With that goal in mind, I joined nine other photographers from Japan to bring you The View From Japan, a new photo blog that goes beyond the typical in an attempt to capture the essence of Japan.   I was recently interviewed on the Japan Podshow about this project and was asked about the Top 10 things to photograph in Japan.  We had a good time chatting about some of the typical and not so typical shots and encourage everyone to get out their camera, explore the county, and capture their own unique view from Japan.

Local Markets

Head out to a local market.  Fish markets vegetable markets, even grocery stores, in Japan are quite different to those found in North America and offer insight into the lives of the Japanese through the food that they eat.  Take advantage of your jet lag and head for the Tsukiji Morning Market to photograph the bounty of the sea in Tokyo – it’s an amazing experience.

Matsuri

Head out to a festival, small or large, well know or obscure, to find revelers strolling about in yukata, mikoshi (portable shrines) paraded about by men in traditional dress, vendors selling all manner of food, and taiko drummers beating out festive tunes.  The bright colors and abundant activity offer limitless opportunities to capture the feeling of summer in Japan.

The City Lights

Go for a stroll in the evening and try to capture the mood of the city through the neon signs that can be found along most major thoroughfares in larger cities.

Traditional & Modern Side by Side

A temple in the foreground with a modern apartment building in the background…or a modern skyscraper hovering alongside a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).  Try to catch an image that juxtaposes the old and new in Japan.

Temples & Shrines

In the city or the country, the temples and shrines are beautiful unto themselves but try capturing the spirit with images of the ema (prayer boards), purity fountain, torii (gates), and the monks themselves.

The View From the Street

Bring a long lens as the Japanese are notoriously camera shy with strangers. Capture people going about their daily lives, or the scene from the streets and alleyways of a local neighborhood like Kagurazaka or Nippori or even Yakitori Alley.

Transportation

Take a walk with your camera through a busy station and try to capture the hectic pace or visit a smaller station and head to the end of the platform to capture the comings and goings of the trains themselves.  Or why not try to capture other means of transportation like these well used Japanese bikes?

Food

I’ve been known to hold up a dinner party by stopping to take a picture of the food before its touched – just choose you timing wisely on that one…

Gardens & Parks

Japanese Gardens and are usually designed with a path around a central pond and offer a different view from almost any point along the meandering path. Shoot the ponds, bridges, ishidoro (stone lanterns), traditional tea houses and the seasonal foliage and flowers. It’s a beautiful an relaxing way to while away and afternoon with your camera.

Know When to Put Your Camera Away

Make sure that you put your camera down and just take it all in once in a while. You don’t want to spend all you time trying to capture the perfect shot and not enjoy the experience – that would be a bigger shame than losing a shot!

If you are a budding photographer and your traveling companions are not try to find some time to explore by yourself.  There is so much to photograph that much can be overlooked when trying to meet the needs of those with different interests. Set aside some time to explore your hobby independently or set a meeting time with your companion so you are free to roam about without worrying about your companions.

Stop by and visit The View From Japan for some photographic inspiration and take some time to listen to me talk about this list with Joseph on the Japan Podshow this week.

Image Credit:  Personal Collection

The good news is that for those travelers wanting to taste all of the great regional specialties in Japan a new guide has been published in English that will help make it a whole lot easier to do so.  Etsuko from Tokyofoodcast tells us all how we can get our very own copy of the just released Japan’s Tasty Secrets that will be given out at Narita, Chubu and Kansai international airports, as well as at travel fairs hosted in Asia, Europe and the United States.  Japan’s Tasty Secrets includes information on over 100 dishes including local favorites and more traditional fare.

Etsuko could have written the book herself and wrote about most of these treats in her Regional Foods of Japan series for The Nihon Sun without knowing about the book!   If you don’t already have Tokyofoodcast bookmarked then you are missing a lot of great information on the food and sake scene in Japan.  Etsuko loves food and offers a lot of great information and information on how to get out and taste the foods that are unique to Japan from a local perspective.

Japan offers her visitors more than just great sushi!

