Ronda “Kojiron” Yuko a.k.a. Ron-chan
I met Ron-chan first in Switzerland, when she visited our store, Pfünderli, also because she was interested in the tofu we are producing at Engel Tofu in the same building. We immediately came to talk about Miso and Koji and the idea of manufacturing it together, for Ron-chan fell in love with Koji and has been endlessly producing since this point on. This led to a great friendship and co-working with her in our store and the team. She puts up a Miso Pop-up almost every two weeks on Saturdays at our store in Widen AG.
When I first visited Japan after a long break in 2023 she led and introduced me to Miyamoto-san, the Kojiten and Nishihazu. First I wasn’t sure, but since it was Ron-chan I knew, that she only wanted to connect and enhance the spread for the sake of Koji and Miso being wonderful and splendid healthy materials. Ron-chan was born and grew up in Toyota city, which is near Nagoya, in the prefecture of Aichi, and some many years ago she stumbled upon Miyamoto-Kojiten through Miyamoto-san’s wife, Keiko-san, who wrote a book about the huge field of soysauce production and tradition in Japan.
I am now more than grateful, having been guided by her to this beautiful place. Although we don’t see each other now so often anymore, she happens to travel to Japan and then pass by our place and keep on the wonderful exchange, work and partake in each others’ lives – truly a treasure of dedication and passion I am able to share and live through and with her.
Here you find the links to her social media and webpage: