She went on to work in both Japan and the UK on projects as varied as barrier-free housing for the elderly, love hotel interiors and art exhibitions. She produced the Tokyo International Art Fair before setting up her own firm in 1994 consulting on interior design and branding, specifically for foreign fashion brands entering the Japanese market.

Ayako cofounded Eat in 2000 and, as president, oversees the overall running of the company, with specific focus on Japanese content and project execution.

Steve left university with a degree in astrophysics and began his career as a seismologist. Back then, science was in a communications dark age and Steve saw the need for people who could convey ideas and capture people’s imagination. It was the start of his transition from analysing rock formations to crafting media content.

He began his second career with a Mac SE, working for magazines such as Camerawork, Screen Digest and New Internationalist. A move to Tokyo in 1995 led to several years as creative director for a custom publishing agency before his passion for food and magazines, led to the creation of Eat Magazine, the award-winning food culture quarterly that put Eat creative on the map.

The magazine’s success attracted a large number of companies and organisations interested in Eat’s unique style of communication and transformed the company into the creative branding agency it is today.

Steve now oversees all Eat projects, ensuring that content is concise, focused and engaging.

Alison has over 20 years’ experience in marketing for premium brands. She began her career in the UK, working in event management for boutique hotels, including 5 years at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

She later moved to Hong Kong, where she joined a PR consultancy and worked on communications for brands such as Glenfiddich, Häagen-Dazs and Mandarin Oriental.

Arriving in Tokyo in 1996, Alison worked first in custom publishing before co-founding Eat. She contributes to all projects ensuring that client expectations are not only met, but exceeded and leads on many key accounts. Alison also manages new business development for the company as well as Eat’s extensive network. She is also President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ) and has overall responsibility for the running of the Chamber.

Simon has spent 25 years working at the highest level of the UK’s creative industry, specialising in branding for the last 14 years.

In 1990 he was appointed Creative Director for the design consultancy Cartlidge Levene, where he oversaw projects for London’s Design Museum, EYE Magazine (awarded a silver D&AD Award for print design) and the Magnum photo agency.

In 1996 he co-founded North Design. The company’s uncompromising rebranding of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) paved the way for a succession of equally radical rebranding programmes for organisations such as cable operator Telewest, H.M. Land Registry, Schroders investment bank and Carat, the worlds fifth largest media agency.

In 2003 Simon moved to Tokyo and worked as a consultant for Dentsu, Hakuhodo and CCJC on visual strategies for Toyota, Tombow stationery and Georgia coffee. He also designed artist Mariko Mori’s publication ‘Oneness’, for which he received Germany’s Stiftung Buchkunst award for World’s Best Book Design.

Simon has served on the juries of the D&AD Awards and the Tokyo Type Directors Club Awards. Since 2003, he has collaborated with Eat and is now a permanent member of the team, overseeing all our visual strategy and brand development work.