Food
Sushi from preserved fish to Edo street food; ramen, which is Chinese and became the national dish anyway; dashi and the discovery of umami in 1908; the market at four in the morning and the convenience store at midnight.
Part of Japan
50 moments in this segment.
- - Tsukiji as seen from Shiodome. Tsukiji fish market Tokyo. The Tsukiji fish market as seen from Shiodome
- - Bento at Hanabishi, Koyasan. bento box Japanese meal. Bento Box at Hanabishi, Koyasan. 日々是好日弁当
- - FoodCourt. bento box Japanese meal. makunouchi bentou (lunchbox)
- - Tsukemen, noodles topped with sliced nori. ramen bowl noodles Japan. soak-chinese-noodles,tsuke-men,japan
- - Ganko Ramen, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo (3217609888). ramen bowl noodles Japan. The bone is their trademark. I went in this place, and after having some trouble reading the menu outside, brought in my ticket. I like everything here that is edible, so I just kind of check the price and say a couple Hail Marys and hit a button. I walked in, and sat down
- - Tsukiji fish market 20. Tsukiji fish market Tokyo. Tsukiji fish market
- - Hand-Cut Soba by Yoshiharu Mishima, a Contemporary Master Craftsman. Kyoto soba master Yoshiharu Mishima, third-generation head of Ukiya and a nationally recognised Contemporary Master Craftsman, demonstrates hand-cutting technique.
- - Shop-made bento box. bento box Japanese meal. Shop-made bento box with sausages, korokke, deep fried chicken, and Hinomaru style rice
- - Edomae Anago: A Sushi Documentary. Short documentary following a Ginza sushi chef's preparation of conger eel, one of the defining Edomae toppings requiring long simmering and glazing.
- - Tsuke-men 001. ramen bowl noodles Japan. 埼玉県さいたま市大宮区にある「つけめん102」のつけめん大盛り
- - Tsukemen bowls. ramen bowl noodles Japan. Tsukemen, which is a kind of ramen where the dipping sauce is in a separate bowl (left) from the noodles (right). The noodles are topped with a piece of seaweed and half of a soft-boiled egg.
- - A Day With a Tsukiji Intermediate Wholesaler. Chuo City film made in the market's final years, following a nakaoroshi through a working day at Tsukiji, which supplied Tokyo for roughly eighty years.
- - 4 Chome Koyasumachi, Hachiōji-shi, Tōkyō-to 192-0904, Japan - panoramio (71). izakaya restaurant Japan interior. 4 Chome Koyasumachi, Hachiōji-shi, Tōkyō-to 192-0904, Japan
- - The Future of the Shokunin: Yakitori and Charcoal Grilling. Conversation between Yoshiteru Ikegawa of Torishiki and Kentaro Nakahara of Sumibiyakiniku Nakahara on carrying Japanese craft cooking abroad and what shokunin means.
- - What the Tsukiji-Toyosu Relocation Fight Was Really About. News explainer on the drawn-out move of Tokyo's central wholesale fish market from Tsukiji to Toyosu, with the history of Tsukiji and the role of a central wholesale market.
- - Katsuobushi at a Century-Old Dashi House. Yamaki, a dried-bonito and dashi maker of over a hundred years, shows the making of katsuobushi from raw skipjack to finished block.
- - Chinese-Japanese (C&J) Life style in Dalian series - 2nd Sashimi with Japanese Dancer Doll. sushi sashimi Japanese dish photograph. So many words prepared to describe this picture... but now, my energy and time left few... Sorry, it's much longer than you think... For successfully submiting through phone, I can only say - it's Cishen (Fresh Cuts or Sashami) in Chinese Japanese languages -
- - The Eye of Toyosu. Short film on mekiki, the inherited skill of judging fish quality at the world's largest wholesale market, where some 500 species arrive for Tokyo's restaurants.
- - Takeo Shimura of Tempura Narise, Shizuoka. Profile of the tempura chef who built his restaurant around Suruga Bay seafood and Shizuoka produce, opened in 2007 and now a destination for food critics.
- - Judging Tuna by the Five Senses: Two Toyosu Nakaoroshi. Conversation between two Toyosu tuna intermediate wholesalers on how they assess frozen tuna, read rival bidders and supply restaurants.
- - Beyond the Star: Tokyo's New Three-Star Restaurants. Michelin's own film on the two Tokyo restaurants promoted to three stars in the 2021 guide, including the phone call from Paris and what the chefs aim for next.
- - Developing the Ultimate Cup Noodle. Behind-the-scenes account of how a ramen shop's recipe is translated into an instant cup-noodle product, tracing the industrial side of Japanese ramen.
- - Michelin Guide Tokyo 2022 Star Revelation. Official Michelin ceremony marking fifteen years of the Tokyo guide, running through Bib Gourmand, one-, two- and three-star awards and the new Green Star.
- - How Katsuobushi Is Made. Yaizu katsuobushi cooperative film on the full production of dried bonito: filleting, simmering, repeated smoking and the mould-culturing that yields karebushi, the base of dashi.
