Koji Takahira grew up washing rice in his father's neighborhood sushi-ya in Matsuyama. He left for Tokyo, spent five years at the three-star Sushi Yoshitake, came home at 26, and within a year of taking over the family shop had turned it into a counter people fly across Japan for, then, in 2025, into the first restaurant in Shikoku ever named a Japan Times Destination Restaurant. The fish is almost one hundred percent Ehime: ike-jime catches bought straight from a celebrated Imabari fisherman.
What you eat
His word for himself is kuroko: the black-clad stagehand whose job is to make the fish shine. Sea bream two ways at two temperatures; uni and steamed abalone from the islet of Futagami; and the signature that made the judges write essays: hamo whose bones are drawn out one by one with the knife tip instead of the usual bone-shattering cuts — a texture that exists almost nowhere else. Rice is seasoned with rice vinegar, a whisper of red, and no sugar at all.
The Noren View
At ¥27,500 this is, piece for piece, one of the best-value serious sushi counters in Japan — Tokyo diners openly call it half-price Ginza. Put it at the center of the classic Matsuyama night: the rebuilt Dōgo Onsen bathhouse (fully reopened in 2024), the original castle on the hill, and eight seats of Setouchi water made edible.
Best for
Sushi travelers who measure by the knife, not the postcode — and onsen-lovers who want their soak followed by the best dinner on the island.
