Following almost twenty years’ experience running her mother’s organic food businesses in Japan, Chef Naoko, Naoko Tamura, arrived in Portland in 2007 to fulfill her dream of opening a restaurant in the natural and organic rich Pacific Northwest. Chef Naoko Bento Cafe was born in November of that year, specializing in authentic Japanese bentos using local ingredients. The restaurant quickly became popular as a healthy food lunch time venue and as a favorite caterer for weddings, parties, and many corporate events. In 2014 Chef Naoko was chosen by Delta Air Lines to prepare the First Class meals for their daily flights to Tokyo and was also selected as the official caterer for LAIKA’s popular animation movie “Kubo and the two strings”. After 8 years in business it was clear that the Bento Café had outgrown the current location for both restaurant and catering businesses, so when the adjacent space became available, Naoko decided that it was time to expand and needed an architect. The Portland Japanese Garden is one of Chef Naoko's regular catering customers and the Garden had appointed famous Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to design the "Cultural Crossing" expansion project. In 2016, Kengo Kuma's stadium design was selected for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Kuma-san became a regular Chef Naoko customer during his frequent visits to Portland, and when she mentioned her expansion plans, he immediately offered to be the architect. Following five months of construction the "Shizuku by Chef Naoko" restaurant was born and remains the only Kengo Kuma designed full-service restaurant in the United States. Chef Naoko continues to receive accolades for a her authentic Japanese cooking using local organic ingredients and was a semifinalist in the 2020 James Beard Best Chef Northwest awards.