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April 01, 2025
 

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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
Sep 9, 2014
Green fairy leads to Tokyo absinthe bar
Five years ago, Hiroyasu Kayama developed a fascination with absinthe. Shortly before opening his bar Ben Fiddich in July 2013, he took a pilgrimage to the famous absinthe-producing town of Pontarlier, which lies on the French border with Switzerland. Now, the 30-year-old mixologist wants to start an...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Aug 12, 2014
Spreading the gospel of natural winemaking
Should you ever be lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle of wine from Beau Paysage — the cult producer in Yamanashi Prefecture, whose coveted cuvees sell out within hours of release — look at the back label. On it, you'll find a message from winemaker Eishi Okamoto, earnestly delivered in Japanese...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / CULINARY TOOLBOX
Jul 29, 2014
Expo shows industrial-kitchen tech to fuel any foodie’s product lust
On a rainy day in June, the exhibition halls inside Tokyo Big Sight were brightly lit, accentuating the metallic gleam of the high-tech equipment on display at the Japan Food Machinery Manufacturers' Association expo.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 19, 2014
Umami: the taste we love but can't describe
The word "umami" is, in many ways, literally a mouthful. First coined in 1909 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, the term translates roughly as "deliciousness." With its satisfying, round consonants and open vowel sounds, the word approaches onomatopoeia — a phonetic approximation of the gustatory...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jul 8, 2014
What to drink when you're eating oysters
Shucking an oyster is harder than it sounds. A fair amount of dexterity is required to pry open the mollusk's tight-lipped shell and liberate the flesh. The one time I tried to open an oyster with a shucking knife, I ended up smashing it with a hammer instead.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jun 10, 2014
Meet the Willy Wonka of extraordinary cocktails
Contrary to expectation, the Blue Cheese Martini at the Akasaka branch of Code Name Mixology is a subtle concoction. The cocktail is clear, served in a delicate crystal glass, with three olives on the side. The cheese aroma hovers faintly on the nose, but the first sip is mildly sweet and fruity. The...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
May 13, 2014
Let's not forget the sake at world food events
On the afternoon of April 28, at an intimate gathering in London's Ametsa restaurant, a cluster of admirers with champagne flutes in hand fluttered around chef Helena Rizzo. The Brazilian Rizzo, who helms the acclaimed restaurant Mani in Sao Paulo, had recently been named the World's Best Female Chef,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / CULINARY TOOLBOX
Apr 29, 2014
How to sharpen your homemade sushi skills
"Why don't you come around to the other side of the counter?" sushi chef Junichi Onuki chirped from behind the bar. He laid down the sharp yanagi-ba knife he'd been using to slice fillets of sea bream and beckoned in a gesture of welcome.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Apr 8, 2014
Koenji brewpub takes an experimental approach
Growing up, I'd always thought that drinking before dusk was considered something of a no-no. When my friend suggested on a recent Sunday that we stop by Koenji Bakushu Kobo to try some jikasei (homemade) beer at 3 p.m., I pushed it to the more respectable hour of 5. By the time we arrived, though, the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 11, 2014
Catalan cuisine, sake's international pairing pal
"Please, just one bite," cajoled Derrick Lim, patting my shoulder like a solicitous Asian grandmother. "You have to try this dish." A certified sake professional, Lim had been explaining the concept behind his latest venture — a sake-and-tapas bar called Bam, located on Singapore's trendy Tras Street...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 6, 2014
Japan's top chefs grapple with sustainable eating
After the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Singapore last month, chef Yoshihiro Narisawa was in high spirits, despite the late hour and the tropical February heat. His Tokyo restaurant, the eponymous Narisawa in the Aoyama district, had been named Best Restaurant in Japan for the second...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 13, 2014
Feed desire with our seductive Valentine's pairings
When I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley, I taught a class called Female Sexuality with some of my fellow schoolmates (yes, everything you've heard about Berkeley is true). As my work with food and drinks seldom crosses into the realm of sex education, few people know this about...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Feb 11, 2014
All-female wine award targets girls of the grape
Before the tasting commenced at the inaugural Sakura Japan Women's Wine Awards in Tokyo, the judges were reminded to remove their lipstick. The competition, organized by the Wine and Spirits Culture Association (WSCA), is the first in Japan to feature an all-female panel of assessors. Over the course...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jan 7, 2014
Fresh pressings from Norway's sake brewery
Nu00f8gne u00d8 Brewery in Norway is best known for its line of award-winning craft beers, but the company is quickly gaining a reputation for another brewed beverage: sake.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Dec 12, 2013
Umami: an ideal sake pairing
On a recent September morning in Napa Valley, a sake-pairing session at the Culinary Institute of America's annual Worlds of Flavor conference began with a lesson in organic chemistry. The theme of the seminar was "sake and umami," a topic tantalizing enough to fill the room with food and beverage professionals...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 7, 2013
Unique sake from father-son team
Kumpai Shuzo stands along a quiet stretch of the Kyu-Tokaido Road, across the Abe River in an old part of Shizuoka City. Run by father-and-son team Seiji and Hidetoshi Ichikawa, the brewery has remained in the same location since the family's ancestors began making sake in the Edo Period.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Oct 10, 2013
Fall for the flavor of autumn sake
The seasons in Japan can turn on a dime. When I'd left Tokyo for Sweden, at the end of September, summer had shown no sign of abating: The city was still sweating in 32-degree heat and 60 percent humidity. When I returned five days later, the air was lighter and the evenings pleasantly crisp. Fall had...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Sep 12, 2013
Tasting Kirin's beer of many colors
Morbid curiosity had prompted me to order a Two-Tone beer cocktail at the branch of Kirin Ichiban Shibori Garden in Tokyo's Akasaka district. I had read, with no small measure of disbelief, that Tokyo's latest summer beer fad was lager mixed with fruit juice or sweet syrup, and I had to see it with my...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 29, 2013
Tokyo chef who likes a good breakdown
Kamose, a private cooking studio run by fermentation specialist Nobuaki Fushiki, is hidden among the backstreets of Tokyo's Gakugei Daigaku district. Fushiki's special dinner events, which feature an array of fermented ingredients, have a clandestine quality that brings to mind the speakeasies of the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Aug 8, 2013
Supporting Tohoku one glass at a time
On a Saturday evening in late July, Wine Aid for East Japan began, appropriately, with a toast. Now in its third year, the event, organized by professionals in the wine industry to raise money for charities in the Tohoku region, featured over 100 premium wines and a buffet showcasing ingredients from...
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

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