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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 17, 2020

With fortunes waning in Japan, sake finds a new home abroad

As the world's hunger for Japanese cuisine grows, so does its thirst for the country's iconic drink.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 21, 2020

Sake, sashimi and all-night hours: Tokyo's izakaya bars have it all

Although many bars and restaurants in Japan remain open, medical professionals strongly recommend people refrain from congregating in small, crowded spaces to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For more information, visit bit.ly/whocovid19-jp.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Dec 9, 2016

Izuju: A hidden home for sweet 'Kyozushi'

When you live in a tourist mecca like Kyoto you tend to avoid the major attractions. However, having a visitor in town provides a good excuse to join the horde and get into tourist mode: taking over footpaths, meandering slowly along backstreets and taking photos of everything, especially photos of yourself...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jul 8, 2016

In search of 'natsuzake,' Japan's summer sake

Summer is my least favorite season in Japan. Stepping outside, the heat and humidity hits with startling force: the hot air weighs heavy on my limbs, enveloping me in a stifling and unwelcome embrace. The thought of spending the height of summer in Tokyo fills me with existential dread.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 25, 2012

Umeboshi: Perfect in any culinary pickle

Japanese cuisine has more than its share of acquired tastes, and umeboshi are near the top of the list. Intensely sour and salty, these traditional tsukemono (pickles) are prepared over several weeks, starting in June when the fruits of the ume tree are ripe, and finishing up in July under the hot midsummer...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 19, 2010

Kankyo Shuten: Crab with wine in Ningbo style

This is the golden season, the time for feasting and thanksgiving. Here in Japan, we celebrate the rice harvest, persimmons and pumpkins, mikan mandarins and matsutake mushrooms. Over in Shanghai, though, the autumn delicacy par excellence is freshwater crab.
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...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 17, 2006

McSato et al prompt mastication over whose 'real' is really real

I've been running around lately like a headless chicken -- and the simile is more literal than you might think. I have been spending my evenings going around Tokyo restaurants, doing a survey strictly in the interests of scrupulous journalism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 10, 2005

Sushi Ouchi: There's nothing to fear in naturally good sushi

Entering an old-school Edomae sushi shop for the first time can be daunting -- even for the most self-confident of us. The welcome is often so vocal it verges on the aggressive. The cedarwood counters look scrubbed to the point of sterility, the gleaming bright interiors afford little sense of warmth...
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2003

Farm policy may switch from defense to offense

Japan has long been on the defensive over agricultural trade as it sought to protect the nation's farmers, but it may soon go on the offensive.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 14, 2002

Where sake runs wild, unfiltered and free

Over the past few years, there has been a small surge in the popularity of muroka nama genshu sake. While it is hardly shaking the industry to its foundations, quite a few brewers -- usually smaller kura -- have begun to market this kind of sake.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 3, 2002

Clearly making the grade isn't such an easy task

One of the biggest barriers to learning about sake is the terminology used to define the various grades. It is not a simple linguistic matter, as even the average Japanese person, more often than not, does not know specifically to what the terminology refers. These terms were not coined at once, nor...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Dec 14, 2000

As the mercury drops, new sake rises to the top

'Tis the season when almost everything around us is slowing down, gravitating toward hibernation. The sake world, however, is just gathering steam with the birth of the brewing season's first batch of sake.
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 14, 2000

Fisheries crashing from pollution in Ariake

The cuisine of the Ariake Sea in northern Kyushu, featured recently in quarterly cultural magazine Fukuoka Style, is a strange one. It's dominated by grotesque, unusual-tasting fish and shellfish simmered heavily in sugar and soy or wrapped in dense layers of seaweed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 14, 2022

Subterranean sake: Cave aging Japan’s national drink

Sake isn't usually aged. When it is, though, it's virtually never done over years in repurposed underground caverns.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 21, 2022

Approaching tea like you would wine, Zach Mangan gives Japan's main drink its due

In his book, 'Stories of Japanese Tea: The Regions, The Growers and The Craft,' Zach Mangan hopes to pay respect to a dwindling number of true artists.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jan 29, 2022

