A Japanese chef was named the best pizza maker for the second time in four years at an annual festival in Naples, Italy's ANSA news agency reported. Makoto Onishi won the award last week in the home of Italian pizza, beating more than 20 participants, mostly local pizza makers, according to the news agency.

He won the same title in 2003 -- the first foreigner to do so -- a year after he went to Naples to learn the art of making pizza.

"To make a good pizza, the chef must be free of stress," Onishi said.

He has studied Italian cuisine since 2001.

"When I arrived at a station in Naples for the first time, an Italian whom I met there told me I should go to Ischia Island (off Naples bay) if I want to learn pizza. This was the start of my career," Onishi said.

His recipe for the award-winning pizza will be reproduced in other pizzerias under the name Pizzafest 2006, the news agency said.