Despite the wide variety of Japanese foods highlighted in Japan’s Tasty Secrets, sushi is probably one of Japan’s most famous food export and maguro (tuna)the most commonly recognized sushi fish.

This week also marked World Ocean Day (June 8th), designated by the United Nations as a day to reflect upon our relationship to the ocean.  As one of the world’s main source of food there is great concern about the decrease in the population of some of the fish, particularly tuna, used in great quantities on Japanese tables and around the world.

“The U.N. reports that 75 percent of seafood species are maxed out or overexploited and catches of nearly a third of these species are less than 10 percent of what they once were. Ninety percent of the big fish — sharks, tuna, swordfish — are already gone, according to a 2003 study in Nature.”
Source: CNN, Commentary: World’s biggest fish are dying

Many different organizations publish guides on how to choose more sustainable options the next time you visit your favorite sushi bar but all have limitations, especially when you are in Japan and have limited language skills.   The guides (listed below) are prepared primarily for the North American market and include conflicting advice for consumers that would be very difficult to implement without a lot of effort.  That is not to say the effort isn’t worth it, it’s just not that easy to put into practice.

For example, sake (salmon) is a considered a sustainable sushi choice IF it is caught wild in Alaska but is best avoided if it is farmed.  Uni (sea urchin roe) is to be avoided if it came from Main but is a good choice if it came from Canada.  Most cuts of tuna are to be avoided with the exception of shiro maguro (albacore tuna) caught via trolling or by pole in the US and Canada.

I have yet to see a sustainable sushi guide for Asia in general, or Japan specifically, and would imagine that the recommendations would differ quite a bit from those mentioned above.  My guess is that Alaska salmon might not be considered sustainable when served in a Tokyo sushi shop simply due to the environmental impact of getting it here and some fish are more abundant in the waters of Japan than elsewhere in the world.

My limited language ability makes it hard for me to ask my local sushi chef where the fish I am eating comes from and my knowledge of the answer that will appease my concern about the sustainability of that fish is limited in English or Japanese.

I don’t have the answer and suspect that I am not alone in wishing for a resource that would make it a little easier to navigate my sushi choices in Japan with an eye on the sustainability of our oceans and the fish in them.  For now, I’m left with the guides below and a lot a questions:

Sustainable Sushi and Fish Guides

The Blue Ocean Institue offers an Ocean Friendly Sushi Guide
The Environment Defense Fund affers a Pocket Sushi Guide & a list of Smart Sushi Choices
The Monterey Bay Acquirium offers a selection of Regional Seafood Watch Pocket Guides as well as a Sushi Guide (PDF)

Image Credit:  Flickr, Sushi and Fresh Wasabi

At first glance when you dine out at a restaurant in Japan, you only notice the tray holding many tiny plates and bowls filled with delicious nuggets of tasty and often curious looking food.  You don’t think about whether everything matches when you gaze upon the multitude of dishes before you – you just know it’s a lovely and appetizing array that you can’t wait to get your hashi (chopsticks) into.

Such was the case recently when I went out for a tonkatsu lunch.  It was a joy to sit in an almost empty restaurant on a midweek afternoon, taking time to peruse the design details of the serene yet fairly typical Japanese restaurant all while enjoying a nice conversation with my dining companion.  I ordered the giant ebi furai set (fried prawn set) and when it arrived I took a moment to ponder the tasty display of rice, pickled vegetables, dipping sauces, dried fish and miso soup that accompanied the main course.  I found the overall presentation to be lovely and not at all unusual for Japan.

Upon closer inspection, and introspection, I took notice of the dishes themselves.  Nothing matched!  Most pieces were rustic in style but not one of the seven dishes on the lacquered tray could be said to match it’s neighbor – yet they looked good together.

“Wabi Sabi is a theory of Japanese aesthetics in which imperfection and transience are considered the touchstone of beauty”

A rustic pale pick platter held the main course, the dish for the tonkatsu sauce was a deep green that sat comfortably alongside a small white footed bowl containing the dried fish and a traditional lacquer bowl for the miso soup.  A tartar-like sauce sat in a pretty decorated bowl that would likely not be placed alongside the triangular bowl with very different surface decoration and style anywhere but in Japan.

