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May 02, 2024
 

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Makiko Itoh

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Makiko Itoh
Makiko Itoh writes the Japanese Kitchen column, and is the author of the bestselling "The Just Bento Cookbook" and its sequel, "The Just Bento Cookbook 2." A Tokyo native, she runs two Japanese cooking blogs, JustHungry.com and JustBento.com.
For Makiko Itoh's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 24, 2011
Keep a low-power kitchen this summer
Now that we are entering the hottest part of the Japanese summer, it's time to get really serious about saving electricity — in the kitchen as much as anywhere.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 27, 2011
Farming without chemicals — or radiation
Yasunori Toyoguchi peers under the netting protecting a small rice paddy. "See," he says, pointing to some grassy shoots, "here's this year's crop, just starting to emerge." He scoops up a little of the water trickling over the mud with one hand. "See how clear and clean this is?" he asks. "The frogs and tadpoles love it."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 22, 2011
The unmistakable taste of a new season
In these days of year-round growing of vegetables in temperature-controlled conditions and air shipments of fresh produce from around the world, it's all too easy to forget the seasons. But in Japan, seasonality is still highly treasured, and there's no time like the spring to enjoy certain vegetables that are only available for a short time.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 7, 2011
The best kindergarten lessons are at lunch time
Despite the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in the northeastern part of Honshu, in most of Japan, life has to go on as usual.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 24, 2011
Japan's unlikely hero: the humble rice ball
One of the quiet heroes to emerge in this time of grave crisis in Japan is the humble little white ball of rice called onigiri or omusubi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 25, 2011
Delicious dishes that are fit for a princess
Makiko Itoh SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES March 3 is Hina Matsuri, also known as Girls' Festival or Momo no Sekku (Peach Day). This day was a traditional seasonal and religious event on the lunar calendar, during the period when peach blossoms were in bloom — around early April on the Gregorian calendar. (Japan has followed the Gregorian calendar since the late 19th century, so peaches are no longer in bloom during Hina Matsuri, but they are still symbolic of the festival.)
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 28, 2011
With sake rice, nothing goes to waste
Although sake is often described as "rice wine" to Westerners, sake is actually a fermented-grain beverage akin to beer, and unlike wine made from grapes it does not age well. So the winter months, when shinshu (freshly made new sake) is available, are the best time to enjoy this quintessentially Japanese beverage.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 24, 2010
Why not spend New Year's Eve totally soba?
The yearend period, called shiwasu, is a really hectic time in Japan. Think of it as spring cleaning, Thanksgiving and the usual end-of-year activities all rolled into one.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 26, 2010
Reel in the catch of the season
The long, record-breaking hot summer hasn't been good for sanma, or Pacific saury. Catches of this normally inexpensive fixture of the fall dinner table in Japanese homes have been so poor that its prices have skyrocketed — if you can find any to buy at all. Another popular fish that is in peak season at this time of year, salmon, is also in shorter supply than usual, due to the warm waters caused by the blistering heat of the summer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 29, 2010
Not all white rice tastes the same
In Japan, the freshness and seasonality of ingredients used in cooking is of paramount importance. Even in this age of mass production and imported foods, people still care about the appearance of fresh bamboo shoots in spring, or the first matsutake mushrooms in fall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 24, 2010
We all deserve eggplants in fall
There is a famous old Japanese saying about aki nasu or fall eggplants: "Aki nasu yome ni kuwasuna" — "Don't let the daughter-in-law eat fall eggplant."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 30, 2010
Japanese dietary tips to prevent summer lethargy
Anyone who has spent a summer in Japan will likely be well- acquainted with natsubate, or "summer fatigue" — a general state of lethargy and tiredness, lack of concentration, sleeplessness and even mild depression.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
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.
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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