The Culinary Institute of America on Monday announced a new program of study in Japanese cuisine, with the first course starting Tuesday at its Hyde Park campus north of Manhattan.

Chef Hiroki Murashima of Osaka's Tsuji Culinary Institute and instructor chef Martin Matysik of the New York culinary school will co-teach the initiative's first course, designed as an advanced elective for bachelor's degree students. The school is developing the program in collaboration with Suntory Holdings Ltd. as a potential minor concentration with an eye toward study abroad options in Japan.

"The precepts of Japanese cuisine (include) making the most of the taste and color of each seasonal ingredient, as well as harmonizing the foods (with) various serving vessels," Murashima said at a press event in the Japanese restaurant Brushstroke in downtown Manhattan.

Murashima added that he wants students to learn the culture of Japan's cuisine during the three-month course, which builds from basics like dashi cooking stock to full kaiseki set meals, covering popular dishes such as sushi, ramen and tempura along the way.

"American chefs are fascinated by the depth of Japanese cuisine — its techniques, flavor strategies and presentation aesthetics," said the institute's president, Tim Ryan. "We know that we have only scratched the surface of what is there waiting for us to discover."

"Making the world heritage of Japanese food culture more accessible to American chefs, and by extension, to American fans of it" has long been a part of the school's educational mission, Ryan added.

The traditional dietary culture of Japan, or washoku, was inscribed in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2013.