The place setting above seems to embody the spirit of wabi sabi – it is perfectly imperfect.  An appealing and cohesive presentation despite the variety of styles, colors and shapes of the dishes upon which the food rested.

I often strive for a tablescape that meets the western definition of beauty with dishes that match one another in color and style. But lately, when dining out, I am taking time to ponder and appreciate not only the food itself but the wabi sabi of its presentation as well.   This experience has inspired me to select dishes not for the fact that they match something I already own but because they possess a special quality and beauty that calls to out me.  Before long I will be proudly pointing out my mismatched dishes and telling everyone how my time in Japan inspired a very personal kind of wabi sabi.

Image Credit: Personal Collection

On our first night in Sendai I took on the culinary challenge of gyutan at Date No Gyutan with my husband and one of his colleagues.  The restaurant has a modern feel with prompt and friendly service despite the crowds waiting to dine during the holiday rush that is Golden Week.

The gyutan is grilled on the premises in an open kitchen which sent the aroma of grilling meat wafting throughout the restaurant, tantalizing the diners as they patiently waiting to be seated.

The menu offered a choice of either salt or miso gyutan and combination plates with either thin or thick slices. My husband, a meat lover, ordered the thick slices (pictured on the left) at the suggestion or our hotel concierge and I opted for the thinner slices (pictured on the right).  Accompanying our selection was a pickled salad of cabbage with carrots and cucumber that had a peppery flavor, miso vegetables, gyutan broth and as much rice as you could eat. After sampling both, we agreed that the thin sliced Gyutan with miso flavor was the clear winner.

While in Sendai we stayed at the Metropolitan Hotel Sendai which is conveniently located next to Sendai Station and a short walk to Date No Gyutan .  The restaurant is open daily from 11AM until 10PM and offers an English menu.

At first glance Date no Gyutan may appear to a store rather than a restaurant as there are display cases of gyutan in the front with staff selling packages of this Sendai culinary treat but don’t be dismayed, the entrance to the restaurant itself is to the left of the display cases.

Click on the open red circles on Date No Gyutan access map (in Japanese) to see images of the four restaurants located within walking distance of Sendai Station (shaded orange on the map).

If you are in Sendai be sure to try gyutan and look for other regional foods from the Tohoku and Kanto Regions when you visit.

Image Credit:  Personal Collection

R eally tasty food from Japan,

A vailable almost everywhere,

M eaty broth that will tantalize your taste buds,

E veryone can afford it, and it’s

N ot the same as the dried stuff you had as a kid!

When most of us think about ramen the first thing that comes to mind is the dried fast food version available in most supermarkets, even those in Japan, but the difference between the compressed dried ramen squares and ‘real’ ramen is as vast as the ocean separating Japan from the United States.

Ramen was brought to Japan from China over 300 years ago and has been personalized and perfected by chefs across Japan.  Shigemi Kawahara perfected his version of ramen in Fukuoka, specifically Hakata, and it has become famous throughout Japan, so much so that he earned the title of Ramen King  in 2005 when he was named Japan’s top Ramen Chef.

Shigemi Kawahara’s created Ippudo Ramen to share his particular brand of ramen with Japan.  Ippudo Ramen restaurants feature casual, family style dining with an open kitchen and employees that are cheerful, very enthusiastic and helpful.

Ippodo Ramen serves Hakata Style Ramen in a rich and hearty home made broth served with noodles that can be ordered firm, medium or soft.  Topped with a generous slice of yakibuta (roast pork) and personalized with your choice of toppings served ala carte at your table.

Combination meals include savory bite-sized gyoza or rice.  Additional noodles can be ordered as can other sides like fried or steamed rice.  My favorite bowl of ramen is the traditional Shiromaru Mote-aji and my husband always orders the Kiwami Shin-aji.  Click the image below to see a larger version of the Ippudo Ramen Menu.

