A gig doesn't double as dinner, but at DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan's shows there's a good chance food will be involved. Besides a hip-hop set, the audience can sometimes participate in cooking demonstrations.
"At one show, I sang about manju (a Japanese sweet) and afterward the crowd started making manju. Then I performed while they cooked. That was my favorite show," says Miso, who, despite the act's name, is a one-woman show (she refused to tell us her real name).
Food plays a central part in Miso's music, the latest offbeat hip-hop project to spring up in a country that produces more than its fair share of them. All her raps double as recipes for various Japanese dishes, from candied sweet potatoes to green peppers stuffed with beef.