The nukazuke method of pickling vegetables in a fermented rice bran bed called a nukadoko was developed in the 17th century. Since vegetables pickled in a nukadoko absorb Vitamin B1 from the rice bran, they helped to prevent beriberi, an illness stemming from a lack of the vitamin that was ...
Were it not for the name on the illuminated sign hanging at the entrance, you would be hard pressed to identify An Di as a Vietnamese restaurant. Inside or out, there are no other clues — no flags or tourist posters, no signs advertising ...
You don't need to understand Japanese to guess the meaning behind 365 Nichi's name. This excellent little bakery has been operating day in, day out, even at new year, ever since it opened in 2013. During that time it has only ever taken one ...
The future of roasted eel, the Japanese summer delicacy braised with a tangy sauce and sprinkled with prickly mountain pepper, is in question as the creatures and their mysterious migrations become increasingly endangered. Soaring demand for Japanese eel, or Anguilla japonica, helped put the creatures ...
Japan's array of quirky Kit Kat flavors has become a cliche, to the point where your aunt can probably tell you about the dozens of unique varieties. But the candy's latest variant offers something new: kindness. Sales of their new citrus-flavored offering will go ...
The Gion Matsuri came to a close at the end of July, but there's still time to enjoy one of the dishes most closely associated with that famous festival. Hamo, called dagger-tooth pike eel in English, has long been one of the Kansai region's ...
Most visitors to Kyoto rarely venture west of the Katsura River. On the face of it, the western tract of the city of Kyoto pales in comparison to Higashiyama in the east, which feels as though it could crumble under the weight of world ...
Kissaten Nasu is three separate but conjoined entities: As the name of the restaurant implies, it's a kissaten, a traditional cafe. But it's also a curry shop and a jazz cafe, and the master might just be one of the most dapper and suave ...
Despite falling sales in Japan, sake is experiencing an increase in popularity in Britain. The popularity seems to be reflected not only in brisk local sales but also in talk in the media that the Japanese rice wine may finally be entering the mainstream. According ...
Harajuku has gone gaga over food designed for Instagram. Walk down Takeshita Street and you'll probably see people snapping shots of giant, rainbow-colored cotton candy and the like. The latest entrant into this realm is Coisof, an ice cream store located on a side street ...
If not for a long-lost article extolling the virtues of Wild Turkey in the late 1980s, Yu Sumiyoshi might never have discovered whiskey. But a well-placed feature caught the 19-year-old Yu's attention and, after receiving his monthly salary, he headed to the city of ...
Tokyo is a tough place to open any business, especially your first restaurant. Along with kitchen skills and front-of-house nous, you need the right location, good connections and a strong underlying raison d'etre. A catchy name and some funky background music can't hurt either, ...
Tokyo has never been big on outdoors dining. Save for the old-school beer gardens that mushroom in midsummer, there are too few opportunities in the inner city to drink, snack and while away the time al fresco. At least there's Commune 2nd. Following its predecessor, ...
