Food & Ritual– category –

You’ve probably seen them, even if you didn’t know what they were called. You’re walking through the quiet grounds of a Shinto shrine, or perhaps hiking a mountain path deep in the Japanese countryside. You come across a magnificent, anc...

Walk into a typical Western restaurant, and you’re handed a leather-bound document the size of a small-town phone book. It’s a catalog of ambitions: appetizers, soups, salads, seafood, steaks, pasta, a dozen side dishes, and a separate, ...

Every newcomer to Japan has the same moment of revelation. It usually happens within the first 24 hours, often in a state of jet-lagged delirium. You stumble out of your hotel or apartment, blinking in the unfamiliar light, searching for...

One of my first truly disorienting moments in Tokyo wasn’t in the middle of the Shibuya Scramble or trying to navigate the labyrinthine corridors of Shinjuku Station. It happened on a quiet train platform. There, tucked into a small alco...

You know that first truly warm day of the year? The one where the air suddenly loses its sharp, wintery edge and carries a damp, earthy scent. It’s a feeling of universal relief, a signal that the world is tilting back towards the sun. I...

Walk down almost any street in Japan with a decent number of restaurants, and you’ll eventually encounter it: a glass case displaying a silent, perfect, and utterly baffling feast. A bowl of ramen, its broth gleaming under the fluorescen...

You see it the moment you walk in. Before the welcoming chorus of “Irasshaimase!” fully registers, before the savory steam of broth and noodles hits you, your eyes land on the machine. It stands near the entrance, a stoic, glowing sentin...

Walk into any Japanese office on a Monday morning, and you’ll likely witness a quiet, unassuming ritual. A colleague who was away on a trip—be it for a weekend in Kyoto or a business conference in Osaka—will place a brightly colored, bea...

If you’ve spent any time in Japan, or even just in a Japanese restaurant, you’ve seen the ritual. Just before the meal begins, people will bring their hands together in a gesture of prayer, bow their heads slightly, and say a single word...

Take a moment and think about the foundational tastes of Japan. That salty, savory splash of soy sauce. The cloudy, comforting depth of miso soup. The clean, crisp notes of a good sake. They seem distinct, each a pillar of the cuisine in...

Ask anyone who’s spent time traveling through Japan about their most memorable food experiences, and you’ll hear the expected answers: the life-altering sushi, the soul-warming ramen, the impossibly delicate kaiseki dinner. But press a l...

Walk into the basement of any major Japanese department store, and you’ll find yourself in a world that dismantles every notion you have about “mall food.” Forget greasy food courts with sticky tables and buzzing fluorescent lights. This...