Umami Mart

In Junichiro Tanizaki’s celebrated novel, The Makioka Sisters (or Sasameyuki (細雪), loosely translated as ‘light snow’ or ‘a flurry of snow’–titles in translations are always so different but I guess it’s as much about nuance as meaning), the four Makioka sisters, Tsuruko, Sachiko, Yukiko and Taeko, all born and bred in Osaka, take a trip […]

Go to any sushi restaurant in Japan and notice that “ikura” or salmon roe, is either written in katakana or hiragana. I was curious as to why it was often written in katakana–the alphabet designated to loanwords. I asked the master at Sushi Danran about this curiosity. He told me that “ikura” イクラ comes from […]

When I first moved to Studio City earlier this year, my friend Trevor greeted me with “Welcome to the city of sushi joints and bong shops.” And I thought to myself, “Heaven?”  I kid, kind of.  According to Yelp.com there’s about 63 places to eat sushi in the 7.11 square miles that is Studio City.  […]

Just in at Sushi Kuni (my pop’s restaurant): RAW OCTOPUS (nama dako)! Kuni ordered this long, spindly tentacled arm last week straight from Tsukiji market. It was over three feet long, with a gorgeous purple-pink tone. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but there’s something oddly sexy about it. Kuni lightly blanches it, […]

Sometimes when I’m lazy, I order delivery. And sometimes when I’m lazy, it will be during the middle of the day. When these powers combine, I seek comfort in the lunch special. KHAO SARN My love affair with Thai food began in 2001, when I first tried pad thai and since then, has blossomed into […]

Hakodate is famous for its fresh seafood, so eating sushi was necessary. Being total newbies to the area, we chose a sushi restaurant that was listed in our JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) guide magazine. About a 10 minute walk from Hakodate JR Station, Oujousushi is located on a desolate stretch of road next to a […]

I took a much-needed trip back home to California in May for two weeks. I risked contracting the swine flu to indulge in my second passion after eating – photography with my grandma’s 1970s Nikon EM film camera.I love taking photos of food in Tokyo, but there’s something about the California sun that saturates food […]

In an ultra-postmodern city such as Tokyo, where sign and meaning are often so far gone from each other, it seems fitting that a cuisine such as American Sushi finds its way “back.” Many visitors from America who come to Japan are often surprised to find out that the sushi rolls we see in the […]

Eating while walking, talking, driving, computing and making love. Most Americans have done many or all of these things. Hopefully not simultaneously. Eating while standing in one place, however, is something that Americans don’t do on a regular basis… yet. Enter Tokyo, and the prevalence of stand-up dining, or tachigui. Step off most any train […]

Just before Christmas of 2007, Tyson and I went to Kanoyama for a holiday dinner. Having read about the restaurant in various online forums, we were interested in trying out a new sushi place… but mostly, we were looking forward to trying the bluefin tuna rib, or nakaochi. We recently returned to Kanoyama, following its […]