Traditional Cuisine

The end of summer brings about the season for the similar-sounding "sanma" - or Pacific Saury. But it's name in Japanese characters, 秋刀魚, means literally "autumn sword fish", and the aroma of salted, grilled sanma...

Water selling like hot cakes It was on a rainy Saturday morning that we arrived in Hakushu, Yamanashi Prefecture, but a long queue was already snaking its way to the entrance of Kinseiken, a Hakushu...

"If someone would have told me to dance, I would have probably been spinning around the restaurant like a crazy man" -a tabelog reviewer lucky enough to have dined at Yanagiya Don't let the unassuming facade of Yanagiya...

Uni, or the sea urchin, is one of those love it or hate it foods. Given its spiky and explosive mine-like appearance, one has to wonder what was going through the mind of the...

Just surviving on somen, shaved ice or salad when your appetite is suppressed by the hot and humid Japanese summer is bound to leave one listless - which is why the Japanese believe in...

Like magic to your eyes Located on the north edge of Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu Island, the Takachiho Gorge is without a doubt, one of Japan's most impressive natural landscapes. With dramatic cliffs, verdant forests, an...

Recently, a major convenience store chain in Japan came up with a summer version of dango (mochi, or rice cakes, usually on a stick) meant to be eaten cooled. Presumably this is to make...

This street could hold the secret to Japanese ‘obasans’’ longevity

The inside-out mochi It is not exactly known when Akafuku - one of the oldest mochi (Japanese rice cake) brands still going strong today - was founded, but the oldest document referring to its existence...

A visit to ghost town, Sakaiminato