Umami Mart

If you’re looking to kick up your soy sauce game to next level umami, we have three extra special shoyu for you to try: Haku Smoked Shoyu, Haku Mizunara Whisky Barrel Aged Shoyu, and Haku Sakura Cherry Blossom Shoyu. All Haku shoyu are made in Kyoto by masters of the craft using age-old techniques. Both Haku Smoked Shoyu […]

When something takes off in Japan, it gets huge. For a hot minute. People have no qualms with waiting in a long line for hours, out in the butt-ass cold, to get their hands on the newest HOT food trend from abroad that they saw on the morning news. Whether it’s bamkuchen, Krispy Kreme donuts, […]

Umami Mart is a place where ideas and people come together, take charge and create magic. This is true for the blog, the online shop, and our brick-and-mortar space in Oakland, CA. When writers, friends, friends of friends, customers, food + drink enthusiasts, and industry folks come to us to collaborate, we put all of our […]

I went to college in the States after I graduated from high school in Japan. I learned how to speak English and how to eat two portions. After a year, I gained 30 pounds. I didn’t feel so guilty when living in the States but I felt horrible every time I went back to Japan […]

A few weeks ago, one of my professors went off on a tangent while lecturing: “I was looking through a text book which read, ‘Japanese are nature-loving people.’ As if other people don’t love nature! I don’t know where you’re from, but many places also have seasonal changes! If you were from Boston, it’s not […]

Conbinis are everywhere in Japan. Lawson, 7-Eleven, AM/PM, Yamazaki Daily, to name a few. You throw a rock, and you would probably hit three conbinis simultaneously. Well, let me tell you, that only happens in urban Japan. I grew up in Wakayama, in the middle of the mountains. The holy Koya mountain is about an […]

*For the next week, we will be celebrating conbini culture on Umami Mart, in preparation for the opening of U-MART on Tuesday 6/25. Check back every day for a new Conbini Cabaret article. Umami for life! -KA The first time in my life I stepped into a conbini (convenience store) in Tokyo was on the evening I […]

Conbini is a shortened word for “convenience” which is referred to when talking about convenience stores in Japan. Littered around on any street corner in most cities, conbinis are like a typical corner store, or bodega — but from the future. They are well-lit, sparkling clean havens stocked with freshly prepared foods to-go, nail clippers, […]

It all started out so innocently, like any of Yoko’s casual ideas: “Why don’t we add a konbini to the back of the store???” A konbini inside Umami Mart?!?!?! This will go onto the wall of Genius Yoko Ideas, on par with: “Why don’t we open an Umami Mart storefront???” (Circa March 2012). This was […]

Up until Tuesday, I had to cross the street to go to nearest combini (convenient store) at work. In Japan, combinis are rampant – and don’t get the bad rap that convenient stores in America get. They sell a wide assortment of lunchables, drinks, magazines, etc. It’s also a great place to make an emergency […]