Meguro Sanma Festival: Thanks for all the (free) fish!
Aug 20, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
It’s no secret that Japan is a seafood lover’s paradise. Everything that swims, crawls or otherwise calls any body of water home can be found on a dinner table here. Of course, the national dish, sushi, is served raw but grilling fish over coals is also part of traditional Japanese...[ Click to read more ]
Summer Cruises on Tokyo Bay
Jul 26, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
What’s better than attending one of Japan’s summer festivals? Cruising Tokyo Bay while sipping cocktails in your summer yukata! So what exactly is it like to cruise Tokyo Bay anyway? We talked about how cruising Tokyo Bay aboard some of these ships makes for a romantic setting on Valentine’s Day...[ Click to read more ]
Why is Bubble Tea Suddenly Popular in Japan?
Jun 28, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
The first time I tasted tapioca pearls in milk tea was as a teenager in the mid-1990’s while checking out a new trendy Asian fusion spot that was all the rage with us young folk in my hometown in the States. Fast-forward a couple of years to my first foray...[ Click to read more ]
A History of Hiroshima’s Soul-Food, Okonomiyaki
By Hugh Cann
Okonomiyaki (o-konomi-yaki) is often described as a Japanese savory pancake made from a variety of ingredients that includes shredded cabbage, flour, and yam-based batter, meat (generally fresh pork belly) and seafood. The name comes from the word okonomi, meaning "how you like" or "what you like," and yaki meaning "cooked"...[ Click to read more ]
Baeren: Morioka’s Beer
Jun 13, 2019 By Jade Brischke
Last month I wrote about my favourite places for craft beer. I half expected to receive death threats for failing to mention what is considered to be THE city’s craft beer: Baeren. The thing is, not mentioning it was deliberate. Some people are going to accuse me of being blasphemous,...[ Click to read more ]
Let’s Tour: Yokocho Drinking Alleys
May 25, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
Japan is very adept at making sure its past is preserved while building the future in terms of architecture at the city level. It is very common to see a new building complex go up right next door to a 200+ year old temple complex in many cities, even in...[ Click to read more ]
The Top 3 Craft Beer Spots in Morioka (according to me!) in Iwate Prefecture
May 22, 2019 By Jade Brischke
Craft beer in Japan didn’t come about until approximately 25 years ago. Until 1994, Japanese laws required that a place needed to be able to produce at least 2 million liters of beer each year in order to acquire a license. As craft beer is produced in smaller batches, it...[ Click to read more ]
Best Foreign Restaurants in Kobe
By Justin Hanus
Kobe has plenty to offer foodies who like nothing more than a spot of sampling the culinary delights in a city's best restaurants. As well as having a wide variety of local Japanese eateries, Kobe also has plenty of foreign and international restaurants and cafes for those who want a...[ Click to read more ]
Diving into Hiroshima’s Sakes
Apr 23, 2019 By Matt Mangham
If you’ve only recently moved to Hiroshima, you may not yet be aware that you are in one of Japan’s three great centers for sake production, the other two being in Kobe and Kyoto. Of the three, Hiroshima is both the youngest and, by some metrics, the most innovative. Until...[ Click to read more ]
Cinco de Mayo Festival and Mexican Restaurants in Tokyo
Apr 19, 2019 By Bert Wishart
Cinco de Mayo, while originally a commemoration of an unlikely victory for the Mexican Army against the then powerful French in 1862, has in the US become something of a large celebration for all things Mexico. As these things tend to go, Japan has taken the American interpretation of the holiday, and...[ Click to read more ]
