Japan Eats!

Our guest is Elizabeth Andoh, who already joined us 11 times 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 cul...

Our guest is Kotaro Hamada who is the 6th generation of Hamada Shuzo in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Hamada Shuzo has been making shochu, the Japanese traditional spirit, since 1868.  Hamada Shuzo’s quality is highly recognized not only in Japan but also abroad and its shochu brands called Daiyame 25 and Daiyame 40 have received multiple prestigious awards, including the Gold Medal for Daiyame 40...

Our guest is Zach Mangan who is the co-founder of Kettl , the Japanese tea importer and distributor based in New York and Fukuoka, Japan. He is also the author of the fantastic book about Japanese tea, “ Stories of Japanese tea: The Regions, the Growers, and the Craft ”. And in September 2021, he opened a beautiful tea shop and gallery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is now one of the coolest secti...

Our guest is Craig Mod who is a writer, author, and photographer based in Japan. Also, according to his website , he is a "walker". And we will talk about what it means.  Craig has spent over 20 years in Japan and has produced a lot of valuable work, capturing Japanese daily life objectively as well as being an insider. His insight into Japanese culture is impressive and I have learned a lot from...

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 b...

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 gain...

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 ea...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 minorit...

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...

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...

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 i...

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. ...

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 profes...

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...

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 websit...

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 ther...

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 opportunit...

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...

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....

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...

Our guest is Maurice Dudley, who is an awamori specialist based in Okinawa. Awamori is a very important traditional alcoholic beverage from Okinawa Prefecture, but its preciousness is yet to be known outside Japan. Maurice went to Japan for the first time in 1994 as an Airman. He was stationed at a U.S. Military base in Okinawa and fell in love with awamori. Since then, he has continued to deepen...