Japan Eats

Our guest is Taichi Manabe, chief operating officer of Food Hub, which is a unique project to revive the declining community in Shikoku island of Japan through food. Taichi wanted to change the world through design, but he realized that food has a bigger and stronger influence for his purpose. He has gotten involved in multiple fascinating food projects before he became the COO of Food Hub, which is based in a small town with a population of 5,300 in Shikoku Island. We will discuss why food is important for our community, and Taichi's very local yet global projects!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Ron Silver, who is the chef/owner of Bubby’s. Bubby’s opened in 1990, and is now one of the iconic American restaurants in NYC, serving delicious breakfast, burgers pancakes as well as beautiful pies. What you may not know about Bubby’s is that there are six Bubby’s restaurants in Japan! We will discuss why Ron decided to open Bubby’s in Japan and his unique experience with the Japanese market and culture, how Ron is inspired by Japan as a chef, and much, much more! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Yuki Minakawa, the beverage and service director of Sushi Ginza Onodera in NYC, which has 2 Michelin stars. Yuki has worked at the NYC’s top Japanese restaurants, such as Masa, EN Japanese Brasserie and Kajitsu, for the last 10 years. She is in charge of the wine, sake and cocktail lists at Sushi Ginza Onodera. You might think sushi has to be paired with sake, but Yuki introduces you to many other interesting possibilities that will enrich your dining experience!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

David Israelow is the global winner of the 5th Washoku World Challenge, which is a cooking contest where chefs from around the world compete in technical expertise and passion for Japanese food. David joins the host Akiko Katayama to discuss how he studied traditional kaiseki cuisine, how he expresses it uniquely on his plates, his experience at the Tokyo Sushi Academy, the documentary film he is working on, and much, much more!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, the Sakemen (judo wrestlers/superheroes) joins me to discuss traditional sake breweries they closely work with and why they are so precious!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

This is an episode from Manga Sensei, which is one of the most popular Japanese language learning podcasts. The host John Dinkel majored in Japanese language in college and lived in Japan as well. So he has deep experience in Japanese language and culture. If you are willing to learn Japanese, I suggest that you subscribe to John’s super-approachable and effective podcast Manga Sensei on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify. John invited Akiko Katayama, the host of Japan Eats! to his podcast as a guest, and had a fun conversation about Japanese food culture. I hope you will find this episode a nice little window to peek into Japanese mindset and culture! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

This episode is a live recording of the special event at Japan Society in New York on October 24, 2018, which Japan Eats!'s host Akiko Katayama moderated. The theme of the event was the modern craft beer culture in the US, and the title was Crafting Beer: Traditional Techniques, Modern Brews. Joshua Bernstein, a Brooklyn-based beer journalist and author of Brewed Awakening, The Complete Beer Course, Complete IPA and Homebrew World, discusses fascinating collaborations between sake and beer breweries, and the resulting delicious craft beer inspired by Japanese sake. I hope you enjoy learning about the new frontier of Japanese sake in this episode. Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast

Yoshoku, or "Western food" is an important genre of Japanese cuisine. Our guest Shintaro Eleazar Okuda, Chef de Cuisine at Bar Moga in the West Village, NYC, discusses what yoshoku is, how Bar Moga's menu features the charm of yoshoku, his unique culinary background and much, much more!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Tea is an essential element of Japanese culture. If you visit someone’s house, he or she will ask you “would you like a cup of tea”? Some people may find green tea a little too bitter or exotic, but there is a lot to discover in the world of Japanese green tea. In this episode, Oscar Brekell, a certified Japanese tea instructor based in Tokyo and the owner of "Oscar Brekell Tea Selection", will discuss how he fell in love with Japanese tea, how it changed his life, what tea you should drink, and much, much more!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Ramen has become as popular as sushi in the US lately, and Ichiran Ramen is particularly unique among hundreds of ramen shops for offering each customer a VERY private dining experience. In this episode, Kayla Copeland of Ichiran USA tells you the concept of the solo dining that can maximize the flavor in your bowl!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Our guest today is Andrew Richardson who has worked at The World Sake Imports, one of the greatest sake importers in the U.S., for the last 11 years. Andrew's journey with sake is intriguing - from drinking at a local bar in Kyoto with strangers to creating a sake paring menu at wd~50, the legendary innovative American restaurant in NYC. In this episode, we will discuss his unique career in sake, his favorite sake breweries, and much, much more! Powered by Simplecast

