Finding Yoshiki Tsuji's office is straightforward: It's on the ground floor of the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, down a short hallway past a wall-mounted relief that was sculpted in France, a jamboree of pots, pans and myriad other kitchen utensils.

Students at the cooking school know where Tsuji's office is. They also know his Gmail address, not standard operating procedure for those in higher education in Japan, who more often than not have no idea where their college president hides out, nor are they likely to even recognize them if they were to ever pass each other on campus.

But Tsuji is different.