Tomoyo Saito, from Faraway Japan

Tomoyo Saito, Service Adviser

Tomoyo Saito is from the rural town of Narita, Japan, just on the outskirts of Tokyo.  As a student, she felt the need to learn English, so she took courses at the International College in Tokyo, and later took a big leap across the ocean to continue her English language studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Why Reno?  She wanted to avoid living in a crowded urban environment such as Tokyo, so for her, Reno and Nevada just felt right.  She continued as a Nevada resident when she later transferred to UNLV where she got her degree in hospitality.

After graduation from UNLV, she went to work at a local Japanese sushi restaurant called Sen of Japan, owned by Chef Hiromi Nakano, former head chef of the acclaimed Nobu at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  She stayed there for ten years and rose to assistant general manager.

It happened that one of her regular customers at the restaurant was Lexus GM Lee Butler, and when employment opportunities opened up, she interviewed and joined Lexus in 2019.  Tomoyo is grateful for her restaurant experience and she draws from much of what she learned there with her current job as a service adviser.

She likes Asian food such as Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, or Chinese, and appreciates the greater variety of food choices that the US offers compared to Japan.  For example, she notes that it is very hard to find Mexican food or a Jamaican restaurant in Tokyo.

At home, Tomoyo is fortunate because her husband loves to experiment with food and so he does much of the cooking.  

For fun, she likes to read books on self-improvement, self-motivation, and investments.  She enjoys hiking with her husband and loves to travel.