On an evening in late March, a group of well-heeled guests arrive at the Nippondaira Hotel, on a high plateau in the center of Shizuoka City, for the fifth edition of Dining Out, a series of creative pop-up dinners held at various locations around the country. The theme this time was hanami — the tradition of holding convivial gatherings beneath flowering cherry trees — and the event commenced in a Japanese-style room with tatami-mat flooring and a view overlooking the garden. Rows of cherry trees lined the grounds, and beyond the bay the snow-covered summit of Mount Fuji peeked through the clouds.
An emcee delivered greetings as servers passed out cups of Hakuin Masamune Junmai-shu sake, made nearby in Numazu, along with the first amuse-bouche: grilled unagi (eel) coated with caramelized sugar and sealed in plastic packages to resemble Unagi Pie — a popular local confection made of coiled puff pastry — prepared by chef Zaiyu Hasegawa of Tokyo's Jimbocho Den.
"When you ask foreign people to name their strongest images of Japan, they usually answer, 'geisha, cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji.' So we've brought these things together today," the emcee announced.