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July 27, 2024
 

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Melinda Joe

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Melinda Joe
Melinda Joe is an American journalist in Tokyo. A certified wine and sake professional, she writes about Japanese drinks in her Kanpai Culture column for The Japan Times and blogs at tokyodrinkingglass.blogspot.com.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jul 8, 2017
Enterprising Aomori apple farmer pivots to boutique hard cider
On a steamy June afternoon, the apple trees in the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture are laden with fruit. Now, the young apples are hard green spheres the size of golf balls, but come autumn they will be plump, sweet and ready for harvest.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 24, 2017
Entertainment entrepreneur Steve Plotnicki: 'Learn how to analyze what you're eating'
Opinionated About Dining founder on his musical background, algorithms and what makes a decent restaurant critic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jun 10, 2017
Association aims to raise the profile of sparkling sake
Around the world, the sound of popping corks brings just one thing to mind — Champagne. However, a new organization of sake producers is working to tweak that image.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
May 13, 2017
Brut Wine Bar pop-up brings taste of Israel to Tokyo
...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Apr 8, 2017
Japanese sake startup finds way to float in sinking industry
Entrepreneur Nao Kohara sits at a table in his favorite neighborhood bar, checking emails on his laptop computer and sipping a glass of sake.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 11, 2017
Restaurateur Danny Meyer: ‘Hospitality is a dialog; service is a monologue’
American restaurateur on tipping and the rise of fast-dining establishments.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 10, 2017
Hidehiko Ishizuka takes his love of sake on tour in streaming TV series
Gourmandizing television personality Hidehiko Ishizuka has a famously large appetite. Apparently, the portly comedian also has a taste for Japanese sake. On a clear February afternoon in the sake-producing region of Fushimi, just south of Kyoto, a camera crew forms a tight circle around Ishizuka as he...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 3, 2017
Japan's culinary professionals rank high at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards
On the evening of Feb. 21, chefs from nine of Japan's top restaurants ascended the stage to receive honors at the fifth Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Bangkok.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Feb 10, 2017
Sake sommelier unlocks the fun of 'nihonshu' for visitors from abroad
Every week, sake sommelier Satoko Utsugi leads groups of overseas visitors past the Fukagawa Fudosan Temple and along a shopping street in Tokyo's downtown neighborhood of Monzen-Nakacho.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jan 13, 2017
Ginza sushi restaurant tests Champagne pairing
Nothing says "festive" like Champagne, that most elegant of elixirs. The drink's life-affirming effervescence makes it a natural choice for New Year's celebrations, but Champagne pairs so well with many of my favorite foods that I drink it far more often than once a year — with everything from raw...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Dec 9, 2016
Tokyo's progressive French restaurants are developing a taste for sake
The first time I drank sake at a non-Japanese restaurant was nearly seven years ago at Coi, a Michelin-starred establishment in San Francisco that serves modern Californian cuisine. I had opted for the beverage-pairing course, and the drink came with a dish of tofu mousseline in a thickened mushroom...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 11, 2016
The Kyoto Distillery: home of Japan's first artisanal gin
It's a mild Kyoto evening, and a group of spirits enthusiasts are gathering at a handsomely restored machiya (traditional townhouse) to celebrate the launch of Ki No Bi, a boutique gin produced by The Kyoto Distillery, Japan's first craft gin specialist. Guests spill onto the machiya's moss-covered courtyard,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 10, 2016
A short walk from the garden: Belgian chef Gert De Mangeleer is succeeding in self-sufficiency
During the mild months of early summer, the garden at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Hertog Jan — located 20 minutes outside of the Belgian city of Bruges — is in full bloom. The pale orange outlines of butternut squash peek out from beneath a thick cover of wide, flat leaves. Radishes grow...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 10, 2016
Belgian beer is a 'perfect partner' when it comes to these food pairings
The Belgians take their beer seriously. With a brewing history that dates back to the 12th century, Belgium is one of Europe's most prolific producers, turning out 1.8 billion liters per year, according to industry statistics. Scattered around the country, Belgium's roughly 180 breweries produce an impressive...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Oct 7, 2016
Rating, ranking — and ruining? — Japanese sake
On Aug. 31, the Wine Advocate, a publication started by the influential U.S.-based wine critic Robert Parker, released its first "official" ratings guide to sake with reviews written by Chinese critic Liwen Hao. Parker, who gained fame for creating the 100-point scoring system widely used to rate wines,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Sep 9, 2016
Japanese wine is no longer a novelty
Five years ago, Japanese wine was still considered a novelty, and finding it in Tokyo required a fair amount of searching. These days, most shops carry at least a few varieties and some have entire shelves dedicated to domestic wine. Popular magazines now run features on local producers and ways to match...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 9, 2016
Being young, Japanese, a woman and a chef — in Paris
Chiho Kanzaki has been cooking for as long as she can remember. Growing up in Tokyo, she used to watch her father prepare dinner for their family and would climb onto a stool to imitate his movements in the kitchen. Like a lot of little girls enamored of the food world, she imagined herself as a baker...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 2, 2016
Japanese chefs defy expectations across Asia
The rainbow trout confit at Mezzaluna, an acclaimed fine-dining restaurant in Bangkok that overlooks the city from the top of the 65-story Lebua State Tower, is an impeccable example of contemporary French cuisine. As is the luxurious foie gras flan, which lies beneath a grilled morsel of red snapper...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Aug 12, 2016
Sake Competition sets the standard for new enthusiasts
On July 29, Iwao Niizawa, the fifth-generation president of Niizawa Jozoten in Miyagi Prefecture, was one of six brewers to claim prizes at the 2016 Sake Competition awards ceremony that took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo. His Atago no Matsu Tokubetsu Junmai topped the list in the contest's...
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's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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