By Kosuke KujiIn the previous column, we introduced the background that led to the Ginjo sake-sampling event held at the United Nations (UN). To hold the Ginjo sake sampling event at the United Nations headquarters means the invited guests were not local American consumers walking down the streets o...

By Keiko Fukuda “When parents are busy, they are not able to cook meals that require time and effort for children. It may be alright to feed children ...

By Keiko FukudaThe number of ramen restaurants have reached the point of saturation not only in Los Angeles, but also in San Francisco, and New York. Now, Japanese udon noodles have slowly begun to sneak into the market. In September of 2017, MARUGAME-SEIMEN, an udon specialty restaurant chain, land...

By Aya OtaIn the Flatiron District, there is a restaurant known as a modern and sophisticated space where you can enjoy superbly creative washoku and ramen. It is "ROKI Le IZAKAYA". It is also gaining attention as a collaboration of Koji Hagihara, one of the top Japanese chefs in New York, and Keiko...

By Keiko FukudaThere is a restaurant on the first floor of a modern building that stands out facing Melrose Avenue. It is UMEDA, run by Mr. Takuya Umeda who used to be a chef at Matsuhisa, and became independent.There is a pond under the glass floor of the entrance of the restaurant, and the ceiling...

By Aya Ota“WOKUNI”, an innovative restaurant which offers fresh seafood cultivated directly from their own self-operated aqua-farm in Nagasaki, appeared in Midtown in late October, and has become the talk of the town.“I would like to spread the Japanese food culture in which people eat fresh seafood...

By Elli Sekine “AEDAN”’ tent shop in the Saturday Farmer’s Market held in the very popular Ferry Building in San Francisco, which sells fermented food...

By Keiko FukudaI still remember that I almost always ended up choosing “Koto” near the airport for the place to have lunch when I was in Orange County. This Koto has moved from the old location near John Wayne Airport to Fountain Valley now, and is still doing well under the operation of the owner/ ...

By Yuji MatsumotoWhile I’ve written repeatedly in the past about the lack of marketing efforts in branding Japanese sake bottles, it’s very disappointing that most breweries still haven’t implemented my suggestions. Every time a new Japanese sake product is introduced, many manufacturers still use l...

By Aya OtaICHIRAN” is a natural tonkotsu ramen specialty restaurant chain. Their headquarters are in Hakata, in the Fukuoka Prefecture, and has developed 68 restaurants all over Japan. This company claims themselves to be “the preeminent company researching tonkotsu ramen”, and they narrow down to o...