Whisky to join gin on the menu at Niseko Distillery

Distillery's Ohoro Gin takes inspiration from its northern surroundings, the name even coming from the Ainu language.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 1, 2017

Torikado: Elevating yakitori to an art form

Tokyo has no shortage of yakitori restaurants. They range from funky, smoky hole-in-the-wall grills to elegant emporia serving prime skewers of the finest fowl. But there's nowhere quite like Torikado.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 9, 2016

Ten perfect Valentine's Days in 10 global cities

Early stroll: The Limmat River in Zurich, A beautiful place for a morning walk before your big date. Enjoy a panoramic view of the city from the observation tower on Uetliberg Mountain. | BLOOMBERG
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 3, 2015

Deep-sea creepy crawlies turned into crackers in Japan

Here's a novel treat: a senbei rice cracker made of giant isopods, creepy crawlies from the ocean deeps. The snacks are now on sale at a range of outlets in Japan and are quickly gaining popularity.
Kirishima (behind) gets thrown down against Ura on Tuesday. The newly promoted ozeki's 0-3 start in Osaka has been one of the big disappointments of the tournament so far.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 13, 2024

Scandal and poor starts have sumo in a rut in Osaka

While the meet has had a rocky first few days, one of the sport's most promising young wrestlers is proving to be a beacon of light on the horizon.
Tottori Gov. Shinji Hirai (left) with Shinsuke Nakajima, executive chef at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jun 5, 2024

Tottori wagyu and wine paired at New Otani Tokyo fair

The Tottori Wagyu Fair is taking place at six restaurants in the Hotel New Otani Tokyo until July 15. The event has been hosted by the hotel every year since 2018, and this year is offering a new way of enjoying the premium wagyu together with wine from Tottori Prefecture.
Japan is one of the great mushroom countries of the world, so it pays to know how to make the most of these morsels in your kitchen.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 28, 2024

‘Mushroom Gastronomy’ makes sense of Japan’s fungal diversity

“Mushroom Gastronomy” by mycological gourmand Krista Towns demystifies the world of fungi in Japan and abroad.
For one night in Tokyo last month, Daniel Calvert (left) and Quique Dacosta brought their wildly different culinary styles together into a remarkable service.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 6, 2024

A meeting of Michelin minds at Tokyo's Sezanne

Daniel Calvert says no to most requests for pop-ups at two-Michelin-starred Sezanne — except when the chance to work with three-starred Quique Dacosta came up.
The Specialty Coffee Association of Japan's World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition runs through Oct. 12 at Tokyo's Big Sight convention center, where Ogawa Coffee Laboratory is one of many companies showing off advances in coffee roasting and brewing.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 11, 2024

On the ground at Japan's biggest coffee conference

The biggest impact the java-centric event will have on most people might be how their local brewers make their lattes and pour-overs in the near future.
Employees of Takahashi Shouten working on the trial production of sake in New Delhi on Nov. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024

Japanese sake brewery to make foray into Indian market

Takahashi Shouten, based in the city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture, launched a subsidiary in India in February.
Chef Kentaro Mura’s favorite way of serving snow crab is as shabu-shabu: The legs are lightly blanched in dashi, then the meat is removed and served with a generous scoop of crab tomalley.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Mar 2, 2025

Toyama’s finest seafood underpins Ebitei Bekkan’s return to greatness

This "kaiseki" restaurant has been making up for lost time with a culinary flair that presents Toyama’s seafood tradition in a contemporary guise.
Air Canada has collaborated with chef Masaki Hashimoto (center) of Toronto's one-Michelin-starred restaurant Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto to create its new in-flight menu for its Signature Class.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 12, 2025

Air Canada has a new 'kaiseki'-inspired menu

The airline wants to give its customers ‘a real Japanese experience’ before they land in Japan.
Bolstered by a strong turnout last year, Raw Wine Tokyo, a natural wine festival, is returning to quench the thirst of natural wine lovers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 9, 2025

The world’s biggest natural wine festival returns to Tokyo

After impressing the city’s wine buffs last year, Raw Wine is back with more than 80 natural wine producers from around the world.

Longform

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