LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles welcomed a new addition to its Japanese culinary repertoire with the opening of the Sushi Institute of America, a professional school that offers intensive, comprehensive courses in Japanese food preparation with some of the best chefs in the field.

Cofounded by Noritoshi Kanai, president of Mutual Trading Co., and Katsuya Uechi, famed owner and executive chef of the Katsuya restaurants, SIA was created to feed a growing need for skilled sushi chefs in Japanese restaurants in the United States.

Kanai, known for introducing Edomae sushi to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, explained the mission of SIA.