Japan Eats

Our guest is Yumi Komatsudaira, who is a recipe developer, food stylist, culinary instructor, and the president of K-Seaweed. Yumi grew up outside Tokyo, playing and snacking in her family’s seaweed factory. When we hear seaweed, many of us may think of the weeds by the beach that do not look particularly delicious, or even edible. But it is like looking at weeds coming out of the pavements on busy city streets. What we are talking about here about seaweed is the equivalent of plants from well-managed farmlands. In Japan, seaweeds are quintessential ingredients for their rich umami. Umami is the fifth taste after salty, sweet, sour and bitter and it enhances and mitigates these other four tastes to make food delicious. That is why Japanese dashi broth, which is made with seaweed, is indispensable in Japanese cuisine. Seaweed is also becoming a hot topic for its huge potential to make the world more sustainable. Not to mention, seaweed is vegan too. In this episode, we will discuss how seaweed is used to make

Our guest is Richard Geoffroy who is the founder and maker of Shiraiwa, a sake brewery in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Before Richard founded the sake brewery in 2018, he was the Chef de Cave, or cellar master, at the world-famous Champagne producer Dom Pérignon for 28 years. Richard makes traditional-style Japanese sake that is uniquely merged with Champagne-making techniques and his sake is gaining the attention of professionals and connoisseurs of sake and wine worldwide. In this episode, we will discuss why the master Champagne maker decided to produce Japanese sake, Richard’s original style of sake that incorporates the idea of assemblages, how his experience with Champagne is inspiring traditional sake production, and much, much more!!!Photo Courtesy of Marion Berrin.Japan Eats is nominated for a viewer’s choice TASTE AWARD. Cast your vote before February 17th.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecas

Our guest is Noriko Okubo who is the co-owner and chief operations officer of Ginza Nishikawa U.S.A. Ginza Nishikawa opened in 2018 in Ginza, one of the poshest areas in Tokyo, to sell high-quality Shokupan bread. Shokupan is also called milk bread and is gaining popularity worldwide for its distinctively soft and fluffy texture with a pleasantly sweet taste. Ginza Nishikawa’s Shokupan bread earned accolades very quickly and now it operates over 130 shops throughout Japan. The huge success spread to the U.S. and the bakery opened its first overseas location in L.A. in July 2022, which Noriko co-owns and manages. In this episode, we will discuss what shokupan is, why shokupan has become so popular in Japan and increasingly overseas, the secrets of Ginza Nishikawa’s shokupan that sells out within a few hours of being baked in L.A., and much, much more!!!Photo Courtesy of Courtesy of Ginza Nishikawa.Japan Eats is nominated for a viewer’s choice TASTE AWARD. Cast your vote before February 17th.Heritage Radio Netw

Our guest is David Schlosser who is the chef/owner of Shibumi in Downtown L.A. Shibumi opened in 2016 and shortly afterwards, it earned accolades from various prominent media, including The Los Angeles Times’s Jonathan Gold who ranked Shibumi number two restaurant of the whole city. Currently, Shibumi holds one Michelin star. David was classically trained in Japan and soulfully serves authentic Japanese dishes at Shibumi. But originally, he used to cook French cuisine at Michelin starred restaurants in France. In this episode, we will discuss how David got into Japanese food, his training at top kaiseki restaurants in Japan, his philosophy of cooking Japanese cuisine, and much, much more!!! Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Cinzia Mesolella who is in charge of PR and communication at Kobe Shushinkan Breweries in Hyogo Prefecture. Hyogo is the home of “Nada no sake”, which means “Sake from Nada”, and is synonymous with great sake. Kobe Shushinkan Breweries was founded in 1751 and its award-winning label Fukuju has been served at Nobel prize dinners several times since 2008. Kobe Shushinkan is also known for its sustainable-minded sake production, and last year it released the world’s first carbon-free sake called Fukuju Junmai EcoZero. Cinzia is from Italy and since 2019, she has been playing a precious role in Kobe Shushinkan’s global communication. She is also a certified sake specialist. In this episode, we will discuss how Cinzia became the PR representative at the traditional sake brewery, what makes sake from Nada so special, Kobe Shushinkan’s sustainable production philosophy, its award-winning labels, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan

Our guest is Guy Allen, a sushi blogger based in New York City. Guy fell in love with sushi at a very young age and has been exploring the world of sushi globally since then. You can find his discoveries on Instagram under @thesushiguide. His reviews are so unique and fascinating and his photos are so stunning that he has been invited to dine at great sushi restaurants in Tokyo. In this episode, we will discuss Guy’s diverse experiences at sushi restaurants, his criteria for great sushi, why sushi is universally appealing to diners of all ages, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Massud Ghaussy who has a Japanese food and restaurant blog on Instagram under TokyoManhattan. His posts not only describe restaurants he has visited, but also include many other elements behind the dishes, such as history, culture, and cooking methods. He joined us in Episodes 125, 136, 152 and 186 and shared his favorite Japanese chefs and restaurants in the world.Today’s topic is the best Japanese restaurants in the world in 2022. The popularity of Japanese food remains high globally, and so is the reputation of Japanese chefs working abroad. Massud has visited many cities in the world and discovered great restaurants during the year. We will discuss all of them. Also, since this is the end-of-the-year episode, we will demystify the Japanese New Year rituals, which is a huge deal in Japan!!! Here are the links to the restaurants discussed in this episode.Kanazawa – (Please use translation technology accordingly!)• Sushi Kawaramachi Hajime　http://mikizo1.com/　• Kappo Hamacho https://r.gnavi.co.j