Ippudo Ramen in Chiba (closest to my home) is not as well know as Ippudo in Ebisu and keeps much shorter hours.  It’s only open for lunch in Chiba (11AM -3PM) while the Ebisu branch stays open until 4AM.   With over 30 locations around Japan (hover over the Kanji on the map to see the area name) there is one bound to be one near you!  If you aren’t in Japan be sure to check out Ippudo New York to get yourself a super bowl of Japanese ramen.

This is my entry into this month’s Japan Blog Matsuri, hosted by Deas at Rocking in Hakata.

Image Credit:  Personal Collection & Flickr, best ramen in town!

Kyushu

Karashi mentaiko – This is my favorite breakfast item to cut up and eat raw with rice or cooked as filling of onigiri. Boxes of these precious salty and spicy pollack roe mixed with chili pepper are sold everywhere in Hakata or even at Narita to represent Fukuoka traditions.

Hiyajiru – This is a nice refreshing cold soup dish for hot summer weather that can be found near the beaches dotted with palm trees in Miyazaki. Grilled fish is mixed with miso and roasted sesame using mortar and pestle then mixed with cold broth. The cold soup mix is then poured over rice or rice and oats and sprinkled with small tofu chunks, diced cucumber, and chopped summer herbs such as shiso and myoga.

Image Credit:  Mentaiko bento 明太子&野沢菜ごはん &  Hiyajiru (冷汁)

Okinawa

Goya Chanpuru – This dish is a common home cooked meal in Japan but it originated in Okinawa and is a combination of bitter melon and tofu stir fried with pork.

Taco rice – Instead of wrapping beef with tortillas in this Tex-mex meets Japanese combination, someone decided to put the fillings over rice. This is another popular Okinawan dish that can now be found in many other parts of Japan.

Image Credit:  goya chanpuru & taco rice

To learn more about Japanese Food and regional specialties you may enjoy reading Traditional Dishes of Japan on the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) site.

While this is the last of the Regional Food of Japan series, it will be my pleasure to contribute monthly food related articles for you to enjoy here at The Nihon Sun.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Other Regional Foods of Japan

Hokkaido
Tohoku & Kanto
Chubu & Kansai
Chugoku & Shikoku

Today we’ll cover the regional foods specialties of Chugoku & Shikoku…

Chugoku

Okonomiyaki – What makes Okonomiyaki from Hiroshima special? Instead of pancake like batter cooked on the hot iron griddle, Hiroshima style starts with crepe like thin pancake on the griddle that is topped with heaps of shredded cabbage and other toppings such as bacon, tempura bits or seafood. On the side, yakisoba noodles are cooked along with a fried egg before all the ingredients are assembled in layers. The process of making Okonomiyaki is just like watching a teppanyaki chef’s performance at Benihana and is done in the matter of five minutes. To see this performance in Hiroshima, head to Okonomiyaki Village, where small stalls of these restaurants occupy an entire building is a good spot to start.  Hiroshima Okonomiyaki offer some great images of the okonomiyaki process.

Matsuba gani – Tottori is famous for Matsuba gani, or Snow crab, and boiled ones command high prices when sold all up and down the coast.

Image Credit: hiroshima okonomiyaki & Matsuba gani Tottori

Shikoku

Katsuo-no-tataki – Kochi is famous for bonito fishing, especially for its traditional pole and line method. Katsuo-no tataki is a general term for this meaty fish seared over a flame. This is usually done with a gas burner, but in Kochi, some people still stick to the traditional way – they use flame from burning straw. Also, when I was in the area, this dish was often served with lots of sliced garlic, thin sliced onions, shiso, green onion, myoga, and lemon, with generous amount of soy sauce mixed with yuzu citrus.  Here is an image of traditional straw flame tataki being made.

Sanuki udon – As soon as you land in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, you see udon everywhere: restaurants serving noodles, taxi tours around several small hole-in-the-wall establishments, and even posters promoting the latest udon-themed feature film. Sanuki style udon has very al dente texture and simple serving style with soy sauce or broth. This site has in-depth information about Sanuki udon.

