Fellowship was the start of an unexpected educational journey. With a background in artificial intelligence and finance, Sasago thought launching a software or fintech startup might be in his future. But shortly after arriving on campus in 2018, he discovered a talent that changed his focus.
Pictured: Masato Nakamura and Yasu Sasago (both MBA 2020), at far right, with team members at the 2019 pop-up ramen event in Cambridge.

“I realized I was a pretty good ramen cook,” says Sasago, who craved the authentic noodle dish he enjoyed back home in Japan and began cooking it for himself at his HBS dorm. “I made a lot of new friends right away when they stopped in to see what smelled so good. Everyone who tried my ramen really loved it, and that inspired my decision to launch a ramen business in Boston.”

“Most restaurant owners can cook, but they don’t have a business mindset. I have that advantage now, and I know we can make this work.”
Yasu Sasago
MBA 2020
“Most restaurant owners can cook, but they don’t have a business mindset. I have that advantage now, and I know we can make this work.”
Yasu Sasago
MBA 2020

Alleviating Debt Concerns

Sasago studied commerce at Waseda University in Tokyo and the University of Sydney in Australia prior to attending HBS. His ability to pursue a graduate school education depended on the need-based financial aid he received to help with tuition and other expenses. He notes that the Japan Fellowship, which is supported by alumni in the HBS Club of Japan, “enabled me to be inspired by a new possibility without the concern of heavy student debt.”

He explored that possibility full tilt while earning his MBA. “Some days, my student life was half academic, half ramen chef,” says Sasago, who interned at a popular Cambridge ramen eatery to fine-tune his cooking skills. Senior Lecturer Lena Goldberg’s elective course Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Business and a related independent study “opened amazing opportunities for me in terms of learning and contacts in Boston,” he shares.

Sasago also found support in Boston’s Japanese business community and from fellow ramen enthusiast Masato Nakamura (MBA 2020), who became his business partner. During his first-year summer break, Sasago secured initial funding from investors in Japan, and in November 2019, with Nakamura and some friends, he presided over a mostly successful “Yasu & Masa’s Ramen” pop-up event in Cambridge. “Everyone ate well, and no one got food poisoning,” he laughs, “but it was definitely a learning experience.”

Pandemic Delays Plans

With plans for a summer 2020 restaurant opening, Sasago was one day away from signing a lease on a space in South Boston in March when “COVID-19 hit, and everything stopped,” he explains. Despite the obvious barriers to launching a business during a pandemic, Sasago remains determined to move forward with his plan to offer Boston diners a unique blend of authentic Japanese culture and cooking, organic farm-to-table ingredients, and—a novelty for ramen venues—cocktail service.

With classic entrepreneurial resilience, by June, Sasago had already found a property with more space and in a better location and was interviewing chefs for a planned winter 2021 opening. In view of COVID-19’s persistent threat, Sasago revised his business plan to include expanded take-out and delivery, and meal kits with high-quality ingredients for cooking at home. Building on what he learns in Boston, he hopes someday to bring the concept to consumers in emerging markets across the globe.

“Most restaurant owners can cook, but they don’t have a business mindset,” Sasago says. “I have that advantage now, and I know we can make this work.”

Pictured Masato Nakamura and Yasu Sasago (both MBA 2020), at far right, with team members at the 2019 pop-up ramen event in Cambridge.
1,868
MBA students enrolled (FY20)
46
%
MBA students who received need-based financial aid
$
42K
Average MBA financial aid award

More on Asia Pacific

HBS Engagement Across the Region

The Harvard Shanghai Center and HBS Asia-Pacific Research Center in Hong Kong help advance the School’s presence in the region by assisting with faculty research and engaging with local alumni and other thought leaders.
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