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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 / Tools of the Japanese Kitchen

Jun 24, 2017

Getting in the groove with 'suribachi' and 'surikogi,' the Japanese mortar and pestle

A home kitchen in Japan is typically filled with all kinds of electronic gadgets. Yet there are some food preparation tools that are so useful that they have remained the same, and in steady use, for hundreds of years.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Jun 17, 2017

Beating the heat with food: 'Hiyashi chūka' cold Chinese-style noodles

If a Japanese dish bears the name chūka, meaning Chinese, chances are it's not really Chinese at all, but a Japanese invention with Chinese-inspired flavors.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / Tools of the Japanese Kitchen

May 27, 2017

Hone your knowledge of Japanese kitchen knives

Japanese kitchen knives have a worldwide reputation for excellent quality and artistic beauty. The trouble is, there's so much mythology and romance surrounding them, not to mention a bewilderingly wide range of prices and types, that it can be difficult to make a choice.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

May 20, 2017

First-harvest green tea goes best with traditional ‘karinto’ sweets

Hachijū-hachi-ya, the 88th day after risshun, the first day of spring, falls on May 2 in most years. It's the day that marks the beginning of the new tea harvest season, according to tradition.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Apr 22, 2017

The storied history of the potato in Japanese cooking

The main clue as to when potatoes first entered Japan comes from its name in Japanese, jaga-imo.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Mar 24, 2017

'Taimeshi' red sea bream and rice: The key to celebrating most anything in spring

The love of seafood has deep roots in Japan, and it can be interesting to trace these back in history. Where fish are concerned, long before tuna was king, Japanese sought out tai.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Feb 17, 2017

'Aji furai': Getting saucy with deep-fried fish

The typical Japanese home kitchen has an array of condiments that reflect a wide variety of influences.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Jan 20, 2017

'Oden': Japan's traditional winter fast food

The shelves of Japan's convenience stores change with the seasons, but winter brings a particularly unusual addition: stainless steel food warmers installed next to the checkout counter containing oden, a stew of tofu, boiled eggs, daikon, fish cakes and other ingredients simmered in a dashi broth. You may wonder why this rather homey dish — which looks like it belongs on a grandmother's stove — is sold alongside fried chicken, rice balls and sandwiches. Oden is one of the oldest fast foods in Japan, with roots stretching back hundreds of years.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Dec 16, 2016

Sukiyaki, Japan's other New Year's meal

Late last December I went to a Tokyo branch of my favorite butcher shop, Ningyocho Imahan, to buy some meat to make a roast beef for my family's New Year's meal. When I arrived I was surprised to discover an hourlong wait to order. The crowd outside had lined up to buy Imahan's exceptional (and expensive) beef, not for roasting, but for sukiyaki.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Nov 18, 2016

'Sobagaki': An ancient soba recipe

New-harvest rice, known as shinmai, is the culinary star of autumn in Japan. But there's another grain that is just as eagerly anticipated at this time of year in many parts of the country: shinsoba, new-harvest buckwheat.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Oct 14, 2016

'Kuri': The nutty staple of ancient Japan

Fresh chestnuts are one of the few things in Japan that are truly seasonal and not available year-round like so many other food products these days. Chestnuts (kuri in Japanese) have been consumed here since prehistoric times. Charred chestnuts that are more than 9,000 years old have been found in and around the archaeological sites of Jomon Period (10,000-200 B.C.) settlements.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Sep 16, 2016

How Chinese stir-frying snuck into Japanese homes

Stir-frying, often thought to be a part of all East and Southeast Asian cuisines, has a fairly short history in Japan. The method of rapidly cooking chopped food in oil over a hot fire was first introduced to the country by Chinese immigrants in the Meiji Period (1868-1912). This was the era when restaurants serving mainly Cantonese-style cuisine started appearing in Tokyo and other big cities. However, in the days of wood-burning stoves — where heat could not be regulated easily — stir-frying was thought to require professional skills. Home cooks in Japan knew how to steam-cook, stew food in liquid or grill food over charcoal, but stir-frying was not part of their skill set.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Aug 19, 2016

Beat the heat with help from a spicy Japanese staple

The heat and humidity of August doesn't help a waning appetite. Spicy food does, though, and in Japan "spicy" means curry.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Jul 15, 2016

'Yamaimo': Japan's slimy mountain yam

Japanese have a fondness for slippery, slimy food that people from other food cultures often find puzzling. Sticky nattō (fermented soy beans), mozuku and tororo konbu (two kinds of slimy seaweeds) may take some getting used to, but once you do they can be quite addictive. In addition, these slippery foods are packed with many healthy qualities, including fiber, minerals and antioxidants.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Jun 17, 2016

Once considered low class, how did tuna get so valuable?

Fresh, raw tuna reigns supreme in the culinary world these days, especially when it comes to sushi and sashimi. Bluefin tuna, known in Japan as hon-maguro or "true tuna," is so popular that global stocks are dangerously low due to overfishing. But tuna didn't always reign supreme: until the modern era it was considered a undesirable fish that was only fit for the lowest classes — and cats.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / G7 Ise-Shima Summit Special

May 25, 2016

Ise area is known for a wide variety of delicious cuisine

According to the Nihon Shoki, the second-oldest book of Japanese history, around 2,000 years ago Princess Yamato-hime was ordered by her father, Emperor Suinin, to find a new, permanent shrine for the most important deity in the land, the great sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami. The princess, taking her task to heart, wandered the land for 20 years in search of a suitable home for the great goddess. Once she arrived in Ise, however, the goddess spoke to her and expressed a desire to establish her earthly abode in this bountiful area in between the mountains and the sea.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

May 20, 2016

A brief guide to dining after a disaster

The earthquakes that hit Kumamoto last month likely have many people in Japan thinking about disaster preparedness. The country is in one of the most seismically active regions of the world, and no stranger to other disasters either.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Apr 15, 2016

Hot in the shade of Japan's tiny pepper-tree leaves

In traditional Japanese cuisine, spiciness and zing are provided through yakumi garnishes — fragrant herbs, spices and vegetables added to a dish after it's plated. Not only do yakumi enhance the flavors and visual appeal of a dish, they're also believed to have health benefits such as aiding digestion — even the word "yakumi" literally means "medicine flavor." These garnishes are also used to emphasize seasonality, and the quintessential springtime yakumi is kinome, the young leaf clusters of the sanshō (Japanese pepper) tree.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Mar 25, 2016

A brief but sweet history of strawberries in Japan

It's hard to tell when the real season for fresh strawberries is in Japan, they are even available in December. The actual season, however, goes from spring until early summer, starting with the ones grown in southern Kyushu and ending with the ones grown in the north. In the Kanto region, strawberries from Tochigi Prefecture — the leading producer of strawberries in the country — are in season from March until early May.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN

Feb 19, 2016

'Amazake': The wintertime sake that isn't what it seems

For more than 1,000 years, a sweet, thick beverage known as amazake has been produced in Japan. Amanotamuznake, an early version of amazake, is mentioned in the "Nihon Shoki" ("Chronicles of Japan"), an early history of Japan compiled in 720. While the drink fell out of favor for a while, it has made a comeback in recent years because it is naturally nutritious.

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