Image Credit:  Katsuo, Sanuki Udon – Nakakita

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Kyushu and Okinawa.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Other Regional Foods of Japan

Hokkaido

Tohoku & Kanto

Chubu & Kansai

The Chubu & Kansai regions of Japan each have their own unique food specialties.  The Regional Foods Series by Etsuko of Tokyofoodcast started earlier this month with will continue on Friday’s throughout the month of January at The Nihon Sun.

Today we’ll cover the regional foods of Chubu & Kansai…

Chubu

Miso-katsu – As an ex-Nagoya resident, this is my favorite dish from Nagoya. Deep fried pork cutlet is served with sweet, salty, thick red miso sauce, sometimes sprinkled with sesame. In a way, it is a bit like Mexican Mole Rojo.

Hoba miso – In this special cooking style from Takayama, miso is combined with vegetables, mushrooms, and sometimes beef and cooked on a Magnolia leaf.

Fugu-no-ko Nukazuke – Only a few areas in Ishikawa make this traditional food so it may be hard to find. Blowfish roe are pickled in nukazuke mix made from with rice bran and salt for two to three years. Somehow, the most poisonous part of this deadly fish becomes harmless with this preservation process. While this may not be on your must try list, sliced paper thin, this is one of the best foods to enjoy with sake.  Learn more about the preparation of Fugu-no-ko Nukazuke at Ishikawa’s Tradition of Fermentation Food.

Image Credit:  Miso-katsu, Hoba miso with beef, Fugu-no-ko nukazuke (pictured on right)

Kansai

Funazushi - This dish from Shiga that smells like blue cheese or used socks is believed to be the very original form of sushi. Today the extreme scarcity of fresh water fish like funa from Lake Biwa is causing a great concern for not only locals but all foodies in love with this stinky dish.

Yatsuhashi – People from Kyoto may disagree, but Yatsuhashi, is a synonym for Kyoto sweets to visitors like me. It’s the thing to get from Kyoto to bring back as gifts for your family or co-workers.  It’s either a dry sweet cinnamon flavored fortune cookie or a soft ravioli type (pictured) with sweet fillings wrapped with rice flour parcel. Cinnamon flavor is de facto, but you may also find new flavors such as mango, blueberry and strawberry.

Tako-yaki – Famous octopus balls you find throughout Japan today is believed to be originally from Osaka. There’s even a takoyaki museum in the city!

Image Credit: Shiga Cuisine; Funazushi, Green tea and yatsuhashi (pictured on right) & tako yaki time

If you are planning a trip to Chubu be sure to taste these regional specialties and learn about more things to do and see in the region by reading Japan: A Closer Look at Chubu Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3 and keep reading The Nihon Sun to see our closer look at Kansai coming soon.

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Chugoku & Shikoku.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Other Regional Foods of Japan

Hokkaido

Tohoku & Kanto

Today we’ll cover Tohoku & Kanto…

Tohoku

Wanko-soba – Eating wanko-soba in Morioka, Iwate, is like participating in an eating competition on television in Japan. You start with a small bowl containing just a mouthful of soba ,only to be followed by continuous shots of soba refills until you call a stop to the force-feeding. A personal server refills your bowl just as fast as you finish one along with a chant, “Chan-chan”, to help you keep pace.

Senbei Jiru – This soup dish with wafer like crackers made of flour from Hachinohe won second place in the 2008 B-1 Grand Prix. Senbei is broken up and added to a steamy pot of soup a few minutes before serving to preserve the al dente texture.

Gyutan – When you step out the JR Shinkansen at Sendai in Miyagi, you see a restaurant row called Gyutan Dori that specializes in beef tongue.  Restaurants serve barbecued sliced beef tongue with ox tail soup and barley rice and even tongue curry, stew or sashimi!

Image Credit:  Wanko-Soba, senbei jiru (pictured on right) & Gyutan in Sendai

Kanto

Yuba – The skin formed on the surface when soy milk is heated. It’s sold either fresh or dried. Although Kyoto produces over 80% of yuba in the nation according to research from the Soy Information Center, Nikko in Tochigi is famous for this vegetarian food.   Many restaurants in the area serve light delightful dishes incorporating yuba.   During my last visit, I tried onigiri wrapped in yuba instead of seaweed.

