Our guest is Yarrow Lazer-Smith, a.k.a. Yarrow Slaps who is a visual artist and hip-hop musician as well as the co-director of SWIM Gallery in San Francisco.    

Yarrow recently published “Ramen Forever – An Artist’s Guide to Ramen”.  There are many ramen-themed books, but this is definitely one the most intriguing and cool ones you can find.  It is packed with inspiring interviews with ramen-lover artists, tons of fun illustrations, amusing photos and novel recipes.  

The book is a proof of how ramen has become universally popular.  20 years ago, who would have expected that such a casual, accessible form of Japanese cuisine will appeal to a global audience!

In this episode, we will discuss Yarrow’s unique life perspective as an artist, how the cool painter and hip-hop musician got into ramen, what is common between art and ramen and much, much more!!

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Our guest is Hannah Kirshner who is the author of “WATER, WOOD, AND WILD THINGS”, which just came out on March 23, 2021 from Viking.

Hannah has a lot of intriguing experiences in Japan. For example, she has worked as a bartender and as well as a kurabito, or sake brewer’s assistant, in the beautiful rural area of Ishikawa Prefecture called Yamanaka.  Now she calls it her second home.

In her new book, Hannah insightfully describes Japanese traditional culture as well as how it is being revised by artisans in Yamanaka.

In this episode, we will discuss how Hannah got into Japanese culture and ended up living in Japan, the charm of rural Japan like Yamanaka, the area's inspirational artisans she has worked with and much, much more!!! 

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Our guest is Brian Ashcraft who is a senior writer for the video gaming site Kotaku and a columnist for The Japan Times.  He is also the author of the 6 fascinating books including: The Japanese Sake Bible, Japanese Whisky, Japanese Tattoos and Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool.  

Brian has lived in Osaka since 2001.  Throughout the two decades, he has insightfully observed and reported the uniqueness of Japanese culture to the world in English.  

In this episode, we will discuss how Brian ended up becoming a prolific writer and journalist specialized in Japanese culture, his insight into various aspects of Japanese culture including sake, whisky, tattoos, schoolgirls and much much more!!! 

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Our guest is Merry White who is the author of Coffee Life in Japan, an absolutely insightful and fascinating book about Japanese coffee as well as unique Japanese culture and society.  Merry also teaches courses on various topics including Japan, food anthropology, and urban anthropology at Boston University.

Japanese people started drinking coffee fairly recently compared to their centuries-old custom of tea drinking, but Japan is the number five importer of coffee beans as of 2021.  Also, over the last century Japan has developed a remarkably unique coffee shop culture.  For example, you may have heard the word Kissaten, which is a distinctive style of coffee shop.  

In this episode, we will discuss why Merry got into Japanese coffee culture, how Japanese coffee culture differs from the rest of the world, what functions coffee shops perform uniquely in Japanese society, the concept of Kissaten and much, much more! 

Image courtesy of Standart Magazine.

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Our guest is Danny Taing who is the founder of Bokksu.  

Bokksu means box in Japanese.  His company Bokksu delivers to your door the experience of tasting authentic Japanese snacks, candies, and teas sourced directly from generations-old small family businesses.  

If you visit Japan, you will instantly know that Japanese people are quite obsessed with both savory and sweet snacks.  Elaborately packaged products are ubiquitous and you can easily get addicted to them.  

In this episode, we will discuss how Danny got into Japanese snacks, why he decided to start a business to deliver them to your door outside Japan, unique Japanese snacks, artisanal producers he works with and much, much more!!!

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Our guest is Andrew Centofante who is the co-owner and head brewer of North American Sake Brewery in Charlottesville, Virgina, which opened in 2018.  It is Virginia’s first and only sake brewery.  

Despite its short history, the brewery has won the silver and bronze medals at the 2020 World Sake Challenge for its classic-style sake.  But Andrew also makes highly imaginative sake as well.  

In this episode, we will discuss how Andrew got into Japanese sake, challenges in opening a sake brewery in Virginia, his innovative philosophy of sake production and much, much more!!!

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Our guest today is Ian Chun who is the owner of Japanese online tea shop and community Yunomi.life.  

The website is not just selling tea but highly inspirational and educational about Japanese tea and the underlying unique Japanese culture.  

For example, you can meet tea producers on the designated webpage, which tells you each vendor’s detailed history, tea fields and manufacturing philosophy with beautiful images and videos.  

In this episode, we will discuss how Ian got into Japanese tea, his philosophy of connecting people through tea, benefits of drinking Japanese tea, how to enjoy Japanese tea at home and much, much more!!!

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Our my guests are Marc Matsumoto & Maki Ogawa.  Marc and Maki host a popular English cooking show called BENTO EXPO produced by NHK, the national public broadcaster of Japan.  

They teach a global audience how to make great bento boxes.  The show is so popular that it is now in the fifth season.  

Also, Marc and Maki recently published a fascinating cookbook about Japanese-style bento called “Ultimate Bento – Healthy, Delicious and Affordable 85 mix-and-match Bento Box Recipes.”  In addition to 85 recipes, there are useful tips about how to pack a bento box with step-by-step images, food safety, useful gadgets et cetera.  

In this episode, we will discuss why Japanese bento is unique, why Bento so is important in Japanese culture, how to make delicious and nutritious bento boxes and much, much more! 

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Our guest is Atsushi Numata who is the chef and owner of Ni Japanese Deli at the Essex Market in the Lower East Side, Manhattan.  

Ni Japanese Deli is unique because all the food he sells is very healthy and allergen-free.  He opened the deli in 2012 inspired by his newborn baby who suffered from a lot of allergies.  

In this episode, we will discuss Atsushi’s intriguing childhood of growing up in a restaurant family, how his music career shifted to cooking, how he makes delicious allergen-free dishes and much, much more! 

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!

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Our guest is Sachiko Nakamichi who is the co-owner of Beniya Mukayu in Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture.  Beniya Mukayu is a beautiful boutique hotel located in the famous hot spring area Yamashiro.  There are many hotels in the area but Mukayu is truly distinctive.  It has earned multiple accolades including the member status of Relais & Châteaux, which is regarded as the best of the best in the world of hospitality.  Not only that Mukayu was awarded the welcome trophy by Relais & Châteaux for its outstanding level of service.  

But the success did not happen overnight.  When Sachiko joined the hotel in 1988, it was a mediocre, mass market-oriented place to stay.  

In this episode, we will discuss why Sachiko got involved in the hotel business, how she miraculously transformed the unremarkable hotel to the world class house of hospitality, the concept of the Japanese style hospitality ""Omotenashi""  and much, much more!!!  

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