CokoGuri - Adventurers | Explorers | Foodies

The fact that the two of you are still together after so many years is at the same time remarkable, wonderful, and frightening. One fall evening, a German photographer and a Japanese photographer ended up in the same British pub in Seattle, WA. (No, this is not the start of a joke!) But it marked the beginning of a remarkable partnership and journey. And the world was never quite the same again. We probably could not tell you exactly what attracted us to each other. But we both instinctively knew we had found the ideal partner to travel the road of life together. Ready or not, CokoGuri was born!This was not part of the original plan, and the first time I proposed to Coco, she shot me down in front of an entire restaurant. It took some persistence and a little trickery from our moms, but we tied all kinds of knots one fine summer day. Actually, we just wanted to party naked in a hot tub! We wanted to affirm our commitment to each other as life partners. And our relationship has grown stronger every day since then.After many years of working for other studios and creative agencies, we decided to try this on our own. With words of encouragement ("Are you out of your fucking mind?") and emboldened by our first big client, we took the leap and never looked back. Sure, the beginning was not easy, but we persisted, and soon our little design studio reached a global audience. And this gave us the incentive to possibly explore other parts of the world together.It all started with a beach. One day, I was chatting on WhatsApp with my niece, who was heading home from the beach in Italy to cook dinner. When I recounted this to a friend of mine, he asked me why I was not on that beach. That got us thinking about changing it up a bit and moving, not only to a new home or city but to a new continent (for one of us) and a completely different way of life. After considerable planning and purging about 95% of our possessions, we took the jump and started a new life as adventurers, explorers, creatives, and storytellers in Japan. As you can imagine, this was one of our life's most intense and stressful periods. But we were determined to succeed, and we did! At the very end of December, after a 24-hour trip by car, plane, and Shinkansen on a freezing winter night, we stepped out of Sendai Station and into our new life.After 7 months of more government forms and office visits (and a bizarre period when everyone was hiding their faces and searching for toilet paper), we established a brand new life in the northern Japanese city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. We love it here! From shopping at the famous Asaichi Morning Market, also known as Sendai's Kitchen, to exploring this fascinating, bustling city of over one million people to enjoying the peace and tranquility of famous shrines and beautiful gardens, this is the perfect place for CokoGuri. And we fully intend to become the most famous couple in Sendai! (You know us, not exactly shy wallflowers!)Over the years we explored our new home and all that Sendai and the entire Tohoku region have to offer. From neighborhood izakayas to local businesses and from fish markets to onsen, we discovered so many fun and interesting places. Not many people, even locals, realize all the fun places and things to do in Sendai. This gave us the idea to start "Discover Sendai" and spread the word. We are off to see new places, have new adventures, and make new friends. Come along for the trip!