Chanko nabe – There are many Chanko nabe restaurants in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo that are operated by former Sumo wrestlers who once competed in the  Ryogoku Kokugikan in the same area.  At the end of the morning training, wrestlers eat a meal prepared at the stable, chanko, often hot pot dish with meat or fish, vegetables cooked in soup.

Monjayaki – Tsukishima in Tokyo has more than 70 monjayaki restaurants. It is a cook-it-yourself type dish in which you put cabbage and other ingredients on a griddle, form a ring, then, pour very watery batter flavored with sauce in the middle. The resulting dough mixture looks like an under-cooked gooey pancake or crepe, and you use tiny metal spatulas to scrape up and eat monyayaki directly from the grill. Map of monja-yaki restaurants in Tokyo (in Japanese – restaurants are located between Tsukishima Station on Yurakucho or Oedo Line and Kachidoki Station on Oedo Line)

Image Credit:  Yuba Onigiri in Nikko, Chanko nabe at Kirishima, Ryogoku, Monja with tiny metal spatula (pictured on right)

If you are planning a trip to Tohuku be sure to taste these regional specialties and learn about more things to do and see in the region by reading Japan: A Closer Look at Tohuku Part 1 & Part 2 and keep reading The Nihon Sun to see our closer look at Kanto coming soon.

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Chubu & Kansai.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .

Japan looks quite large on a map, but when you look at the total landmass, Japan is quite small – it’s about the same size as California. The over 3,000 islands that make up the Japanese archipelago are spread up and down the edge of East Asia, but the area that many people actually visit is confined to a much smaller area of the country.

The Kanto-Kansai axis from Tokyo to Kyoto is about all most visitors see and could be compared to the New York to Washington D.C. corridor in the States. Despite its small size, there is an amazing variety of food available in Japan. Such variety comes from many things: a long, continuous history, rugged geography, regional political rivalries down through the ages, and even modern food policy that brands products in association with specific areas.

Local food customs mean a lot to the communities which produce them. Many Japanese travel far and wide to experience special dishes in season. During the winter, travelers migrate to the  coastal seaports along the Japan Sea such as Sakai Minato in Tottori or Kasumi in Hyogo for crab.  During the summer gift-giving season, buyers pluck cherries from Yamagata, and in the winter they splurge on amazing apples from Aomori. The tradition of giving these kinds of fruit in season ties the metropolitan masses in their concrete boxes to the basic rhythms of the agricultural countryside.

The Regional Foods in Japan series will introduce you to regional cuisines to watch out for while you are traveling in Japan. You may be able to find these dishes in Tokyo or other big cities, but since people always want an excuse to travel, I’ll tell you it’s different and more tasty when you actually go to the source!

Let’s get started with…

Hokkaido

Ishikari nabe – A winter hot pot dish believed to have started as a fisherman’s meal near the Ishikari river, where salmon return in the fall to winter. The original style calls for an entire salmon from head to tail, chopped up and cooked in a pot with cabbage and green onion. The broth comes from salmon bits and kombu placed in the hot pot, then miso is added. Finally, a sprinkle of sansho, Japanese black pepper, adds some zing to the soup.

Izushi – A form of sushi that initially served as a method of food preservation and is quite different from the famous nigiri style we see today. Fresh salmon or other fish is fermented with steamed rice and vegetables such as julienned carrots, daikon and ginger over a period of one to two months.   Hokkaido is particularly famous for this salmon variety.

Image Credit: Ishikari-nabe & Izushi

If you are planning a trip to Hokkaido be sure to taste these regional specialties and learn about more things to do and see in the region by reading Japan: A Closer Look at Hokkaido.

Check back next Friday when I will tell you about the regional foods of Tohoku & Kanto.  In the meantime please visit me at Tokyofoodcast to follow my foodie adventures in Japan and learn more about Japanese food and food culture .