Umami Mart

Despite being in the U.S. for nearly 30+ years, Japanese cuisine instantaneously conjures up the word “raw.” Sushi has proved itself the winner despite criticism ranging from “this is unsanitary,” to, “I am ingesting unsafe levels of mercury,” to, “This is just plain gross, slimy and/or stinky.” Japanese food and sushi have virtually become synonymous […]

I am home in Berkeley after taking a week-long road trip through the American southwest with fellow Umamimart writer Anders, bookended by a five-day trip in NYC. I am so excited to be back in my own kitchen that I’ve stocked up on everything from soft shell crab to chicken thighs for curry. But those […]

I used to be amused by the number of Kewpie mayonnaise tubes my 85 year-old grandma had stashed in her packed fridge in Tokyo. I would visit her house every few months to clean out her fridge. She would forget that she already had certain condiments and kept buying them because they would get buried […]

My colleague Kristen who produces videos for Japan Society’s Youtube channel, asked me if I knew of any onigiri (rice balls) shops since they wanted to showcase them in an upcoming video. I thought, “How about I teach how to make onigiri in the video?” That’s how this project started. I had a lot of […]

Mottainai is said in Japan when something perfectly usable is abandoned or sent to the trashcan. In the past ten years, Japan has seen a trend in awareness regarding waste and reusing whenever possible. It’s ironic that this has become a trend because the idea of reuse goes way back and is intrinsic to Japanese […]

Halloween’s only a few days away and many of you still haven’t bought or made your costume, or worst yet, haven’t even figured out what you’ll be dressing up as.  Unfortunately I can’t help you in that department. However where I can be of assistance is in figuring out what to serve at your party–or […]

A butsudan is a shrine memorializing dead relatives in homes of Japanese Buddhists. Although I am not Buddhist, this butsudan set up that I received from my Buddhist grandma is hands-down one of the best things someone has given me. It gives me a place to say hello to my dad every morning and vent […]

By Yoko Kumano Originally posted on September 9, 2010 My mom used to pack rice balls for me as an elementary school kid for lunch way before the sushi craze swept the nation and way before there were sightings of Alice Waters toting around onigiri. Having these balls of rice wrapped in “black stuff” was […]

My in-laws visited from Tokyo last week. I think my mother-in-law thinks that there are no Japanese products available in the states and brought us half a suitcase-full of food. Poor, unfortunate Americans. Turns out that half of the stuff she brought for us is available in the U.S. including Nagatanien‘s Otona-no Furikake, or rice […]

My mom used to pack rice balls for me as an elementary school kid for lunch way before the sushi craze swept the nation and way before there were sightings of Alice Waters toting around onigiri. Having these balls of rice wrapped in “black stuff” was actually a source of shame and anxiety for me […]