Masako Morishita

Morishita was born in Kobe, Japan.^[1] Her family has worked in the restaurant business for a century. Her family's restaurant, Morishita Liquor and Bar, is run by her mother and father.^[1][2] Morishita's grandmother previously ran and was a cook at Morishita Liquor and Bar.^[1][2]

In 2013, she traveled to the United States as an exchange student in Poplar, Wisconsin.^[2][4]

Morishita was a member of the Washington Redskins cheerleading squad from 2013 to 2018.^[1][4][5] She was the team's first non-American born captain.^[1]

In 2019, Morishita filed a lawsuit against her then ex-boyfriend chef Andrew Chiou and the business Momo Yakitori, which is an LLC legally under Chiou's name, for $66,000.^[6] Morishita's attorney stated Morishita was entitled to damages regarding the salary she was allegedly owed; however, Chiou claims that Morishita was never actually an employee at the restaurant.^[6] Also in 2019, Morishita opened her first solo pop-up, Otabe.^[1][7] In 2021, Maxwell Park, a Washington, D.C. wine bar, commissioned Morishita for several dishes for tastings and eventually hired her as executive chef.^[1] She worked at Maxwell Park until 2022.^[2][7][8]

After leaving Maxwell Park in 2022, she started working as executive chef at Perry's, a forty-year old sushi restaurant located in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.^{[2][9][10][7]} At Perry's, she started a new Japanese breakfast service.^[2][3][11] She is also the first Japanese woman to hold the executive chef position in Perry's history.^[7]

In 2023, Morishita was named at "Chef of the Year" by D.C. Eater.^[12]

In 2024, she was named as the James Beard Foundation's Emerging Chef.^[1][3][13] She was also nominated as a finalist by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) in its "Rising Culinary Star of the Year" category.^[14]

She is also a member of the United States Department of State's American Culinary Corps.^[15] As a culinary ambassador, she was chosen by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to serve as a guest chef for the State Luncheon hosted during the State Visit of Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida in April 2024.^[16]