Umami Mart

I sometimes wonder whether my generation (of 1979) will explode in a green toxic waste cloud when we turn 40. Raised throughout the 1980’s on a chemical food diet consisting of added preservatives, taste perfumes and E-numbers galore, our bodies have grown up in dirty soil and now there’s no way back (check the latest […]

I love food with personality. And I have the feeling it loves me back– especially in Japan. Working as a character designer, I’m a junkie for Japanese packaging which more than usual sports a happy face, a friendly helper or just an enormous surplus of humour and fun which we boring, sad people of the […]

Why do all mothers pack their fridge so much? You might remember Kayoko’s mother’s fridge that took her three posts to dig up, and my mom’s fridge was just as packed. Is it the war they experienced that makes them keep everything, even the tiniest bit?  In Japan, the “mottainai” (“it’s a shame to throw […]

On New Year’s Eve in Japan, my mama came home with this box. This looks exactly like an Asian cake box, right? I thought, from the shape, this was probably a log cake or something. Very celebratory color and pattern on the box. Must be something for the new year, I thought. But something shiny […]

Osechi is traditional new year’s food, and one of the most significant meals of the year in Japan. Back in the old days, when women were supposed to serve the men in the family, the first three days of the new year was the only time they didn’t have to cook. Although Japanese men were […]

I have five more days in Tokyo. I am filling up on soba, genmai cereal and tan-tan men every opportunity I get. My dad always said, “Japan will always be around, America will always be around.” So I am not totally distraught — comforted by the fact that the noodles, sashimi and oolong-hais in Tokyo […]

Happy New Year everyone! This year’s resolution for me is to try to post more since I’ve been pretty lazy for some time now. I went home last month, and found a couple of interesting items that hasn’t been posted by Yoko in Tokyo JUNKtion. 1.) Fanta World, BIG APPLE, Limited Edition. Fanta is widely […]

Update May 10, 2012: This location has since closed.  Shimokitazawa is hands down my favorite part of Tokyo. It’s teeming with youth and the elderly, shopping for knick knacks in a part of Tokyo that has no high-rise buildings — preserving a quaintness that is absent in the major hubs of the city like Shibuya […]

I went to visit my dad’s grave yesterday and on my way there, we had to transfer trains at an adorable little station, Surugaoyama in Yamanashi Prefecture, at the foot of Mt. Fuji. At the kiosk, I spotted a snack named “Unagi Bone” made by Ichimaru foods. I loved the retro packaging and that there […]

Will it be shoyu? Miso? Tonkotsu? 大もり= Oomori = Super Size Me? Side of fried rice? Gyoza? An extra egg? Extra slices of roast pork? Choose button carefully– there’s no turning back! Drop your yen into the machine and the ticket will print with your order. Take ticket to the dude behind the counter, who […]