Our guest is Michael Magers, who is a documentary photographer and journalist who splits his time between New York City and Austin, Texas. He is a frequent collaborator with the highly acclaimed publisher Roads & Kingdoms (legendary author and television host Anthony Bourdain was a partner and investor in Roads & Kingdoms), and served as the lead photographer on their award-winning books "Rice Noodle Fish” and "Grape Olive Pig." Michael’s images are exhibited both internationally and...

Our guest today is Mitsunori Isoda, the executive chef at Omakase Room by Mitsu in New York. The Omakase Room serves authentic Japanese Edomae-style sushi at his beautiful 8-seat hinoki wood bar counter in Manhattan’s West Village. These days you can find great sushi restaurants in New York and other global cities around the world, but we don’t often get to understand the philosophy of each sushi chef. In this show, we get an exclusive look at how a sushi chef strives to create the guests’...

Our guest this week is Todd Bellomy, the owner and brewer of Farthest Star Sake in Massachusetts. Todd joined us in Episode #36 to discuss his previous brewery Dovetail Sake in 2016. His success at Dovetail Sake led him to the opening of his new brewery Farthest Star Sake in 2022. Todd has not only been producing high-quality, authentic style of sake, but has also witnessed the development of the American sake culture as an insider. Now we have dozens of notable sake breweries in the U.S....

Our guest today is Hajime Sato who is the chef/owner of Sozai near Detroit, Michigan. Hajime has been known for keenly pursuing sustainability, which is very challenging for a sushi chef, for the last 14 years. His efforts have been widely recognized, and this year, Hajime became one of the five nominees for the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Chef Award. The James Beard Foundation Awards are often called the Academy Awards for culinary professionals, so you can tell how powerful...

Our guest is Matt Alt who is a Tokyo-based writer and "localizer" of Japanese entertainment products including video games, toys, and manga. His work has appeared widely in publications including The New York Times, BBC Culture, The Economist 1843, Aeon Magazine, and The New Yorker. (We will find out what “localizer” means in our conversation.) Also, Matt is the author of “Pure Invention: How Japan Made The Modern World”, which insightfully analyzes how the unique Japanese mindset ended up...

Our guest today is Phoebe Ogawa, who is a wagashi chef based in New York. Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets, and they are quite different from Western-style sweets in many ways, such as the ingredients, how they're made, and the occasions they are served. For whatever reason, we don’t see wagashi outside of Japan very often, even in big cities like New York, despite the popularity of Japanese food. Pheobe is one of the precious wagashi ambassadors abroad. She was classically trained in...

Our guest today is Jean-Baptiste Meusnier, the chef and owner of Kodawari Ramen in Paris. Jean-Baptiste was an air force pilot in his home country of France when he had a revelation to become a ramen chef. In April 2016, he opened Kodawari Ramen in central Paris and his focus on creating the best ramen has been as sharp as flying a military airplane. He makes everything from scratch at a level even Japanese ramen cooks would never do. In this episode, we discuss how Jean-Baptiste was drawn...

Our guest today is Elizabeth Andoh, who has joined us 12 times previously to share her truly deep insight into traditional Japanese food culture. Elizabeth is a food writer and Japanese cooking instructor based in Tokyo, where she has lived 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...

Our guest is David Yoshimura, who is the chef/owner of Nisei in San Francisco, California. Nisei means the first-generation, a son or daughter of Japanese immigrants who were born in the United States. Niseis inevitably live in dual cultures and many of them choose to celebrate Japanese culture in different ways. David is one of them. After working at top restaurants in the world, he opened his own place named Nisei in 2022 and earned a Michelin star within six months after opening. In...

Our guest is Sawako Okochi who is the co-chef and co-owner of Shalom Japan, which she opened in 2013 with her husband and co-chef, Aaron Israel. Shalom Japan is unique because Sawa and Aaron combine Japanese and Jewish food cultures on one menu. The unique concept has proven successful as they celebrate the 10th year of Shalom Japan. They also have just published a beautiful book titled “Love Japan – Recipes From Our Japanese American Kitchen”. In this episode, we will discuss how Sawa...

Our guest Takashi Sato is the ８th generation family member of Sanjirushi Jozo in Mie Prefecture and the president of San-J International in the U.S. Sanjirushi Jozo has been making soy sauce and miso since 1804, and in 1978 the company decided to expand its business to the U.S. Now, 45 years later, San-J is one of the most familiar soy sauce brands in the U.S. and you may have seen its labels at Whole Foods Market, for instance. Soy sauce is a quintessential ingredient of Japanese food,...

Our guest is Marco Moreira who is the chef/owner of 15 EAST @ Tocqueville in New York. He joined us in Episode #28 and discussed his fascinating background, including how the young Brazilian man came to New York and became a sushi chef, and shared his deep knowledge of Japanese food culture. Marco has run multiple highly successful restaurants in New York with a wide variety of influences from Japanese, French and Brazilian flavors. No restaurant was unaffected by COVID but Marco...

