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JAPANESE CUISINE
The Japanese archipelago stretches from north to south, which means that each region has a different climate and that Japan is abundantly blessed with seasonal changes. Amid such environmental conditions, numerous delicacies have developed in each area and these local cuisines, together with traditional Japanese dishes such as sushi and tempura, produce a dietary culture unique to the country.

TRADITIONAL FOODS

Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki is prepared right at the table in a shallow iron pot over an open flame by cooking thinly sliced beef together with vegetables, tofu, and vermicelli.

Tempura
Tempura is food deep-fried in vegetable oil after being coated with a mixture of egg, water and wheat flour. Among the ingredients used are prawns, fish, and vegetables.

Sushi
Sushi is a small piece of raw seafood placed on a small amount of vinegered rice wrapped in a thin leaf of dried seaweed. The most common ingredients are tuna, squid, and prawns. Cucumber, pickled radish, and sweet egg omelet are also served.

Kaiseki Ryori (Kaiseki Cuisine)
Kaiseki ryori is regarded as Japan's most exquisite specialty. Consisting mainly of vegetables and fish with a seasoning base of seaweed and mushrooms, the dishes are characterized by their refined savor.

COOKING STYLE

Japanese cooking style
Japanese cuisine is mostly boiled, fried, or served raw.

Important ingredients for Japanese cuisine
Japanese dishes are contrived to accent the natural flavors
of fresh fish and shellfish and almost all are prepared to go
well with rice and sake.

Japanese beef (eg. Kobe beef) and pork are highly praised for
the tender marbled quality of its meat. Cows graze on the tender
grass of the plains in Japan and the high quality of beef is often enjoyed as steak.

Miso and soy sauce are indispensable seasonings in Japanese food. Miso is a
fermented seasoning. To make miso, you steam soybeans, rice and barley and leave
it to mature after adding malt rice and salt. The most typical food prepared with miso is
miso soup, also called the "taste of mother".

REGIONAL DISHES

Yudofu or boiled tofu (Kyoto)
Yudofu warms you up in cold weather and thus, is one of the main winter dishes in Japan. The hand-made tofu is cooked in a kelp-based soup, and then it is taken out before it loses its shape and dipped it in relish. Some say that the best way to enjoy it is to scoop it out of the pan as soon as it starts floating. Boiled tofu was originally eaten by Buddhist priests in Kyoto. Unable to eat meat or fish for religious reasons, tofu was a precious source of protein for them. For the same reason, many long-established restaurants offer delicious boiled tofu in Kyoto. The winters in Kyoto are rather severe, so it is exceptionally tasty there.

Oysters (Hiroshima and Miyagi)
In Japan, oysters are called the "milk of the sea" because of their high nutritional value and rich taste. Hiroshima, with its unique cultivation techniques handed down over generations, is the leading oyster producer in Japan. Their distinctive feature is that they contain more glycogen, iron, and phosphorous than those of other areas. The taste of raw oysters is particularly exquisite. If you are not so keen on raw oysters, you could try the Hiroshima specialty, oyster dotenabe - tasty oysters cooked to a wonderful tenderness in a miso-based soup.

Sanuki-udon or wheat-flour noodles (Kagawa)
Kagawa, famous as the origin of Sanuki-udon (named after the Sanuki region), is an "Udon Kingdom," with its many udon (wheat-flour noodle) makers and restaurants. Sanuki wheat-flour noodles are noted for their strong body and smooth texture. The basic way of eating them is to pour a kelp-based soup seasoned with light soy sauce over the noodles. Leeks, ginger, egg or sesame seeds can be added if desired. There are many varieties of toppings, including seafood or vegetable tempura, so you can enjoy various combinations. Many self-service wheat-flour noodle restaurants in Kagawa are renowned for their very reasonable prices.

Okinawan cuisine (Okinawa)

Due to the difference in culture, climate, vegetables and other factors between Okinawa and mainland Japan, the Okinawan cuisine is very different from Japanese cuisine. Since Okinawans traditionally practiced shamanistic religion and did not encounter Buddhist influence, pork and goat meat formed important parts of the Okinawan diet while people on the main Japanese islands did not eat much meat until the mid-19th century. Okinawan sayings include the phrase that Okinawan cuisine "begins with pig and ends with pig" and "every part of a pig can be eaten except its hooves and its oink."

SWEETS & SNACKS

Many traditional Japanese confectioneries are made with a sweet bean paste which is prepared from adzuki beans and rice. Sweets are confectioned in the shapes of flowers, birds, or other tiny animals, to depict Japan’s four seasons.

Additional Japanese sweets include:

Daifuku-mochi (thin-skinned mochi stuffed with bean paste)
Yokan (jelly)
Monaka (round wafer filled with a sweet bean paste)
Ammitsu (gelatin mixed with a sweet bean paste and other ingredients)
Zenzai (baked mochi and a sweet bean paste)
Ujikintoki (shaved ice topped with green tea syrup and a sweet bean paste)
Tai-yaki (fish-shaped pancake filled with a sweet bean paste)
Imagawa-yaki (round pancake filled with a sweet bean paste)

Typical Japanese snacks
Senbei, baked rice crackers, are one of the typical Japanese snacks. Japan has imported American snacks and with Japanese people’s attention to detail and taste for elaboration and authenticity, Japan today produces great quality snacks! The extensive list includes: potato chips flavored with seaweed & salt, corn puff snack, shrimp flavored chips, crispy noodle snack, snow pea crisp, caramel chocolate corn, etc. With low fat and natural ingredients, most snacks are healthy and offer a wide variety of flavors.

