Todd Silverstein was a consulting producer for HBO’s Emmy-winning “Silicon Valley,” an editor for several New York Times bestsellers and a serial tech entrepreneur with several successful startups under his belt. Together with Mariko Nishimura, an IBM and Adobe alum, Silverstein has launched Naro, a company offering paid on-demand streaming courses that showcase Japanese culture.

1. What was your introduction to Japan and its culture? I began my career in publishing and have been into literature and poetry since I was young. So it was actually learning about traditional Japanese poetic forms (haiku and tanka) that first awakened my interest in Japan. Like a lot of people, I first visited as a tourist, and traveling around (and seeing all the interesting things happening in modern poetry here) awoke a desire to return and spend time here.

2. When did you decide to leave Hollywood and move to Japan? Before coming to Japan, I’d been working in Los Angeles as a consulting producer on HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” and when that show came to its end, I realized I didn’t want to stay in L.A. In a case of lucky timing, a friend at a startup in Tokyo was looking for help managing a new product and engineering team and offered me the role. It sounded like an adventure, so I accepted!

3. Has it been a big culture shock? Maybe not a shock per se, but I’m continually amazed how much Japanese culture — from design to gaming to various handicrafts — has had an underappreciated impact on American culture.

4. Can you tell us about Naro, the startup you are working on? Naro sells video courses on Japanese culture, art, cuisine and more, led by masters who have devoted their lives to perfecting their craft. In our courses, they're exclusively sharing their knowledge in depth for the first time ever (courses have English subtitles).

5. How did the project get started? I was introduced by a friend to my cofounder Mariko Nishimura, who was really passionate about wanting to share Japanese culture with the global community. I had already been thinking about creating a new startup, and like a lot of people during the COVID-19 pandemic, had been experimenting with online learning and courses. When we met, putting these two pieces together felt like a perfect match.

6. Why is communicating Japanese culture to the world important? For Mariko, I think a lot of it stems from her feeling that Japanese culture has so much richness but that, because of the language barriers, is hard for a global audience to easily connect with.

7. And for you? Personally, my own experience with Japanese culture and its appreciation of thoughtful details and mindfulness has helped push me to be more thoughtful and attentive in my daily life. I find myself working alongside and with people who are so aware of the smallest details and who take such pride in doing things well. That’s hugely motivating to me.

8. The first Naro course was about tempura, right? "Tempura by Shuji Niitome" features arguably the world’s best tempura chef. In addition to two Michelin stars, he has a No. 1-rated tempura restaurant on Tabelog. As well as teaching viewers how to serve and prepare a nine-dish tempura omakase, chef Niitome reveals the secrets to his unique batter and cooking techniques, describes the practices that have led to his success and teaches people how they can apply concepts from Japanese cooking to elevate anything they cook.

9. Recently you added a second course — about sumo, I believe? "Sumo by Konishiki" features the first foreigner ever to achieve the rank of ōzeki champion. It takes you behind the scenes into Japan’s most iconic sport and Konishiki breaks down kimarite (winning moves) and matches so you can better understand the action. Sprinkled throughout is the inspiring story of how Konishiki went from a kid in Hawaii who arrived in Japan with nothing and rose to become a sumo legend.

10. I know you have a few more courses in the works. Why did you decide to lead with these two topics? Our mission is sharing Japanese culture overseas, and with tempura and sumo, most people are aware these things exist but may not really know what they’re all about; there’s a misconception that tempura is just fried food or sumo is just fat guys pushing each other, so these topics are a great introduction to both Japanese culture and what Naro’s all about.

11. What makes video an effective medium for education? Video allows you to see the master in action, which is more immediate and immersive than reading about it. But we’ve also been able to take advantage in our filming and post-production processes of some of the special qualities of video.

12. For example? So, with our sumo course, we can slow the action down and highlight parts of the screen so you can really understand what’s happening in a way that you couldn’t if you were just watching sumo on TV at regular speed.

13. How do you choose the teachers? We look for people who are consistently named by their peers as an inspiration. And when we meet with them, we’re looking to find teachers who will be engaging in video-form with a story to tell; whether it be a unique personal journey or a really great awareness of how they practice their craft.

14. You refer to them as "masters." What makes someone a master of their craft? The interesting thing we’ve seen so far is that there really do seem to be so many paths to mastery. But the constants that I’ve noticed across all of our masters are two things: They are obsessed with what they do, and they have ferocious work ethics and continue to strive to keep pushing their mastery even further.

15. What has the response been so far? Our team becomes most excited when we hear from viewers that they finally “get” what tempura or sumo is all about. Or that the course has given them a new perspective on some aspect of their own life.

16. How about from the teachers? For the teachers, what’s been so gratifying is how proud they’ve been to share their course and knowledge with new audiences.

17. What’s been the biggest challenge? Startups are always challenging but I feel like this project is several startups put together — we had to figure out how to create what’s essentially a film production business at the same time we had to build a streaming platform.

18. What’s been your biggest discovery? I’ve been blown away by how thoughtful the teachers are about how and why they do what they do. For example, Chef Niitome walked us through his thought process of how he organizes his omakase courses, and he’s rattling off all these factors — what the previous ingredients have done in terms of affecting the taste of the oil, what the weather’s like and how that might affect people’s hunger levels, concepts like shun (seasonality), wanting to take you through an emotional experience by setting up a series of ingredients ranging from not-yet-in-season to just-past-being-in-season, the colors and cuts you’d see in presentation. It’s just eye-opening and gave me so many ideas for things to try when I cook at home.

19. What topics do you have upcoming? So many amazing ones! I’m especially excited about our “Anime by Mamoru Oshii” (Ghost in the Shell), whose work I love. In the food category, we’ve got “Ramen by Shono Tomoharu” (Mensho) and “Makanai & Japanese Cooking” by Zaiyu Hasegawa (Den), which are incredible deep dives into two very different kinds of Japanese cooking.

20. What topic is foremost on your wish list? Given my background in book publishing, I’m really excited to do a course with a prominent Japanese fiction author. We’re also very excited by the whole gardening category, from Japanese garden design to ikebana.