Our guest is Nori Nakamura who is the owner and winemaker at Noria, a unique winery in California. When we eat Japanese food, we almost automatically think to pair it with Japanese sake or Japanese beer. On the other hand, Japanese sake has become so popular globally that you can find it at Michelin-starred, non-Japanese restaurants outside of Japan these days. Nori decided to break the preconception and now is making beautiful wine that pairs perfectly with Japanese food. In this...

Our guest today is Naoko Takei Moore, who is the chef and owner of Toiro. She is an expert in Donabe, or Japanese traditional earthen cookware, and through Toiro, Naoko introduces global food lovers to the world of Donabe. She is also the co-author of “Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking”, published by Ten Speed Press. Donabe has a long history and has been an important part of Japanese food culture. Naoko is a precious figure to learn from all about Donabe. In this...

Our guest is Elizabeth Andoh, who already joined us 11 times and shared her truly deep insight into traditional Japanese food culture. 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. She is also the author of 6 cookbooks, including the award-winning...

Our guest is Kotaro Hamada who is the 6th generation of Hamada Shuzo in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Hamada Shuzo has been making shochu, the Japanese traditional spirit, since 1868. Hamada Shuzo’s quality is highly recognized not only in Japan but also abroad and its shochu brands called Daiyame 25 and Daiyame 40 have received multiple prestigious awards, including the Gold Medal for Daiyame 40 at the International Wine & Spirits Competition in 2022. Japanese sake has once lost its...

Our guest is Zach Mangan who is the co-founder of Kettl, the Japanese tea importer and distributor based in New York and Fukuoka, Japan. He is also the author of the fantastic book about Japanese tea, “Stories of Japanese tea: The Regions, the Growers, and the Craft”. And in September 2021, he opened a beautiful tea shop and gallery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is now one of the coolest sections of New York. Zach joined us in Episodes 44 and 264 and talked about his fascinating, somewhat...

Our guest is Craig Mod who is a writer, author, and photographer based in Japan. Also, according to his website, he is a "walker". And we will talk about what it means. Craig has spent over 20 years in Japan and has produced a lot of valuable work, capturing Japanese daily life objectively as well as being an insider. His insight into Japanese culture is impressive and I have learned a lot from his curious observations. In this episode, we will discuss how Craig got into Japanese culture,...

Our guest is Yumi Komatsudaira, who is a recipe developer, food stylist, culinary instructor, and the president of K-Seaweed. Yumi grew up outside Tokyo, playing and snacking in her family’s seaweed factory. When we hear seaweed, many of us may think of the weeds by the beach that do not look particularly delicious, or even edible. But it is like looking at weeds coming out of the pavements on busy city streets. What we are talking about here about seaweed is the equivalent of plants from...

Our guest is Richard Geoffroy who is the founder and maker of Shiraiwa, a sake brewery in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Before Richard founded the sake brewery in 2018, he was the Chef de Cave, or cellar master, at the world-famous Champagne producer Dom Pérignon for 28 years. Richard makes traditional-style Japanese sake that is uniquely merged with Champagne-making techniques and his sake is gaining the attention of professionals and connoisseurs of sake and wine worldwide. In this...

Our guest is Noriko Okubo who is the co-owner and chief operations officer of Ginza Nishikawa U.S.A. Ginza Nishikawa opened in 2018 in Ginza, one of the poshest areas in Tokyo, to sell high-quality Shokupan bread. Shokupan is also called milk bread and is gaining popularity worldwide for its distinctively soft and fluffy texture with a pleasantly sweet taste. Ginza Nishikawa’s Shokupan bread earned accolades very quickly and now it operates over 130 shops throughout Japan. The huge...

Our guest is David Schlosser who is the chef/owner of Shibumi in Downtown L.A. Shibumi opened in 2016 and shortly afterwards, it earned accolades from various prominent media, including The Los Angeles Times’s Jonathan Gold who ranked Shibumi number two restaurant of the whole city. Currently, Shibumi holds one Michelin star. David was classically trained in Japan and soulfully serves authentic Japanese dishes at Shibumi. But originally, he used to cook French cuisine at Michelin starred...

Our guest is Cinzia Mesolella who is in charge of PR and communication at Kobe Shushinkan Breweries in Hyogo Prefecture. Hyogo is the home of “Nada no sake”, which means “Sake from Nada”, and is synonymous with great sake. Kobe Shushinkan Breweries was founded in 1751 and its award-winning label Fukuju has been served at Nobel prize dinners several times since 2008. Kobe Shushinkan is also known for its sustainable-minded sake production, and last year it released the world’s first...

Our guest is Guy Allen, a sushi blogger based in New York City. Guy fell in love with sushi at a very young age and has been exploring the world of sushi globally since then. You can find his discoveries on Instagram under @thesushiguide. His reviews are so unique and fascinating and his photos are so stunning that he has been invited to dine at great sushi restaurants in Tokyo. In this episode, we will discuss Guy’s diverse experiences at sushi restaurants, his criteria for great sushi,...

Our guest 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 joined us in Episodes 125, 136, 152 and 186 and shared his favorite Japanese chefs and restaurants in the world. Today’s topic is the best Japanese restaurants in the world in 2022. The popularity of Japanese food remains...