Stop me if you've heard the one where the chef is compared to an artist. But what about a sculptor?
For Akihiro Kakimoto, the comparison is warranted. Since 2013, he's made regular pilgrimages to Paris, where he competes against the world's best confectionery chefs to create chocolate sculptures and desserts that have to be seen to be believed.
But Kakimoto, 49, didn't participate in his first confectionary contest in Japan until he was 34.