Which Japanese chef created the recipe for Japanese cheesecake?

Japanese chef Tomotaro Kuzuno created the recipe associated with Japanese cheesecake.

Kuzuno encountered a German-style cheesecake during a trip to Berlin in the 1960s and was inspired to develop a lighter version for Japan. His recipe helped establish the airy, soufflé-like cheesecake now commonly associated with Japanese baking. The dessert is also called cotton cheesecake, soufflé cheesecake, or light cheesecake.

Japanese cheesecake differs from dense New York-style cheesecake in both texture and sweetness. Bakers typically separate the eggs and whip the whites, folding them into a batter containing cream cheese, butter, sugar, and egg yolks. Baking in a bain-marie, or water bath, helps the cake cook gently and retain moisture.

The result is a cake that wobbles when freshly baked and becomes more chiffon-like after chilling. Uncle Tetsu’s later bakery chain helped popularize the style internationally, but its commercial fame should not be confused with authorship of the original recipe. The creator named in the question is Kuzuno, not Jiro Ono or Nobu Matsuhisa.