Tokyofoodcast

Despite the unbearable heat, summer in Japan is the season for a lot of good stuff–including food. One thing I had wanted to do for sometime was to go to a small coastal city during the uni or sea urchin season and indulge myself. So, before going to Ichinoseki, I took a wide detour and [...]

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When I heard that the Ichinoseki area is called “the home of mochi“, I thought of New Year’s Day. Or rather, I should say New Year’s Eve when my family geared up for massive production of mochi for the whole family and extended family at the holiday. We literally spent the entire day making so [...]

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I wish I could say that I had made this exquisite yōkan or jellied sweet that captured the underwater world so perfectly–fish are swimming through clear water over a mossy green riverbed paved with pebbles. This was a creation of students in the wagashi or Japanese sweets cooking class that meets next door to my [...]

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One rainy afternoon in June, I was catching the Enoden near Fujisawa on the way back from a meeting. Looking at the beautiful posters saturated with colors all around the station promoting the ajisai or hydrangea season, I thought to stop by Kamakura rather than going straight back to Fujisawa. From Gokurakuji, I took a [...]

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Back in October 2007, I went to a Shimane Sake Tasting that featured 13 brewers from this part of San’in presenting their best in Tokyo. Melinda and I were both really impressed by what these Shimane brewers offered and I went home thinking about a trip to the source to visit some of the kura [...]

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When I stopped at the Tokyu Foodshow in Shibuya last week, I spotted Kaiun’s crown jewel bottles, to-bin dori daiginjo that hold Toji’s name, Hase Shokichi label, wrapped in a thin white paper and carefully stocked in the refrigerator. Whenever I see this bottle in a shop, I can’t help myself but pause for [...]

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What would you say if someone asked you to try sake brewed on the Ginza? And, what if that sake had been made from rice grown in the heart of the Ginza, where people come from all over the world for high-end fashion, dining, and culture? I did not know exactly what I was getting [...]

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May 20th is finally here, and I am sure a lot of people were waiting very anxiously to see this at 10 am today. The results of this year’s Shinshu Kanpyokai are in, and the complete list of award winners is posted on the NRIB’s website [Japanese].
Out of 957 brews entered into competition, 487 received [...]

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Finally, we are off the evil black list. Gee, it really felt like we did something wrong to have the tag pop up with the warning whenever our website comes up.
So, finally, we are back to business as usual. As I was reading Kyoto Foodie’s post on the kikizake event in Otsu, Shiga, although [...]

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I first found out about a sake event called Smile Nihonshu through the Yumegokoro website. The event was held at a reggae bar in Shinjuku and I remember thinking what an odd combination it sounded like. Nihonshu definitely belongs in many settings and occasions, but for some reason, I never associated these two: sake and [...]

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