Akemi Yokoyama has a background in Japanese food provenance, nurtured from her Father, who along with his family foraged and fished throughout the Island of Hokkaido. She is now a Japanese food specialist, chef, presenter and writer based in London. Her regular Japanese cookery classes at Sozai have received very favourable reviews in the UK’s national media, including Time Out and The Telegraph. She has also appeared on the popular TV programmes, C4’s Sunday Brunch and CBBC's Saturday Mash-Up, teaching the presenters how to make sushi. She is also an in demand private chef. She has cooked for celebrities including Tina Turner and Rina Sawayama.

She demonstrates authentic Japanese cooking in the UK and Europe at many diverse events, and she regularly works with the Japanese government’s related organizations promoting Japanese cuisine and sake to the media and public. Her latest culinary interests include all aspects of fermentation and flavour experimentation across multiple food cultures. .

Akemi is a member of the Japanese Culinary Academy UK, is a certified miso sommelier. She has judged Sake category at International Wine Challenge in 2020/2021/2022/2024.