The Journal
Michelin, lineage, and how Japan's restaurants take bookings
Field notes from our Tokyo desk — who is actually reachable and how, the histories behind the counters, and the realistic way in. Written by the people who make these calls every day.
18 articles
Ingredients & Seasons
Koji and the Fermented Backbone of Japanese Food
Nearly everything that makes Japanese food taste Japanese passes through fermentation, most of it through koji, the mold Aspergillus oryzae, named Japan's national fungus by the Brewing Society of Japan in 2006. Koji drives sake, miso, soy sauce and mirin; natto, pickles, katsuobushi and funazushi complete the picture. Breweries, miso houses and a few restaurants serve it at the source.
Ingredients & Seasons
Umami and Dashi: The Science of Japan's Fifth Taste
Umami — the savory fifth taste — was identified in 1908 by Tokyo chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who isolated glutamate from kombu dashi and coined the word. Dashi, Japanese cuisine's base stock, is a precision umami extraction: kombu kelp contributes glutamate, katsuobushi (smoked, mold-ripened bonito flakes) contributes inosinate, and the two compounds multiply each other's perceived intensity several times over — the…
Ingredients & Seasons
Kobe vs Matsusaka vs Omi: Japan's Wagyu Brands Compared
Wagyu brands are regional certifications layered on top of the national grading system: Kobe beef is Tajima-strain cattle from Hyogo passing strict marbling criteria; Matsusaka fattens virgin females with legendary patience in Mie; Omi, from Shiga, is the oldest brand with four centuries of history. Hundreds of others — Hida, Yonezawa, Miyazaki, Saga — compete at the same level, and blind tastings regularly scramble…
Ingredients & Seasons
Sake for Beginners: How to Read the Label and Order Well
Sake labels encode two questions: how far the rice was polished, and whether brewer's alcohol was added. Ginjo means 60 percent or less of the grain remains, daiginjo 50 percent; junmai means rice, water, koji and yeast only. Temperature is a tool, not a rank. In a restaurant, state a preference, ask for the local bottle, and trust the counter.
Ingredients & Seasons
Japan's Regional Hot Pots: Anko, Boar, Loach and Horse
Tokyo's oldest restaurants are hot pot houses, not sushi counters. Anglerfish in Kanda since 1830, wild boar at Ryogoku since 1718, loach in Asakusa, horse at the old Yoshiwara gate, beef in Yokohama since 1868. Most run November to March, and most of them book by Japanese telephone.
Ingredients & Seasons
Fugu Season: Eating Japan's Pufferfish, Safely and Well
Fugu is eaten in winter — roughly November through February, when torafugu is at its best and shirako appears — and it is the most tightly regulated food in Japan: only licensed chefs may prepare it, and restaurant fugu has an essentially unblemished modern safety record. A classic course runs tessa (paper-thin sashimi), tecchiri (hotpot), karaage, grilled shirako and hire-zake. Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi is the fugu…
Ingredients & Seasons
Japan's Crab Season: Kobako, Echizen, Matsuba and Where to Eat Them
Japan's snow-crab (zuwai-gani) fishery on the Sea of Japan opens each year on November 6. Males — sold under regional brands like echizen-gani (Fukui), kano-gani (Kanazawa) and matsuba-gani (San'in) — run through roughly March; the small female kobako-gani, packed with roe, is legal only until late December, making it one of the shortest and most fanatically awaited seasons in Japanese food. The Hokuriku coast…
Ingredients & Seasons
Sanma: Japan's Autumn Saury and Where to Eat It
Sanma (Pacific saury) is Japan's defining autumn fish, in season roughly September through November as the schools run south past Hokkaido and the Sanriku coast. The classic preparation is shioyaki — the whole fish salt-grilled, eaten innards and all, with grated daikon, sudachi and soy — a dish so beloved it has its own rakugo story and Tokyo festivals. Catches have fallen sharply over the past decade, turning a…
Ingredients & Seasons
Hamo: Kyoto's Summer Pike Conger and the Bone-Cutting Knife
Hamo is the daggertooth pike conger, Kyoto's defining summer fish. Its first season opens around June and runs through high summer, with a second window in autumn. Fine intramuscular bones make honekiri — scoring the flesh without cutting the skin — essential. Eat it as hamo otoshi with plum sauce in Kyoto and Osaka.
Ingredients & Seasons
Unagi and the Day of the Ox: Japan's Summer Eel Tradition
Doyo no ushi no hi is Japan's midsummer Day of the Ox, when the country eats grilled eel; in 2026 it fell on Sunday 26 July, with no second ox day. Kanto steams its back-split eel, Kansai grills belly-split fish straight over charcoal. Book outside the July crush.
Ingredients & Seasons
Ayu: The Summer Sweetfish of Japan's Rivers — and Where to Eat It
Ayu, or sweetfish, is Japan's defining summer river fish, in season from the June fishing opening through high summer. The classic preparation is shioyaki — salt-grilled whole over charcoal, eaten with tade-su water-pepper vinegar. Find it in kaiseki houses and riverside ryotei, or watch cormorant fishing on the Nagara River.
Ingredients & Seasons
Kanburi: Winter Yellowtail and Where to Find It
Kanburi is wild yellowtail (buri) caught in the cold of winter, when the fish carries its heaviest, richest fat. Its season peaks from roughly December through February. Toyama Bay and the wider Hokuriku coast on the Sea of Japan are its most famous source, where it is eaten as sashimi, sushi, seared, and in the classic hot pot buri-shabu. Winter fat is what separates kanburi from ordinary yellowtail.