"And our guest today is Massud Ghaussy who has a Japanese food and restaurant blog on instagram under TokyoManhattan. His posts not only describe restaurants he has visited, but also include many other elements behind the dishes, such as history, culture and cooking methods. He appeared on Episode 125, and told us about his favorite Japanese chefs and restaurants in Paris, NY and in Tokyo. In this episode, we will continue our conversation with Massud with the focus on sushi restaurants along with the history and the cultural background of sushi!!! " Here is the list of the restaurants we discussed in this episode. Hope you will get a chance to experience them! Kura Kuruma Zushi Kyubey Shimbashi Tsuruhachi Bunten Suzumasa (ex Koraku) Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Koji is becoming a culinary keyword lately, and our guest Jeremy Umansky is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced professionals in the field with an innovating, refreshing mindset. We will discover what Koji is, how it is used traditionally, how you can use it in your own kitchen and much, much more!!! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Japanese cocktail culture is getting global attention lately, but we don’t know too much about what it is outside Japan. Today, we will discover it through the unique concept of Katana Kitten, a new Japanese-American bar in the West Village in NYC. Our guests are three key players of the cocktail industry: Masahiro Urushido, the Managing Partner, Head Bartender & Director of Deliciousness of Katana Kitten, James Tune, the General Manager and Managing Partner and Greg Boehm, the co-owner and the Founder of Cocktail Kingdom, which brings rare-to-find great cocktail books and barware to the cocktail community. Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

"Yudai Kanayama is the owner of The Izakaya, a casual Japanese restaurant in the East Village, and Samurice at the Canal Street Market in Chinatown, which offers bento boxes, Japanese curry rice, and pour-over miso soup in a cup. There are so many Japanese restaurants outside Japan, but it is not easy to find ones that exemplify the essence of Japanese restaurant culture. Yudai is trying to communicate the unique Japanese tradition that is yet to be known outside Japan. In this episode, we will discuss how Yudai switched his career from fashion to food and became a restaurateur, how he communicates Japanese tradition in NYC through his eateries, and much, much more!!!" Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

Christopher Pellegrini is one of the few global Shochu and Awamori experts based in Tokyo. He is also the author of “The Shochu Handbook”, which is the first book about shochu and awamori written in a language other than Japanese. Christopher moved to Tokyo in 2002, and discovered the special, traditional Japanese alcoholic beverages, which are yet to be known outside Japan. We will discuss how Christopher got into Shochu and Awamori, what they are, how to drink them, his various activities to educate people about them, and much, much more! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

This is the 6th episode with Elizabeth Andoh, who already joined us 5 times on Episodes 18, 61, 83, 99 and 108! As always, she shares her truly deep insight into traditional Japanese food culture with us. Elizabeth is a food writer and Japanese cooking instructor based in Tokyo, and she has lived in Japan for over 50 years. She runs the culinary arts program called A Taste of Culture, which offers a great opportunity for non-Japanese people to explore Japanese culture through its food. Elizabeth is also the author of 6 cookbooks, including the award-winning “Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Kitchen” published in 2005. In this episode, we will discover dashi, which is the foundation of Japanese cuisine. What is it? What types of dashi you should know about? Tips to make great dashi? Elizabeth tells you all about them! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

"Chikara Yamada is the chef/owner of Yamada Chikara New York in Midtown Manhattan, which opened in May 2018. Chikara also is the chef/owner of the highly recognized restaurant called Yamada Chikara in Tokyo, which serves japanese dishes with A modern twists. Chikara’s background is intriguing. He spent 7 years in Europe, owned a successful Japanese restaurant and eventually worked for the renowned chef Ferran Adria at El Bulli in San Sebastioan, Spain. And his style of cooking reflects his diverse experiences. In this episode, we will discuss Chikara’s unique culinary training, how he expresses the essence of Japanese tradition on his creative dishes, what he serves at his new restaurant in New York, and much, much more! " Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast.

David Torchiano, Josh Arak, TJ Provenzano and Jeff Miller, the team from the highly recognized and charming 8- seat Japanese sushi restaurant Mayanoki in Alphabet City, will join me to discuss their efforts to achieve their challenging goals: serving the best sushi and conserve the precious ocean resources. Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast

Coco Kayoko Seo, Japanese beverage specialist, worked at the legendary Japanese cocktail bar Angel’s Share in the East Village, and is a certified as Sake and Shochu Adviser. Currently she hosts a fun, weekly educational happy hour at Bar Moga in the West Village called Coco’s Spirit. We will discuss how Coco became a Japanese beverage expert, what Coco’s Spirit is, what Japanese spirits you should try now, and much, much more! Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast