Ajiwow Inc. takes over the ROKU SHOKU technology and patents from Sony Group and begins research, development and commercialisation

Ajiwow Inc. (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Tomoko Nomoto; “the Company”) has taken over the technology and patents of ROKU SHOKU, which Sony Group Corporation (“Sony Group”) has researched and developed since 2019, and begins its research, development and commercialisation on April 1, 2026.

ROKU SHOKU is a system that records the changes during cooking, such as heat, stirring, when each ingredient goes in and how much moisture evaporates, as data with high precision, down to 1 second, 1°C and 1 g, and so makes it possible to replay an expert chef’s dish. Cooking is recorded in a dedicated studio, analysed and converted into data, and then replayed on a dedicated IH system. Because the system adjusts the heat and judges the state of the cooking automatically, anyone, with or without cooking skills, can serve the chef’s dish with high fidelity simply by following the cooking navigation.

The restaurant industry faces skills that depend on individual people, a shortage of staff and broken chains of skill transfer. Just as the music industry grew once recording, the technology that records and replays sound, was born, the Company aims, through ROKU SHOKU, the technology that records and replays cooking, to build a new industrial foundation that stores cooking processes as “replayable IP”, protecting chefs’ creativity while also turning it into income.

The system was exhibited at EARTH MART (producer: Kundo Koyama), a Signature Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, and the Company’s Representative Director, Tomoko Nomoto, was selected for the linked Forbes JAPAN feature “25 people who will make the future of food shine”. “ROKU SHOKU: a system that records cooking and replays it” also received the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2025, drawing wide attention.

Going forward, the Company will advance the research, development and business of the system with the following focus areas.

Building a cooking data platform

Working with chefs, restaurants, food manufacturers and regions, the Company will promote the collection and standardisation of ROKU SHOKU data using the Cooking Recorder. This will deliver stable quality, skill transfer and labour saving at the same time, with the aim of building new cooking infrastructure across eating out, ready meals and institutional catering.

Creating a cooking IP business

The Company will put in place a way to license and distribute the stored ROKU SHOKU data and, beyond restaurants, promote its introduction to care homes for older people, group homes, staff canteens, hospitals and resort hotels. By widening the places that can serve chef-supervised menus reliably and with high fidelity, even where staff shortages and skills tied to individual cooks are a problem, it aims to improve the dining experience of the people using these facilities while reducing the burden of running them, and to form a new ecosystem in which chefs can earn from their skill.

Comment from Tomoko Nomoto, Representative Director

We are truly honoured to take over the technology and patents of ROKU SHOKU, which Sony Group has researched and developed for many years, and to carry its research, development and commercialisation forward as Ajiwow Inc.

Cooking has the power to move people and to create moments they remember. Through ROKU SHOKU, we record a chef’s tacit knowledge as data that can be replayed, so that the value of an irreplaceable dining experience, and the emotion it creates, can reach more people and the next generation.

Beyond restaurants, we will widen a world where a high-quality dining experience can be delivered reliably even in places where it is hard to find cooks, such as care homes for older people, hospitals, staff canteens and hotels, and we aim to build a new industry in which chefs’ skills are properly recognised and also earn them income.

Company profile

Company: 味わう株式会社 (Ajiwow Inc.)
Representative: Tomoko Nomoto, Representative Director and CEO
Head office: 1-14-10 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Founded: March 11, 2025
Website: https://ajiwow.co.jp