An interesting thing happened back in mid-December; thanks to the corona virus, my wife and I were able to eat at Sugita Sushi twice in a week (actually, the full name is Nihonbashi Kakigarachō Sushi Sugita, which is really way too much to write over and over). I had talked to Sugita san’s wife (Okamisan) sometime in November about making reservations, and she said there were plenty of openings and to give her a call. So my […]
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Today is Setsubun (節分), the last day of winter according to the traditional lunar calendar in Japan. So as has been a custom for several hundred years on this day, I did mamemaki (豆撒き), which consists of throwing dried or roasted soy beans out of each window and outside door of one’s house while saying “oni ha soto, fuku wa uchi!,” meaning something like “demons out, fortune in!” before eating one bean for each year of your […]
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This past Saturday I took a short trip down to Enoshima, a small island just south of Kamakura that is famous for being home to Benzaiten, the deity associated with music and entertainment, and a popular travel destination for the Kantō region for hundreds of years. It’s also where the 1964 and 2020 Olympic sailing competitions were held. I’d been there once before several years ago. This time the plan was to meet two friends, one Japanese […]
Read moreA few days before New Years, as part of our annual household cleaning, my wife made a small change to our recycling and trash sorting. Rather than put plastics, the kind food comes in, not PET bottles, into the general nama gomi (basic trash), she made a separate sort in the same box with our unburnable trash. Most plastic is not recyclable where we live, the exceptions being PET plastics and Styrofoam food trays which are not […]
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My wife and I recently took an overnight trip to Yamanashi’s wine country, the area around the city of Katsunuma in the Kōfu district. It was my first visit to area, and really the introduction of my knowledge of Japanese wines. The area is just over an hour from Shinjuku by express train, with lots of things to do, especially for people that enjoy wine. There are some historic temples, onsen, and quite a few wineries, many […]
Read moreŌki Shichimitōgarashi Closed After some 400 years in business, Higashinihinbashi’s Ōki Shichimitōgarashi has closed. It actually closed back in July of 2021, but despite passing by the shop quite frequently, I was not aware of the closing until I saw a notice on the door last week. Ōki Shichimitōgarashi, along with its previous other half, Yagen Shichimitōgarashi, based in Asakusa, is considered to be the first shop to make the now ubiquitous seven spice mix known as […]
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Outside of Japan, the art of professional cooking is almost always performer in a kitchen, out of site from the dining area. But not in Japan, where counter seating is common and diners can watch chefs at work, making cooking, or chefing, a performing art. Restaurants designed with the kitchen work area on the far side of a counter allows personal interaction and communication between diners and the person or people preparing the meal, as well as—at […]
Read moreAs part of my great endeavor to walk all of the five highways of old Japan (the go kaidō, or 五街道), this summer a friend and I set out to walk the shortest of the five, the old Nikkō Kaidō from Nihonbaashi to Nikkō and its main attraction, the Tōshōgū, the mausoleum honoring the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The distance for this journey is not too great, only around 140 km. Walking an average of around 30 […]
Read more鮨よしたけ Sushi Yoshitake Another great meal at the main counter at Sushi Yoshitake in Ginza, this time with a 6:00 start rather than the late seating as last time. No more restrictions on serving alcohol, or business hours, which is a great relief to everyone in Tokyo, or at least every adult. Once again, no photos are allowed, so the list that follows of what we ate is from memory only. I have a feeling one dish may […]
Read moreA few years ago Kurogi san, the owner of the then Michelin Two Star restaurant bearing his name, mentioned that October was the very best month of the year for food in Japan. That particular evening we were seated at the counter at the restaurant’s previous location in Yushima (it has since moved to Daimon). I like sitting at the counter over tables as you can not only watch what’s going on (and learn!) but also converse […]
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