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September 17, 2024
 

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Simon Daly
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 UK’ 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.
Serve this savory parfait chilled with rustic bread, crackers or other charcuterie.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Jun 8, 2024
Broaden your parfait horizons with chicken liver
Spices and herbs can be adjusted to individual tastes or even omitted, but the gelled wine topping is fairly classic, set here with seaweed extract.
"Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California" is a welcome reminder of how Japanese basics are best done and, perhaps, how to get a little closer to how things still should be.
LIFE
May 26, 2024
A California dreamin’ cookbook of 'izakaya' favorites
In an age where traditional knowledge is being forgotten, “Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California” is a treasure trove.
The original recipe for a "toast sandwich" has the added option of cold cuts, though the dish has since been reimagined with bone marrow and other lavish ingredients.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
May 12, 2024
Recipe: Japanese bread sandwich (yes, really)
This is not a sandwich made between slices of toast, nor is it a toasted sandwich.
Mustard can be found up and down Japan-based cuisines, but it's rarely a component in American macaroni and cheese.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
May 5, 2024
Recipe: Mac ‘n’ spicy cheese
This recipe raises the stakes of the American classic of macaroni and cheese with Japanese mustard.
In this recipe, cherry tomatoes take the place of classic tomato puree, with sausage, onion, mushrooms and green pepper in tow, as is tradition.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Apr 14, 2024
Recipe: Italian-Japanese pasta with a pinch of South Korea
This is a balanced, delicious meal anyone can put together in 20 minutes flat.
This technique can also be used to marinade tofu that has had excess liquid pressed out.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Apr 7, 2024
Recipe: Miso-marinated Camembert
Umami rich and sticky sweet, 'dengaku' sauce is best known in recent times as a glaze for grilled eggplant.
The giant green signs of this supermarket chain can be slightly intimidating, but chefs of all stripes are welcome in Gyomu's aisles.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 31, 2024
In praise of Gyomu Super, a gem of Japanese grocery shopping
With a name that translates to something like “commercial supermarket,” you might assume Gyomu is just a restaurant supply chain.
The soup is a simple version of classic French onion, and topping it with dried and grilled 'mochi' (rice cake), itself a single ingredient product, is a fun twist but can easily be switched out for traditional cheesy croutons.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 31, 2024
Recipe: French onion soup a la Gyomu
A surefire way to grocery shop is to find the commodities with the shortest ingredient lists.
I was skeptical of Lillian Cumic's avocado tempura, but I wound up loving it.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 3, 2024
Vegan or no, ‘Hawaii Washoku’ is a cookbook for all eaters
Chef Lilian Cumic offers creative versions of many of Japan’s most iconic dishes crafted from scratch with pantry staples found in most kitchens.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with 'kōji' by name, chances are you’ve been consuming it for a while.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Feb 18, 2024
Recipe: Dry rub to jump down the ‘kōji’ rabbit hole
On the eve of a major gathering of Aspergillus oryzae aficionados, here’s a ‘kōji’ recipe to get you started on your own adventure with the magical mold.
The term “snacking cake” has an adorable je ne sais quoi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Feb 11, 2024
Recipe: Snacking carrot cake
The term “snacking cake” has an adorable je ne sais quoi. I wish they were more widely available in Japan, so here's one pared back to basics.
With a little dehydration and a few pinches of Japan's favorite mold, you've got yourself some game-ready wings with a Tokyo twist.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Jan 28, 2024
Recipe: Kickoff-ready glazed wings
These ponzu-glazed wings are a perfect finger food to enjoy alongside your early-morning football.
Japan's elderly population grows to record 36.25 million
The proportion of people aged 65 and over has risen since the 1950s and is expected to hit 34.8% by 2040, when the second baby boomers (born 1971-1974) will join that group.
'Shogun' becomes first non-English-language winner of best drama Emmy
Japanese actress Anna Sawai, winner of the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award for "Shogun," and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, winner of the outstanding lead actor in a drama series award for the show, pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Japan jumps to No. 2, from sixth place, in Best Countries index
Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Japan has experienced a postpandemic travel boom, with tourists pouring back in after restrictions closed the country’s borders to travelers.
South Korea is facing deepfake porn crisis
Activists hold up symbolic eye masks during a protest against deepfake porn in Seoul on Aug. 30.
Second assassination attempt on Trump is latest jolt in chaotic campaign
U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a Ryan Routh, a suspect in an alleged assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Sunday.
‘Shogun’ and the painstaking art of ‘getting it right’
Hiroyuki Sanada and the cast and crew of "Shogun" accept the award for best drama series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
Japan’s schools battle to keep kids cool, with or without AC
Students sit under a misting system during recess at Hikarigaoka Haru no Kaze Elementary School in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6.
Chris Broad's new bar puts cocktails first, YouTube second
A self-proclaimed lover of great cocktails, YouTuber Chris Broad says his new Shibuya watering hole is more a place to get yourself a solid drink than it is anything related to his social media career.
In LDP presidential poll, three kingmakers hold all the cards
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo in January as former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) looks on.
How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.

Podcast

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

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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