Japan Eats!

Our guest is Christopher Horton who is the executive chef at Sanrokunana (367) in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute, Chris worked at notable establishments, including Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C., Andaz Hotel Tokyo, and INUA in Tokyo, which was one of Asia’s 50 Best restaurants.  Nagano is known for its beautiful mountains and hot spr...

Our guest is Masamitsu Ishibashi who is the president and CEO of Misaki Megumi Suisan based in Japan. Founded in 1986, the company has been focused on processing and sales of fresh seafood, in particular tuna. Tuna, or Maguro in Japanese, is one of the most popular fish among sushi lovers. Not only does the fish have a very special place in Japanese food culture, but on the other hand, sustainabil...

My guests are Tim Sullivan & John Puma, who are the hosts of the Sake Revolution podcast. The Sake Revolution podcast started in January 2020 and each episode is so informative and so much fun that I have never missed an episode of the show.  Tim is a sake expert and the founder of Urban Sake . He is also an honorable Sake Samurai as well. It is a title given by the Japan Sake Brewers Associat...

Our guest is Jake Myrick who is the co-owner and toji, or brewmaster, of Sequoia Sake in San Francisco, which was founded in 2015. It is the first local artisanal sake brewery in the city.  In 2019, only 4 years after their first production of sake, the brewery received both the gold and silver awards for best sake produced outside of Japan at the  Tokyo Sake Competition.  Jake has been relentless...

Our guest today is Marie Akizawa , the 6th generation rice merchant Yamadaya Honten in Tokyo, which was founded in 1905.  Rice is a quintessential food in Japanese culture since it started to be produced 3,000 years ago in the country. Japanese people enjoy plain rice like the best part of the meal. Also, Japanese chefs are crazy about their choice of rice. For instance, at a fancy kaiseki restaur...

Our guest is Tetsuya Yamashita , the only non-French garçon, or waiter, at Café de Flore in Paris. Café de Flore is one of the most iconic cafes in France. Garçon in France is different from a waiter in the US and Tetsuya exemplifies the difference in his outstanding style of service. To prove how distinctive he is, Tetsuya has been patronized by many regulars including the legendary fashion desig...

This episode is different from our regular show. Recently, I got very lucky to be on the fantastic podcast Sake Revolution and had a fun conversation with the wonderful hosts Tim Sullivan and John Puma. So I am replaying it today on Japan Eats !  The Sake Revolution podcast started in January 2020 and each episode is so informative and so much fun that I have never missed any episode of the show. ...

Our guests today are JT Vuong and George Padilla, the executive chef and the co-founding partner of Rule of Thirds in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in New York.  George and JT met at Okonomi, a charming Japanese restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and after working for several years together, they opened Rule of Thirds in February 2020 – what a timing!  It was a month before the outbreak of COVID-19.   Bu...

Our guest is Austin Power who has been in the sake industry for the last 17 years as a sake sommelier and kikizakeshi, or a certified sake professional.  Austin joined us in Episode 164 and discussed his fascinating experience at Sake Bar Satsuko in the East Village for the first 10 years of his career.  Also, he shared his ideas of serving Japanese sake in non-Japanese environments like Tokyo Rec...

Our guest is Tetsuro Miyazaki, who is the General Manager at IICHIKO USA.   iichiko is one of the most well-known shochu brands in Japan and abroad.  The company was founded in 1958 and specializes in barley-based shochu products, which reflects the natural environment of Oita Prefecture in the south of Japan.   iichiko shochu’s nickname is ""Downtown Napoleon"", meaning that it has the quality of...

Our guest is Kazuhiro Sakurai, the 4th generation and CEO of Asahi Shuzo, which is the maker of Dassai sake .     You may have heard of Dassai, because you can find it in many bars and restaurants worldwide.  Also, Dassai has appeared at important events.  For example, when Barak Obama visited Japan in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gifted Dassai sake to the US president.   Dassai’s success did n...

Our guest is Yoshi Tezuka , the 4th generation sushi chef at Matsunozushi in Tokyo, which was founded in 1910.  Yoshi is not just a great sushi chef, but also a global thinker.   Before he became a sushi chef, Yoshi spent years abroad as a professional ski guide as well as a backpacker and traveled to over 50 countries.  Now he cooks for a global audience worldwide on a whole variety of occasions,...

Our guests are Stephen Lyman & Christopher Pellegrini who are the co-hosts of Japan Distilled , the fantastic new podcast about Japanese spirits. Japan Distilled started in December 2020.  The duo's conversations are fun and truly informative.  Stephen and Chris always tell the audience not just the basics but also in-depth history and background of Japanese spirits, which even most Japanese p...

