Episode 116: What's Beyond Sushi & Ramen?

$Episode 34: Bringing a Green Tea Culture to the U.S.: On this weeks episode of Japan Eats, host Akiko Katayama welcomes guest Rona Tison, the senior vice president of corporate relations at ITO EN, to discuss making green tea a true part of American culture. Tison has extensive experience in the tea industry and has received Green Tea Certification from ITO EN. Prior to joining ITO EN, Tison worked extensively in the hotel and service industry where she served as director of operations at the W Hotels The Court and The Tuscany, executive vice president at the lifestyle store Felissimo and rooms divisional manager at Le Parker Meridian, all in New York. Part of the beauty about tea is also sharing with friends. You can enjoy it in solitude, a moment to relax and have a cup of tea, or you can entertain and share great conversations. All those activities are great, I think, in terms of overall health. [23:00] \*\*\* Listeners, if you are interested in learning tea ceremony (which helps yo$

Episode 24: Applied Japanese Cuisine: Wylie Dufresne is in studio with Akiko this week for an intriguing episode of Japan Eats! Hinting at his new project opening in the new year, Wylie explains how he found himself in the restaurant industry and why working in the industry is likened to playing a team sport. What does Wylie think about being considered a predominant figure in the modernist/molecular gastronomy food realm? Whats his brainstorming process like? Tune in for a great discussion on finding inspiration from all around, his Japanese influences (like dashi), plus the duo dissect some of Wylies notable dishes. Often times we will try to take things people are familiar with and play with it, have fun with it. [14:30] --Wylie Dufresne on Japan Eats by Japan Eats!

45 min listen

Episode 12: Art of Japanese Knives: Japan is a land of long traditions including the intricate art of crafting Japanese knives, and today on Japan Eats, host Akiko Katayama is sitting down with Saori Kawano, founder and president of Korin Japanese Trading Corp. Sharing how she moved from Japan to New York in 1978 to pursue her lifelong dream of bringing Japanese knives and tableware into American restaurants and homes, Saori highlights the history, styles, and uses for these knives. Curious what distinguishes a western blade from a traditional Japanese knife or why your sashimi is cut so precisely? Tune in to this informative episode! This program was brought to you by Edwards VA Ham. We can trace the history of Japanese knives back more than 1200 years to the traditional samurai sword makers. [4:32] The most popular traditional Japanese knives for western chefs are usuba knives. [26:39] Sharpening knives is very good meditation time; dont think about anything else just focus on sharpe by Japan Eats!

43 min listen

Episode 5: Japanese Food Beyond Sushi & Ramen: Go beyond sushi and ramen and deeper into the rustic foods of Japan on a brand new episode of Japan Eats!. Host Akiko Katayama is joined by Tadashi Ono, owner Ganso Yaki - a Japanese bistro that cooks bold, rustic Japanese comfort food. Chef Ono talks about pulling inspiration from French techniques and street foods of Japan and creating his own unique style of food. This program was brought to you by Bonnie Plants. Im happy to introduce this new funky Japanese food! 38:00 What I make is very rustic, not very defined. 40:00 --Tadashi Ono on Japan Eats by Japan Eats!

44 min listen

Episode 23: Obsessed with Shochu: Kampai! or Cheers! This week on Japan Eats host Akiko Katayama welcomes Stephen Lyman to the studio talking all about the Japanese alcoholic beverage shochu. Founder and editor of Kampai!, Stephen explains his devotion to shochu, of which he is an expert and shares his travels to Kyushu (where 90%+ of authentic shochu is made) where he visited 6 distilleries and tried 262 different shochu (there are an estimated 6,000 labels from 600 distilleries in Japan) in just 5 days. Stephen went on to neighboring Okinawa where he visited 5 more Awamori distilleries. Upon his return from Japan he realized he had just scratched the surface of understanding shochu, but by this point his obsession had turned into a passion. After the break, Akiko and Stephen taste select shochu in studio and discuss traits to look for in the unique beverage. Virtually all shochu is aged 3 to 6 months. [28:30] If Im just out drinking with friends, the easiest way to drink it is on by Japan Eats!

42 min listen

Episode 36: My Life As A Sake Brewer: On this weeks episode of Japan Eats, Akiko is joined in the studio by Todd Bellomy, brewer and co-founder of Dovetail Sake, Massachusetts’ first sake brewery. Prior to opening Dovetail, Bellomy worked in the American craft beer industry, as a chef, and even as a sword-making apprentice in the Saitama Prefecture of Japan. Tune in to hear all about his life as a sake brewer. Our philosophy is, we want people to drink it because its delicious, and not because its sake...we look to traditional Japanese brewing, but were not limited by that. [18:00] – Todd Bellomy andnbsp; by Japan Eats!

47 min listen

Episode 40: Discover Sake!: This week on Japan Eats, Akiko is joined by sake expert Chizuko Niikawa-Helton. Ms. Niikawa, grew up on the Temple grounds of the Zen Buddhist Temple Gihozan Hosho Ji, located in the finest Rice and Sake producing prefecture of Japan, Akita. chizAfter graduating, Takushoku University and with additional studies at Esmond Japon, a fashion college. Ms. Niikawa embarked on a career in fashion as a fashion designer for over ten years. With her firm grounding in balance, and form, through a decade of fashion design Ms. Niikawa began to awaken to her deep appreciation, and love of the ancient art of Sake, and the pleasures and complexities it possesses. She began to feel that Sake had life, and form, and texture. She remembered her childhood, and her roots, she remembered the incredible rice, and Sake that her famous prefecture of Akita was known for and she began to appreciate of how closely Sake in form, as well as in balance was a living thing and that it nee by Japan Eats!

45 min listen