FUNKY FOOD FACTOID

Toshikoshi Soba
In Japan, there is a custom of eating noodles called ‘Toshikoshi Soba’at the very end of the year. There are various stories regarding the origins of the custom. One idea suggests merchants began eating buckwheat noodles as a quick meal on December 31st because they were extremely busy on this day. Another theory suggests the long noodles represented longevity. Toshikoshi noodles must be eaten before midnight. Bells can be heard resounding from Buddhist Temples as midnight approaches, which are bustling with crowds paying their respects and also enjoying some amazake, a sweet rice wine taken warm to ward off the winter chill.

TOP RESTAURANTS

Tokyo Shiba Tofuya Ukai and Gion Hatanaka are examples of the top restaurants in Japan. Below are additional restaurants in Japan and their respective websites.

Tokyo Shiba Tofuya Ukai (Japanese authentic cuisine, their specialty is Tofu)
http://www.ukai.co.jp/shiba/

tp://www.ukai.co.jp/shiba/

Gion Hatanaka (Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.thehatanaka.co.jp/english/index.html

Kanda Yabu Soba (Japanese soba noodles)
http://www.norenkai.net/english/shop/yabusoba/index.html

Ginza Kojyu (Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.kojyu.jp/english.html

Genyadana Hamadaya (Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.hamadaya.info/pc/english/index.html

Kikunoi(Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.kikunoi.jp/english/index.html

Ryugin (Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.nihonryori-ryugin.com/index_en.html

Kyoto Kitcho(Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.kitcho.com/kyoto/english/

Kyoto Tsuruya(Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.kyoto-tsuruya.co.jp/index.html

Kyoyamato(Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://www.kyoyamato.com/English/english.htm

Hyotei(Japanese authentic cuisine)
http://hyotei.co.jp/

Famous Japanese Chefs
One of Japan’s most notable chefs, throughout Japan and across the globe, is Masaharu Morimoto, Nobu’s executive chef and reality TV’s favorite Iron Chef.

http://www.noburestaurants.com/

VEGETARIAN CUISINE

There are plenty of options for vegetarians to enjoy Japanese cuisine. Vegetables are boiled or fried and you can enjoy them with various delicacies. Vegetarian food is abundant in Japan due to the culinary traditions of Buddists and monks who developed their unique vegetarian food throughout its history.

FOOD FESTIVALS

Niigata Sake-no-jin (Niigata Annual Sake Festival)

The Niigata Sake Festival takes place on a weekend in mid-March every year at the Toki Messe Convention Center in Niigata City. The event is attended by about one hundred sake producers from across Niigata– an area well known for its high quality rice and rice wine. Anyone over the age of twenty is welcome to attend the fair and taste from a large variety of Niigata sake. Admission to the fair is free, however, if you wish to do some sake tasting, a 2000 yen payment is additional in exchange for a sake cup to be used to taste hundreds of types of sake and sake related products on display. In addition to the sake brewers' stands, Sake no jin features a number of staged events including a tasting challenge and dance and song performances. Additionally, there is also a food corner with Niigata specialties.

RECIPES

Miso soup with Tofu Recipe
Ingredients:
3 cups dashi soup stock
1 block tofu
3-4 tablespoons miso paste
1/4 cup chopped green onion

Preparation:
Put dashi soup stock in a pan and bring to a boil. Cut tofu into small cubes and add them to the soup. Simmer the tofu for a few minutes on low heat. Scoop out some soup stock from the pan and dissolve miso in it. Gradually return the miso mixture in the soup. Stir the soup gently. Stop the heat and add chopped green onion. Remember not to boil the soup after you add the miso.
*Makes 4 servings

Miso soup is indispensable in Japanese traditional breakfast.

Click here to read an article by Ms. Hiroko Shimbo describing miso family tradition.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Our-Favorite-Foods/Notes-on-My-Mothers-Breakfast

Japanese Ginger Pork
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)
1 pound thinly sliced pork loin
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix together the ginger, soy sauce, sake and mirin. Add the sliced pork, cover, and marinate for about 1 hour. Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over high heat. Add the pork, and fry until brown. The pork should have a dark crispy look to it. Do not cook on low or medium heat, as the juices will not cook fast enough to get a crispy texture. Discard leftover marinade.

Potato Korokke (Japanese croquette
with potatoes)
Korokke is a Japanese style croquette stuffed with vegetables and meat. This is a basic korokke recipe with potatoes.

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes
1/4 lb ground beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Salt pepper to season
Vegetable oil for frying
Flour and panko (breadcrumb) for coating

Preparation:
Peel and cut potatoes into medium chunks. Boil potatoes until soften. Drain and mash potatoes while they are hot. Sauté onions and beef in a medium skillet. Mix mashed potatoes, onions, and beef in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and let it cool. Make flat and oval-shaped patties. Coat each piece with flour. Dip in beaten egg, and coat with panko at last. Fry in 350 F oil until brown.
*Makes 4 servings

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