author

 
Menu
Search
 
February 21, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Simon Daly
No South American fare is complete without empanadas, one of the traditional recipes in Kiera Wright-Ruiz's cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025
Chewing on race, culture and 'okonomiyaki' quesadillas
Kiera Wright-Ruiz’s debut cookbook serves up deep thoughts on her biracial heritage alongside delicious recipes.
Arranging your dish in this checkerboard pattern is said to bring good luck, but if that holds true for eating this to start the year, what's stopping you from cooking in a bit of good fortune whenever you need it?
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2025
Some traditional Japanese culinary rules are meant to be broken
It might tick off Japanese cuisine purists, but there’s room on the table for classic new year ‘osechi ryōri’ dishes whenever you please.
"A Very Asian Guide to Japanese Food" is the first edition of the Asia-centric series to focus on rice balls, fermented soybeans and other Japanese staples.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 19, 2025
For kids, Japanese food ‘is a doorway to exploration’
Begun as a response to Asian-directed violence during the pandemic, the “Very Asian” series of cookbooks-slash-cultural primers turns its gaze toward Japan.
Pan-roasted baby beets, carrots, turnips and orange may be an otherwise American dish, but Sonoko Sakai's addition of lemon-miso yogurt turns it into a 'wafū' (Japanese style) marvel.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 12, 2025
The case for Japan-ifying everything you cook
“Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style” coins the term “wafuing” — shorthand for bringing Japanese flavors into anything and everything.
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 28, 2024
How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024
Food trucks, morsels with cutesy cues from nature and more helped Japan’s northernmost island have a stellar year.
This cakelike dessert is, in fact, not a cake at all and, being flourless, is gluten free.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Dec 1, 2024
For holidays in warm weather, a light, rolled meringue fits best
In the topsy-turvy seasons of the antipodes, Christmas is in summer and fresh fruit medleys make sense for this dessert.
Despite its somewhat grisly inspiration, this decadent cake would fit into most holiday menus.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Nov 24, 2024
A buttery pound cake to die — or kill — for
As a nod to author Asako Yuzuki, I’ve elevated this recipe inspired by her 2017 bestseller with a little of Japan’s yuzu citrus.
This cake whisked me back to my own childhood in the way only taste and smell can.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Nov 17, 2024
A Danish 'dream cake' inspired by Japan's headline news
Every holiday gathering needs a good cake, and this one takes inspiration from news stories in both Japan and abroad.
Cream-filled 'maritozzo' buns are just one of the many sweet treats on offer at Japanese convenience stores.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 3, 2024
Exploring the ‘B-gourmet wonderland’ of Japanese convenience stores
Tourists who obsess over 7-Eleven and FamilyMart can seem a bit absurd, but there's no denying the integral role these stores have in daily life in Japan.
Hokkaido cuisine is so much more than milk bread and regional ramen — as this humble yet delicious deer ragu shows.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Oct 20, 2024
Deer ragu straight from Hokkaido’s fields
Adapted from a recipe from chef Chihiro Naito, formerly of L’Effervescence, this dish brings the essence of Hokkaido game to your table.
There's nothing like a tangy sandwich to see the last gasps of summer fade into a crisp Japanese autumn.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Oct 6, 2024
Get yourself in a pickle with this uber-tangy banh mi
As a sandwich, this banh mi is a great hot weather lunch for those last few gasps of summer.
Deployed properly, uncooked rice can be a secret weapon to imbue your favorite cocktails with a certain je ne sais quoi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Sep 29, 2024
The secret ingredient in this cocktail? Rice.
Using uncooked rice as an additive for mixing cocktails is a fun way to uncover subtleties in your favorite sips.
Hokkaido's cuisine and the culture that underpins it get top billing in Tim Anderson's newest cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 15, 2024
‘MasterChef U.K.’ winner’s new cookbook puts Hokkaido cuisine on vivid display
Tim Anderson's cookbook covers a lot, but its strength is in presenting Japan’s largest prefecture as a detailed tapestry via straightforward recipes.
Yes, this parfait is a decadent treat, but with the addition of some 'ume' (plum), it can actually help you weather the worst of summer's last throes of heat.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Sep 8, 2024
Ditch labor-intensive ice cream for this whisked-together parfait
The only kitchen gadget that is essential for making a parfait is a thermometer.
Roasting cauliflower can seem daunting when its already hot outside, but the flavors here more than make up for slaving over a hot stove for a bit.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Aug 25, 2024
With a bit of Japan's 'national mold,' cauliflower becomes a superstar
Picallili is a style of lightly spiced cauliflower mustard pickle, the result of South Asian flavors integrated into colonial British cuisine.
There are no rules when it comes to making a bibimbap adapted to your own personal tastes.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Aug 18, 2024
With the humble bibimbap, do as you like
With broccoli florets as part of our bibimbap topping, we can also make a quick pickle of the stalk, meaning this meal is practically without waste.
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.
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Boiling Point
Jul 13, 2024
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
The one thing everyone can control when the mercury rises is their diet.
There are numerous iterations of 'rāyu' (chili oil), and they all have in common a complexion fiery enough to easily ruin your favorite T-shirt.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Jul 7, 2024
I can’t believe it’s not restaurant ‘rāyu’
With just a few common kitchen items, it couldn’t be simpler to create a unique chili oil right in your own Goldilocks zone.
Any fruit can work as a base here — if, for example, the dad you’re cooking for this upcoming Father’s Day avoids raspberries.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Jun 15, 2024
Cobble together this Father’s Day raspberry dessert
Each spring, higher elevations, forests and countryside backroads are inundated by foragers in search of mountain vegetables, fruits and berries.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
IPhone parts maker Murata eyes supply chain shift toward India
Murata Manufacturing President Norio Nakajima
Monthly number of visitors to Japan hit record high in January
A visitor feeds the deer at Nara Park in Nara on Jan. 27. The monthly number of foreign visitors to Japan hit a record high in January.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).

Podcast

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

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers
mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER