Tune in online to JCC Facebook on the day. There will be a Q&A session for viewers at the end of the event. If you have any questions, please login to your Facebook account and ask by commenting on the live video feed.

Hisao Ueda, President of Umeshuya Co., was born in 1975 as the third son of a then local liquor store owner in Japan. Over many years of training and experience, he officially took over the business as the third generation owner in 2000 and changed the name of the store to "Sake Takakura" using the name of his hometown "Takakura-cho", with the hope of continuing to be a specialty store loved by the community. With that, he eventually revitalised a liquor store that was on the verge of going out of business.

One day in Wakayama, he came across Umeshu (plum wine) and then decided to start an online shop specialising in it. In 2005, the shop Umeshuya was launched and went on to win the "Shop of the Year" award in the e-commerce mall Rakuten Ichiba for three consecutive years. Ueda personally visits sake breweries all over Japan to learn about the history, climate, and production methods of each region from the producers. Besides tending to Umeshuya, Ueda also operates two other sake themed restaurants, opened a store in Taiwan that sells plum wine, and expanded his Umeshu business to seven other countries.

Chef, Restaurateur, food writer, arts and music critic, Violet Oon, 72, has been championing Singapore cuisine for nearly 50 years both nationally and internationally. In 2019, Oon was awarded the Lifetime Achievement for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism by the Singapore Tourism Board. In 2018, Oon received 2 Lifetime Achievement Awards – from the SPH’s Asian Masters and from the World Gourmet Summit. She has appeared on TV on the international arena in programmes on Singapore food. Oon was inducted to the Hall of Fame by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (2016) for her contributions to Singapore cuisine. She is also co-owner of the Violet Oon Singapore group of restaurants which showcases and celebrates Singapore cuisine.

In 2020, Oon re-launched into her food filming life with a series of cooking videos and webinars and looks forward to further pursuing this area of focus. She also re-connected with her arts career with a talk at the National Gallery Singapore as part of the exhibition 'Suddenly Turning Visible on Art and Architecture in Singapore 1969-1989'.