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…
Tag: Food
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…
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…
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 – Shiogama Fish Market
If you’re sitting down to a plate of fresh maguro tuna at a restaurant in Japan, chances are your meal passed through Shiogama. The commercial docks in this city north of Sendai handle the vast majority of the tuna trade in Japan, not Tsukiji Market in Tokyo as most people believe. Shiogama Fish Market is…
Kakigori
When July and August roll around, the people of Japan swoon in the hot and humid weather. Perhaps that feeling led to the invention of kakigori, finely shaved ice flavored with a variety of sweet goodness. Kakigori is widely available on the cheap with a variety of artificial, bright colored flavored syrups like strawberry, lemon,…
Chirashi Don
Japan loves its raw fish in many forms, but Chirashi don, which is sashimi in a bowl of flavored rice can be quickly consumed over a short lunch break, making it the choice of office workers. Chirashi means “scattered” in Japanese, though some bowls have toppings laid out so beautifully, its easy to question that…
365 JAPAN 