Story Sommelier
Yuko Akisato explains what’s kept her at the Club for nearly four decades.
When Yuko Akisato was a teenager, she listened to Sen Nishiyama cover the Apollo 11 moon landing on Japanese television.
“I was so amazed by his interpretation,” she says of the historic event in 1969. “He was fully Japanese but was born in Utah. His Japanese was very beautiful.”
Inspired by Nishiyama’s mastery of language, Akisato purchased a set of training tapes from Simul Academy, the interpreting and translation school where he taught for three decades.
“I thought it was impossible to become a simultaneous interpreter,” she says, “but I could still learn English. Later, I took one of his classes and it inspired me more.”
Those language skills eventually led Akisato to the Club, where she has worked for 38 years. But before settling down in Azabudai, she made an important stop at California State University, Fullerton. While studying there, her love of classical music landed her a job in the school’s music library. The experience came in handy when she returned to Japan and saw an ad for a job at the Club.
Akisato joined as a part-timer in October 1986, becoming full-time a year later.
One of her first positions was in the Video Library. Under her watch, the collection blossomed through the VHS and Betamax years—amassing more than 5,000 tapes in each format—into a library of over 15,000 DVDs at its peak.
“It was one of the most popular places in the Club, so I really had to keep up,” she says. “I went to the movie theater a lot.”
“The most I ever saw in a single month was 16. I watched three a day. By the end, I was so, so, so tired, and the stories were all mixed up!” she reveals with a laugh.
She applied that deep knowledge to helping Members, and she even penned a regular column for INTOUCH.
With the advent of streaming, the need for such an expansive video collection waned. The streamlined selection of hard-to-find titles now resides alongside books on the shelves of the second-floor Library, while Akisato now works at The Cellar.
But while the surroundings may have changed, her commitment to helping Members remains as strong as ever. Just as she dove deep into movies to provide the best possible service, she has done the same with wine.
“I don’t drink a lot of wine, but it’s really important to know wine. If you don’t know about wine, you can’t sell wine,” she explains.
On her own dime, Akisato took a six-month course to earn her Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 2 certification.
Like her immersion in cinema years ago, being able to share an interesting story behind a bottle is just one twist in the thread that runs through her nearly four decades at the Club.
And what does she enjoy most about her job?
“I really like people,” she says. “At the Club, you get to talk to so many people and get to know them.”
Words: C Bryan Jones
Top Image of Yuko Akisato: Clara Garcia
