Shimeji

Japanese cooking incorporates many different types of mushrooms including the family known as shimeji. Several types of shimeji mushrooms are used in Japanese cuisine including the delicate enoki, which have long white stems and tiny white caps, and the bunashimeji, pictured here, with a round brown cap and thicker stems. Shimeji mushrooms do not taste…

Afuri Ramen

I’m breaking the rules today, but for good reason. Some of you may be aware that I am doing freelance writing and photography over at the excellent Japan travel resource site, Voyapon. The good folks at Voyapon send me off on adventures to off-the-beaten-path Japan, places you may never think of going on your own….

Mochi-tsuki

Mochi-tsuki   Eating mochi (pounded rice) on New Year’s Day is a tradition in Japan but in order to have mochi to eat for the new year, someone has to make it. Today, it’s easy enough to buy mochi from any supermarket or convenience store or make it in a machine. But traditionally, mochi would…

Korean Food

Wait, isn’t this a blog about Japan? Well yes it is and Korean food is one of those things that you’ll find in abundance in Japan. Japanese people do love Korean food, albeit at a little less spicy levels as the neighbors across the sea. Shin Okubo, a neighborhood just north of Shinjuku, is the…

Wagashi Kurogi

Tucked in a corner of prestigious Tokyo University, the Daiwa Ubiquitous Research Building is difficult to miss due to its unique architecture of wooden slabs, but more importantly, the building is home to a unique restaurant, Wagashi Kurogi. Wagashi is the word for Japanese sweets, often associated with tea ceremony, but Wagashi Kurogi goes beyond…

Asakusa – Matcha Azuki Kakigori

Although you can technically get this traditional summer dessert all over Japan, it seems fitting to eat it in Asakusa, a neighborhood of Tokyo steeped in tradition. A mountain of razor thin sliced ice drizzled with milk and covered with matcha (green tea) powder, finally topped with a scoop of sweet azuki red beans. On…

Asari Shio Ramen

This simple ramen, made with clams in a salt based broth, is not as common in ramen shops as you might expect. We found this delicious bowl literally meters from the beach in Ichinomiya, Chiba prefecture at Kujukuri Men Dragon, a ramen shop run by a former Tokyoite turned ramen chef / surfer. the chef and…

Ebisu Bon Odori

As July comes to a close, the bon odori season is just starting in Japan. Bon odori are festivals where entire communities come together to socialize and dance in honor of the dead. In Tokyo, the neighborhood of Ebisu seems to have made the perfect transition of bon odori from the rural village to the…

Tohoku Week – Zunda

When you consider the elegance of Japanese tea, the homely looking zunda looks a bit out of place. By appearance, it could be a regurgitated bright green goo, but zunda takes its rightful place beside the more refined cup of ocha by virtue of its history. Lord Date Masamune, founder of Sendai, dined on zunda,…

Tohoku Week – Kanrantei

When you sit down in Kanrantei and served a frothy matcha and sweet wagashi, you may not realize the building you are in may be better traveled in Japan than you. Kanrantei teahouse was a gift to Data Musumine, the daimyo who founded the city of Sendai, from the legendary Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kanrantei was built…