Our guest is Michael Gerard who is the founder and president of Wildwood Ovens & BBQ ( Instagram ) based in California.  Michael manufactures various wood-fired cooking equipment including yakitori grills.   Yakitori is grilled chicken on skewers and its simplicity demands tremendous skills and experience of the cook, not to mention great equipment.  Michael is one of the very few yakitori gri...

Our guest is Jon Broida who is the owner of Japanese Knife Imports based in California.  Before Jon founded Japanese Knife Imports in 2010, he had a successful career as a fine-dining chef and great knives were essential for his job.  He got so into Japanese knives that eventually he started the company and now offers outstanding products along with essential services such as knife sharpening and...

Our guest is Philip Harper , the brewmaster and managing director of Kinoshita Shuzo in Kyoto, which was founded in 1842.   Philip has been working in the sake industry for the last 30 years.  In 2007, he became the very first non-Japanese brewmaster at Kinoshita Shuzo.  Nowadays there are more non-Japanese workers in the sake industry but back then, it was a shockingly novel event!   Philip has p...

Our guest is Don Mei who is the Director of Mei Leaf , an awesome tea company based in London.   Don also has a wonderful YouTube Channel called “Mei Leaf”, which has 80,000 subscribers.  His videos are extremely educational and uniquely fun based on his extensive knowledge of both Chinese and Japanese tea.  His global and analytical perspective helps viewers to appreciate tea even more.   In this...

Our guest is Kazumasa Nishikawa who is the 4th generation head master of the Nishikawa school of Japanese dancing, which has a history of 170 years. He is a dancer, producer, and director, creating numerous performances, teaching at 4 colleges. He is also a manager of the Nihon Odori Sports Science, a health program from the perspective of Japanese dance. Kaz is based in Aichi Prefecture, which is...

Our guest is Winifred Bird who is a writer, translator, lifelong cook, and lover of plants, based in northern Illinois.   Winnie recently published a fabulous book called “Eating Wild Japan - Tracking the Culture of Foraged Foods, with a Guide to Plants and Recipes” from Stone Bridge Press.     When we talk about Japanese cuisine, we tend to think of dishes like sushi, ramen and kaiseki without co...

Our guest is Yarrow Lazer-Smith, a.k.a. Yarrow Slaps who is a visual artist and hip-hop musician as well as the co-director of SWIM Gallery in San Francisco.     Yarrow recently published “Ramen Forever – An Artist’s Guide to Ramen”.  There are many ramen-themed books, but this is definitely one the most intriguing and cool ones you can find.  It is packed with inspiring interviews with ramen-love...

Our guest is Hannah Kirshner who is the author of “WATER, WOOD, AND WILD THINGS”, which just came out on March 23, 2021 from Viking. Hannah has a lot of intriguing experiences in Japan. For example, she has worked as a bartender and as well as a kurabito, or sake brewer’s assistant, in the beautiful rural area of Ishikawa Prefecture called Yamanaka.  Now she calls it her second home. In her new bo...

Our guest is Brian Ashcraft who is a senior writer for the video gaming site Kotaku and a columnist for The Japan Times.  He is also the author of the 6 fascinating books including: The Japanese Sake Bible, Japanese Whisky, Japanese Tattoos and Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool.   Brian has lived in Osaka since 2001.  Throughout the two decades, he has insightf...

Our guest is Merry White who is the author of Coffee Life in Japan, an absolutely insightful and fascinating book about Japanese coffee as well as unique Japanese culture and society.  Merry also teaches courses on various topics including Japan, food anthropology, and urban anthropology at Boston University. Japanese people started drinking coffee fairly recently compared to their centuries-old c...

Our guest is Danny Taing who is the founder of Bokksu .   Bokksu means box in Japanese.  His company Bokksu delivers to your door the experience of tasting authentic Japanese snacks, candies, and teas sourced directly from generations-old small family businesses.   If you visit Japan, you will instantly know that Japanese people are quite obsessed with both savory and sweet snacks.  Elaborately pa...

Our guest is Andrew Centofante who is the co-owner and head brewer of North American Sake Brewery in Charlottesville, Virgina, which opened in 2018.  It is Virginia’s first and only sake brewery.   Despite its short history, the brewery has won the silver and bronze medals at the 2020 World Sake Challenge for its classic-style sake.  But Andrew also makes highly imaginative sake as well.   In this...