New Category of Pizza: Tokyo style
Debating categories of pizza and their qualities while downing a glass of wine, is one of life’s great pleasures. Well. for me it is at least. One thing is not up for debate however; the world has a new category of pizza – Tokyo Style. How “new” is it you ask? Well, likely more like a 25 year old style (or more).
I wrote about the original Tokyo pizza maker who inspired and trained a generation of pizzaiolo’s in the city in my first post (April 2025). Susumu Kakinuma, after a stint attempting to find work in Italy to learn how to make pizza, opened the first “Savoy” pizzeria and was busy enough to open a 2nd shop. Eventually he sold Savoy and opened the now legendary pizzeria “Seirinkan” in Meguro.
Kakinuma’s style is unique in the pizza world. The – ’round’ shape of pizza, the light sauce and cheese toppings, and slightly harder bake is a unique hallmark of his pizza. The new Tokyo style pizza is familiar for its ‘pleated’ crust and unique process of opening the dough. While in Naples, the ‘slap’ and heavy hand movements with dough that is tighter and more suited for this type of violent opening of the dough; are the norm and what is taught to new pizzaoilo’s. While Naples has tradition; Tokyo style is more refined, simpler and is uber efficient in the hand movements to open the dough, which is more suited to a softer and higher hydration dough. Try the Naples ‘slap’ process with a high hydration dough and you’ll have pretzels more than pizza.
This opening or ‘shaping’ of a pizza is one step in a series of steps to create a Tokyo style pizza. One of my favorite pizza makers at Savoy Azabu-Juban is Bun. His experience and focus on each pizza made is evident and is the difference between a good and great pizza. The very high heat of the wood burning oven and a very specific oven at that, are some other keys to the Tokyo style. Keen-eyed observers will note the round and tall ovens in Tokyo that are made locally, in various metal clad exterior designs, and always burn wood. Acunto ovens are also found in Tokyo, in various states of condition, but those are not the norm.
Light saucing along with very light cheese toppings, plenty of basil and lots of oil are the norm. Some of Kakinuma’s desciples also use the ancient method of salting the oven floor and baking the pizza on top of the salt. When done well, with attention paid to the amount of salt in the dough, that can be a fun and tasty way to make a delicious pizza. In the heavy hands of some pizza makers, it leads to inedible and overly salty pizza that makes the process more gimmick than method. Those pizza’s tend to be far more charred and salt-laden, which you can now easily find in Bangkok and Tokyo.
No matter the age, process or method of baking, Tokyo style pizza is a thing and is here to stay. The reach of Tokyo style pizza is now extending to other parts of Asia (Bangkok, Manila) and even in the states (L.A.). How long before we see ‘Tokyo style pizza’ in the Minneapolis airport? Maybe a while, but for sure you will start to see it in the major cities as the Tokyo pizza masters expand, teach and inspire the next (3rd) generation of great pizza makers as well as some who think 4 Youtube videos are enough to fool the customers and open a ‘traditional’ Tokyo style pizzeria.
