BY KAITHLYN VILLANUEVA | STAFF WRITER

Yuriko Okazaki is a 21-year-old exchange student from Yamaguchi, Japan, majoring in Culinary Arts. She chooses Culinary Arts because she loves cooking and also finds the process of food management fascinating. Her goal after KCC is to finish one more year of Culinary Arts back home in Japan, and then once she graduates she wants to work at a food company to develop new foods or be a consultant at a restaurant.

“Just something that helps me gain more experience or involves food, I will be happy with either,” Okazaki said. 

Her favorite part about the Culinary Arts program is talking to her classmates. There is a good mix of individuals from different backgrounds, so learning about one another helps her gain a lot of information from whomever she meets.

“They have a different idea from me, so by talking to new people I can achieve more experience and point of view from them,” she said.

In her free time she loves trying different cultural foods and soaking up the Hawaiian weather.

“I will miss Hawai’i,” Okazaki said. “It is filled with loving and caring people, and that’s something I will never forget.”