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May 04, 2024
 

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Melinda Joe

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Melinda Joe
Melinda Joe is an American journalist in Tokyo. A certified wine and sake professional, she writes about Japanese drinks in her Kanpai Culture column for The Japan Times and blogs at tokyodrinkingglass.blogspot.com.
For Melinda Joe's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 11, 2011
Local brewery brings sake to Toronto
Toronto's Distillery District, located on the site of the now defunct Gooderham & Worts Distillery (which was once the largest whisky producer in the world), is a charming enclave of restored brick buildings housing upscale boutiques, cafes and galleries. When Ontario Spring Water Sake Co. opened in April, it also became home to Canada's third sake brewery, the first on the eastern coast of North America.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 30, 2011
Foreign volunteer group helps brewers to rebuild
Earlier this month, a group of 18 international volunteers participating in a cultural exchange program got a crash course in sake production at breweries in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. The program, organized by Britain-based student organizations Action for Japan UK and the Japan Affairs Forum, ran Sept 11-25 and included tours of five breweries, as well as some hands-on sake-making experience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 30, 2011
Sake circle raises a glass for Tohoku victims
A buzzy atmosphere of excitement hung in the air as sake fans lined up for the Wa ni Naro Nihonshu charity sake tasting last Friday afternoon. As attendees streamed through the front doors of Tokyo Dome City's vast Prism Hall, gasps of astonishment mingled with the spirited rhythms of live taiko drumming that signaled the start of the event.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 29, 2011
Food fest organizers aim to 'cheer up' Japan
Shady groves of fragrant trees, crisp alpine breezes and charming European-style villas — heat-addled Tokyoites hardly need more reasons to visit Karuizawa in the summer; this quiet town in Nagano Prefecture has long been a popular holiday destination for those looking for an escape from the intensity of the city. But for two weeks this August, from the 20th to the 31st, the Cu-Cal food festival will give Tokyo gourmands an extra incentive to make the 70-minute bullet train trip to Karuizawa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 29, 2011
Sake sisters are brewing it for themselves
For most of its thousand-year history, sake has been a man's world. Even as recently as 30 years ago, women were forbidden to enter some breweries, but today's pioneering lady brewers and brewery heads are teaching the industry to embrace its feminine side.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 14, 2011
Top chefs keep taste of Tohoku alive
Some of the country's most highly esteemed chefs are working together to ensure that the people of the Tohoku region are not forgotten three months after being hit by the March 11 disasters.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 29, 2011
Sake fights fallout of Japan's triple disaster
After surviving the double disaster of the magnitude 9 earthquake and towering tsunami that damaged more than 100 sake breweries in northeastern Japan on March 11, sake producers in Tohoku thought that the situation could hardly get worse. But when the media reported that the stricken reactors at Fukushima's No. 1 nuclear power plant had begun to leak radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, they realized that some of the biggest difficulties were yet to come.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 29, 2011
Sake lovers congregate at international event
A healthy buzz characterized the atmosphere at the International Wine Challenge's Sake Discovery Tasting on April 19.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 8, 2011
Tohoku brewers: 'Drink without restraint!'
Last weekend, fifth-generation sake brewery owner Kosuke Kuji of Nanbu Bijin delivered an earnest plea to the public on behalf of sake producers in the Tohoku region: "We'd be sincerely grateful if people would continue to have hanami parties (this year)."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 1, 2011
Second Harvest rallies support for Tohoku
By 9 a.m. on Thursday morning, March 24, several delivery trucks have deposited boxes of emergency supplies in front of the Taito Ward, Tokyo warehouse of Second Harvest Japan, a charity-based food bank.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 17, 2011
Kanto area works on energy conservation
On Monday evening, customers at a Starbucks cafe in Tokyo's Nakano ward sipped their lattes in the glow of a single row of lamps and a handful of small, battery-powered tea lights. Such scenes have become common in Tokyo as people across the Kanto region strive to conserve energy after Friday's devastating Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake shut down nuclear power plants in Fukushima.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 16, 2010
Escaping the city to get much more down to earth
Outside of Tokyo, at the tiny organic farm Nahual Garden in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, a group of young professionals swap packets of seeds and horticultural advice over cups of freshly brewed lemongrass tea.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2010
Worlds of Flavor conference adds Japan to its menu
Japan's ailing economy may lack the impact it once had on global finance, but there's one area of influence where the country's significance is on the rise: the world of gastronomy. Earlier this month, a team of 39 top-tier Japanese chefs wowed an international audience with dazzling displays of technique and artful presentation at the Culinary Institute of America's annual Worlds of Flavor conference in Napa Valley, California.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 22, 2010
Pairing tips from the sake experts
What kinds of foods pair well with sake? The obvious answer is Japanese, but, as sake continues to expand abroad, industry professionals and consumers alike are discovering a whole new world of pairing possibilities for the brew.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 7, 2010
World's top chefs forage locally for inspiration
Earlier this September, chef Yoshihiro Narisawa of the Michelin-starred restaurant Les Creations de Narisawa, in the Aoyama district of Tokyo, joined 15 of the world's top chefs to make dinner in Levi, Lapland, 170 km above the Arctic Circle.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 27, 2010
U.S. sake lovers spread some joy
For the first time ever, The Joy of Sake, the biggest sake tasting soiree outside of Japan, will bring its American brand of culture-crossing conviviality to Japan. On Nov. 2, the event, which originated in Hawaii, will be celebrating its anniversary in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 29, 2010
Fresh vegetables in heart of the city
O n Saturdays and Sundays, a small group of vendors sets up stalls filled with fresh vegetables and fruit outside the Kotsu Kaikan Building, a shopping complex in front of Yurakucho Station, in central Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The Kotsu Kaikan Marche, which started in April, is the latest of a growing number of weekly farmers markets that offer the chance to purchase fresh produce directly from producers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 23, 2010
Events spur on a new generation of sake drinkers
At 5:30 p.m. on a recent Saturday evening, the line of people at the entrance to the Smile Nihonshu sake event was six deep. Inside the bar, groups of young people in their 20s and 30s clinked glasses and nodded along to a bouncy rendition of Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" under a green-lit disco ball. On the surface of things, it looked like a regular night out in central Tokyo's Shinjuku district, but with one difference — everyone was drinking sake.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 28, 2010
Something new brewing for sake
When Kenji Ichishima, the sixth-generation head of Ichishima Shuzo in Niigata Prefecture, took over his family's sake brewery eight years ago at the age of 34, he immediately started making changes. First, he drastically reduced the number of products. Next, he revamped the brand to project a more artisanal image. Then, he did the unthinkable: He directed his master brewer to change the style of their sake. At first, some of his ideas met with resistance, but Ichishima says that everyone on his staff has come to see the wisdom of his decisions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 15, 2010
Why do English teachers have to be native speakers?
In Japan, non-native English-language instructors from South Asian countries are challenging cultural stereotypes and putting a new face on the industry. And it hasn't been any easy task.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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