Umami is synonymous with Japan in many ways, in everything from their cuisine to their tea ceremonies, but there’s no reason the illusive ‘fifth taste’ can’t be produced in other countries too. This was exactly the thought that struck journalist Nina Gruntowski one day, when she discovered that green tea…

As part of our deep dive into Japan, Luxeat has the joy of meeting with a Japanese ceramics legend to better understand the history and importance of cups, plates and bowls across the nation. Robert Yellin is an American Japanese ceramics specialist who has been living in Japan since 1984.…

As part of a special issue about rice, we talk with Kayama San, who comes from five generations of ancestral Japanese farmers in Northern Kyoto. Beyond continuing the family legacy, he feels a sense of mission and purpose in protecting Japanese food culture, as well as helping maintain the beautiful…

Chef Kunio Tokuoka has been working in the kitchens of KITCHO, the legendary Japanese haute cuisine restaurant for close to 40 years and is now running the show. He follows in the hefty footsteps of his grandfather the founder of KITCHO Teiichi Yuki. Born in 1960, Kunio Tokuoka has brought…

James Beard Award winner, Nancy Singleton Hachisu is an expert of unique and authentic Japanese cuisine. Born and raised in California, she first went to Japan over 32-years ago where she now lives on a farm with her Japanese husband and their family. On a quest to advocate for Japan’s…

Author of Food, Sake, Tokyo, an exploration of Tokyo’s food scene, Yukari Sakamoto is on a mission to demystify Japanese cuisine. Trained at the French Culinary Institute and the American Sommelier Association, she also passed the rigorous exam to become a certified shochu adviser. She teaches classes on food, wine,…

Dining out in Tokyo doesn’t always adhere to Western expectations. The customer is not always right and sometimes not always welcome. There are secret spots from the old-world kissaten coffee shops where you can still find people smoking, to restaurants with no-signage that operate on the second floor of a…

Hidden in an ordinary residential street in Tokyo’ Shinjuku ward, Ken’s Cafémakes the most extraordinary gâteau au chocolat in Japan and the best-molten chocolate cake I’ve ever had. It is also the most difficult to get too. If you buy it directly from the shop where it’s made, the waiting…

To see my full article in collaboration with All Nippon Airways please go here. Japanese ceramics expert and gallerist Robert Yellin once told me that “ceramics are like living creatures”. Indeed, when on one late autumn afternoon I was walking around his Yakimono gallery in Kyoto, located in an old…

When Tea Ceremony first came to Japan, it was elaborate and “Chinese Oriented”, but everything changed with the introduction of “Wabi” by Zen monk Murata Juko, who introduced simple and rustic aesthetics vs the richness and elegance of the Chinese arts. Like Alex Kerr writes in his brilliant book “Another…