Our guest is Greg Lam who has a popular YouTube Channel called “Life Where I'm From”. He has created over 200 videos since 2015 and his Channel has more than 1.6 million subscribers. Greg is based in Japan and in his insightful videos, he covers a wide variety of topics from Japanese breakfast, how a ramen shop operates, why Japanese bathrooms are the best, to Japanese social issues like minorities in Japan. In each video, he accurately and analytically captures a very ordinary aspect of life in Japan, but these daily matters are the most representative of the uniqueness of Japanese culture. Even though I grew up in Japan, I always learn something new from Greg’s videos, and his messages make me think more deeply about what Japan is. In this episode, we will discuss why Greg moved to Japan, why he decided to start the YouTube Channel called 'Life Where I'm From', what is unique about Japanese culture, the underlying mindset and philosophies of Japanese people that make the country unique, and much, much more!

Our guest is Jamie Ryder, who is a certified sake sommelier as well as a Japanese culture enthusiast. Also, Jamie publishes a Japanese culture-themed magazine called Yamato Magazine, which explores Japanese culture from a variety of angles. We have had many guests in the past, talking about Japanese food scenes in the biggest cities in the world such as Tokyo, L.A., London and Paris, but we don’t know too much about how Japanese food is gaining interest in other places. Jamie is based in Manchester, U.K. Manchester is still a big city, the 6th largest in the country, but by no means the same as a metropolis like London. In other words, it is a great example to see what is happening with Japanese food culture in smaller cities. In this episode, we will discuss how Jamie got into Japanese culture, what is happening with Japanese culture outside the metropolis, how Jamie gained knowledge of sake and got certified as a sake sommelier in Manchester, what should happen for Japanese sake to be enjoyed more outside g

Our guest is Mike Satinover who is a ramen expert based in Chicago. Ramen became a very popular dish outside Japan in the last two decades or so and these days you can find great ramen shops in many cities in the U.S. Mike fell in love with ramen when he spent a year in Japan 12 years ago and since then, his passion for the iconic Japanese national noodle dish has only deepened. That is why his Reddit page has become the go-to place for serious ramen lovers. Go there and you will be surprised by the quantity and the quality of well-organized, practical information about how to make a great bowl of ramen in your own kitchen even outside Japan. In this episode, we will discuss how Mike got into ramen, how he learned to make great ramen back home in America, the importance of regional variations of ramen within Japan, tips to make ramen at home, and much, much more!!! Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplec

Our guest is Tomo Matsushita who is the spirit sommelier at Copper & Oak in the Lower East Side, New York. Spirits are very popular in the U.S. If you look at the alcohol beverage market in 2021, beer was the most popular, which accounted for 43% of the market. Spirits were almost as popular as beer and their market share was 41%, and the remaining was mostly wine. Spirits are delicious but if you don’t know much about them, it is hard to choose what to drink. Tomo is the expert who can help you not only to choose what spirit and what brand, but also to understand the story behind each label. At Copper & Oak, he serves 1,400 labels of spirits. Tomo’s passion and knowledge of spirits are well-recognized in the global spirits industry and he received the title of the Icon of Whisky 2021. As you may know, Japanese whisky has been one of the hottest categories of spirits in recent years, and Copper & Oak carries 130 Japanese whisky labels. In this episode, we will discuss Tomo’s unique background outs

Our guest is Shohei Miyajima who is the manager of Dashi Okume in Brooklyn, New York. The New York location of Dashi Okume opened in September 2022 but the history of the company Okume goes back to 1871. Dashi is a Japanese-style stock, but unlike western style stock it is used very extensively in Japanese cuisine. Dashi provides a rich umami taste, which is foundational in many Japanese dishes. Dashi is very easy to make in your kitchen because its ingredients have been carefully made over a long time with special techniques. Dashi Okume sells a whole variety of premium ingredients of dashi and you can customize your dashi flavor as well. In this episode, we will discuss why Shohei decided to become a dashi expert, main ingredients of dashi and their characteristic flavors, how to effectively maximize umami by combining different dashi ingredients, easy recipes that you can try with dashi, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by be

