Tokyo Craft Beer

I recently stopped by one of my favorite craft beer breweries, Folkways, over on the east side of the Sumida River near Kiba Park and met a family from San Francisco who were in Tokyo to visit breweries and drink craft beer. I have met many Japanese people who have gone to Portland, Oregon (my hometown) specifically to enjoy the craft beer scene, but this was the first time I had met people from the U.S. who […]

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Chagusaba (茶草場)

This week I read an article in The Japan Times about a traditional method of growing tea that is practiced in Shizuoka prefecture known as chagusaba. The process involves growing silver grass (a weed) and sasa (ground cover bamboo) to use as a mulch between rows of tea bushes. The grasses are dried, then composted, before eventually being applied to the fields, the mulch providing natural nutrients for the bushes as well as insulation against the cold […]

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Tōfu ya Ryōri Yomoyamo 豆腐屋料理　四方八方

Last night, after talking about it for several months, my wife and I finally walked a few meters down the street to try the fairly new restaurant Tōfu ya Ryōri Yomoyamo. It is located in Ningyōchō, on Amazakiyokochō in the space formerly occupied by Sukeroku, a long-time yakitori restaurant that closed its doors a while back. And despite the presence of tōfu and yuba making equipment in a small room facing the sidewalk, the cuisine turned out […]

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DAISHICHI SAKE 　大七日本酒

On May 22, 2010, my wife and I, along with other members of a group of people that were into food and things related to food, went up to Nihonmatsu in Fukushima prefecture to plant rice for a special sake that Daishichi Shuzō would make with it. I had almost forgotten about it and then a couple of weeks ago my wife and I received messages informing us that some of the sake made with our rice […]

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Sakuma さく間

To celebrate my birthday last week, my wife made reservations at a local restaurant we had never been to before, Sakuma (さく間). I was familiar with the restaurant, and one time talked to the owners about what sort of cuisine they served, but then the pandemic hit and our dining out became less frequent and I kind of forgot about the place. That may be in part because it is located on a side street in Kakigarachō […]

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New Versions of Two Old Favorites: Edomasa and Shukuzū

Two of my most favorite restaurants near where I live recently were more or less forced to undergo some major changes, in one place for the better, and in the other, I still not sure. Both are tachinomi-ya (stand and eat and drink) places I have frequented for nearly my entire time in Japan, Edomasa, in Higashinihonbashi, and Shukuzū in Ningyōchō. First, the change for the better:   For the second time in the past seven years […]

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Tōfu

My wife frequently says that the Ningyōchō of today is not the same as it was ten years ago. Or even five years ago. And nothing, in my opinion, epitomizes that sentiment more than the loss of our neighborhood tōfu shops. When I moved here fifteen some years ago there were six tōfu shops within a few minutes walk, one in Kakigarachō that was the first to go, perhaps because the tōfu wasn’t really all that good; […]

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IPA Books

Folkways Brewing is a small craft beer brewery just a couple of blocks from the Kiba MOA (Art Museum) whose IPA I really like. It’s not too far from home, but far enough away that I usually try to tie my visits with some other errand, such as shopping at Conan, the home center. One day while there I happened to look at the books they have on a small book shelf and noticed a title that […]

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Whiskey Week (Whisky Week)

Whisky Week The past week or so has been filled with whisky (whiskey) events, starting with the annual Chichibu Whisky Matsuri in Chichibu, Saitama. Chichibu is home to Ichiro Akuto, the owner of Venture Distilling and the maker of Ichiro’s Malts whiskies, perhaps the most famous whisky in the world over the past ten or fifteen years. The fest brings whisky makers from all over the world to pour samples of their wares, plus other whisky collectors […]

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Hot Foods

Something about Japan’s food culture that I realized long ago is that most people have a very high tolerance for hot food and drink. Hot as in temperature hot, not spicy hot. When it comes to myself, however, I have what is known in Japan a neko jita (猫舌), a term literally meaning “cat’s tongue” that is used to describe people who can’t eat or drink hot things (cats will drink warm milk, but if served milk […]

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