Our guest is Vincent Kazuhito Lau who is the knife sharpener at Korin based in New York. Korin has been offering premium quality Japanese knives, tableware and cookware to Japanese and non-Japanese chefs and consumers for the last 40 years. Vincent began studying knife sharpening in 2009 and thanks to his passion and patience, he has acquired the highly difficult skills and the mindset of a professional knife sharpener. In this episode, we will discuss how Vincent fell in love with Japanese knives, the challenges he conquered to become a knife sharpening expert, why we should sharpen our knives and how to do so effectively, Japanese knife buying tips, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guests are Joelle Sambuc Bloise and Aldo Bloise, who are the co-founders of Ikkyu. Ikkyu is a unique tea company that sells high-quality Japanese tea based in the southern island of Kyushu. If you live outside of Japan, it is not easy to find reasonably priced high-quality Japanese tea. Then I heard about Ikkyu. I ordered some tea from the website and I had some wonderful new discoveries! Of course, there are other great Japanese tea companies but I got particularly interested in Ikkyu’s focus on the terroir of Kyushu island. In this episode, we will discuss how Joelle and Aldo decided to move to Japan even though they had a solid professional career in Switzerland, how they discovered the charm of Japanese tea, why you should try Japanese tea beyond matcha, the unique terroir of Kyushu Island, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Prairie Stuart Wolff who is a writer and photographer and what I would call cultural communicator based in a rural countryside village called Mirukashi on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu. Since Prairie moved to Mirukashi in 2007, she has been deepening her interest in Japanese food through the beautiful surrounding nature. You can find her precious life in the village on her website, Mirukashi Salon. In this episode, we will discuss how Prairie ended up moving to Japan, how the village of Mirukashi inspired her to study Japanese cuisine, the essence of Japanese cuisine Prairie wants to share with others, her unique culture tours that you can participate in, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Daiki Tanaka who is the founder of d:matcha. d:matcha is a highly unique tea company located in the rural town of Wazuka, Kyoto. Wazuka has been known as a premium tea production area for the last 800 years. The landscape of Wazuka is stunningly beautiful but the town has been suffering from serious depopulation. However, Wazuka started to see a bright future since Daiki moved there and began his various ambitious projects to revive the community. In this episode, we will discuss why Daiki decided to move to a rural town with his family after a successful corporate career, his creative strategies to revitalize Wazuka’s tea industry, challenges he had to conquer as a newcomer to Wazuka’s close-knit community, how he built a powerful young and global team to execute d:matcha’s various activities, Daiki’s ultimate goal beyond reviving Wazuka, and much, much more!!!Daiki's challenges and success are beautifully summarized in this video. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast

Our guest is Elizabeth Andoh who joined us 10 times in Episodes 18, 61, 83, 99, 108, 131, 156, 180, 200, 208, and shared her truly deep insight into traditional Japanese food culture. Elizabeth is a food writer and Japanese cooking instructor based in Tokyo, and she has lived in Japan for over 50 years. She runs the culinary arts program called A Taste of Culture, which offers a great opportunity for non-Japanese people to explore Japanese culture through its food. Elizabeth is also the author of 6 cookbooks, including the award-winning “Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Kitchen”, “Kibo: Recipes and Stories from Japan's Tohoku”, and “Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions”.Today’s topic is Kambutsu. Kambutsu means “dried things”. These are essential items in the traditional Japanese pantry but rarely receive the attention they deserve. In this episode, we will discuss what kambutsu is, why they are so precious, ways you can use them (that are totally foolproof!), Elizabeth’s favorite kam

Our guest is Arimi Asai who is the co-founder of Fish & Dish Sakanaya Asai based in Tokyo. Fish & Dish Sakanaya Asai is a unique and highly inspiring fishmonger. When we buy seafood, most of us will go to a supermarket and purchase a piece of fish without knowing its whole shape. It is easy and convenient but the process reminds us that we have become very distant from how we used to eat fish. Arimi and her husband Kazuhiro have a mission to shrink the distance. Their innovative mom & pop business has no address and they are ready to deliver the freshest fish straight from the market to wherever their clients are. Not only that, they offer various catering and educational services to teach how a whole fish is broken down and comes to your plate. Their business started in 2015 and the idea of a fishmonger without a storefront has become popular through word-of-mouth recommendations among foodies and environmentalists alike. In this episode, we will discuss how Kazuhiro and Arimi came up with the co

Our guest is Randy Channell Soei who is a master tea practitioner from Canada. Randy went to Japan 37 years ago to study martial arts. His goal was achieved and he gained proficiency in various styles of martial arts, including Kendo, Iaido, and Kyudo. But somehow, his focus shifted to Japanese tea ceremony and eventually he became the first master tea ceremony instructor as a non-Japanese person.In this episode, we will discuss how Randy got into the tea ceremony, what exactly tea ceremony is, the spiritual aspects of tea ceremony that we all can benefit from, how you can try the tea ceremony, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Yuichiro Murai, the 29th generation of Kojiya Sanzaemon based in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Koji, which is also called the national mold of Japan, has been used to make a majority of anything delicious in Japanese cuisine, such as miso, soy sauce, sake, and shochu. In the last decade or so, koji has become a culinary keyword, especially among forward-minded top chefs like Rene Redzepi of Noma in Denmark, and Feran Adria in Spain. Yuichiro’s family has been selling koji products since 1390. His company’s lab has 3,000 types of koji, and he and his team select the right one for each of their clients based on their knowledge and experience accumulated over the six centuries. In this episode, we will discuss how Japanese and other Asian countries use koji differently, different forms of koji and how they are used, how we can use koji in our own kitchen, novel applications of koji beyond tradition, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Ja