- - I Love Sushi: The World of Nigiri-Zushi. Second part of the Japan Foundation series, on the technique and conventions of nigiri sushi as practised today.
- - I Love Sushi: A Tour of Sushi History. Japan Foundation film tracing sushi from its arrival over 1,200 years ago as a preserved-fish technique through regional adaptation to the birth of nigiri in Edo two centuries ago.
- - Flour, Salt and Water: Sanuki Udon by Yoshitaka Yamashita. The owner of the Kagawa udon shop Yoshiya, profiled on the documentary series Jonetsu Tairiku, teaches the kneading, foot-treading and cutting behind kamatama udon.
- - Soba Making at Edo Soba Hosokawa. Takashi Hosokawa of the Michelin-listed Ryogoku soba house demonstrates the full sequence from dough to cutting, boiling and plating.
- - Ekiben at 150 Years of Japanese Railways. Nippon TV report marking the railway's 150th anniversary, with revival editions of historic station bento and long-established makers trying new formats.
- - Inside Kikunoi: A Kyoto Ryotei with 14 Straight Michelin Three-Star Years. Service-hour footage of the kitchen at Kikunoi, the historic Kyoto kaiseki restaurant in Higashiyama, during lunch.
- - Toyosu New Year Auction: 36 Million Yen for One Tuna. Nippon TV coverage of the hatsu-zeri at Toyosu, where a wild bluefin from Oma in Aomori sold for 36.04 million yen, with the wholesaler who won it three years running.
- - A 23-Year-Old Rebuilds the Family Wagyu Herd. NNN Document on Tomoyuki Ikuta in Tottori, whose family ran the prefecture's largest wagyu breeding farm until his father and grandfather died and it closed, and who took up the work anyway.
- - Chuka Soba: The Showa-Era Ramen That Survived. Nippon TV feature on Tokyo shops still serving clear shoyu chuka soba in the pre-war style, one of them run by a third-generation chef refining his grandfather's recipe for over 40 years.
- - The Future of Wagyu: A Former Host Turned Cattle Breeder. TV Asahi Telementary documentary on Iki Fujiyama, who left Kabukicho for wagyu breeding and artificial insemination in Kirishima, Kagoshima, ahead of the five-yearly national wagyu championship.
- - Kikunoi from Prep to Service. Behind the scenes at Kikunoi honten in Kyoto, awarded three Michelin stars for the fifteenth consecutive year in the 2024 guide, from morning prep through lunch service.
- - Why Dashi Tastes Good: The Science of Umami. Ryori Okoku programme analysing three dashi stocks made by chef Hayashi of Tenoshima, breaking down umami scientifically with the Umami Information Center.
- - The Tempura Batter of Tempura Kondo. Master Fumio Kondo breaks down the fundamentals of tempura batter, tools and oil temperature at his two-Michelin-star Ginza counter.
- - Frying Kisu: Edomae Tempura at Tempura Kondo. Fumio Kondo of the Ginza restaurant Tempura Kondo demonstrates filleting and frying whiting in the Edomae style, filmed for a technique series.
- - Michelin Guide Tokyo 2025: 18 Straight Years as the World's Most-Starred City. Coverage of the guide's Tokyo announcement, with 507 listed restaurants, twelve three-star houses, and the French restaurant Sezanne promoted to three stars.
- - The Changing Convenience-Store Onigiri. TBS report from an onigiri factory on how konbini rice balls have shifted away from the hand-rolled nori format toward heavily filled and nori-free shapes, and why.
- - Ramenheads: Inside the Obsession of Japan's Ramen Masters. Feature documentary following Osamu Tomita, repeatedly voted Japan's top ramen chef, through daily prep and the tsukemen craft.
- - Gion Sasaki: Six Consecutive Michelin Three-Star Years. MBS film on Hiroshi Sasaki's Kyoto counter, where eight apprentices support a service staged as a performance around the seasonal ingredients.
- - Old-Style Sushi Shops of Edo: Three Generations Behind the Counter. Nippon TV feature compilation on long-running Tokyo sushi and tempura counters, including a 70-year-old shop run by three generations and a 233-year-old soba house.
- - Sanuki Udon Taught by a Kagawa Craftsman. JA Kagawa demonstration of hand-made udon from flour, salt and water alone, including the foot-treading stage and the new Sanuki no Yume 2023 wheat cultivar bred for udon.
- - The 'Ultimate Ordinary': Why Chan-kei Ramen Draws Queues in a Downturn. Fuji TV documentary segment on the chan-kei ramen boom, built from a development team eating at 1,000 old-guard shops to derive a formula for classic shoyu ramen.
- - Ramen Philosophers: Ginger Soy Sauce Ramen in Nagaoka. UX Niigata documentary series episode following Naoto Sato of Ramen Shoga no Umi, a Nagaoka shop working in the regional ginger-shoyu style.
- - When the Kneader Changes, the Flavour Changes. Full-length profile of Takeshi Murai, an eighteen-year Sanuki udon craftsman at Moriya in Takamatsu, following a working day and his plans for a successor.
- - A 16-Year-Old Sushi Apprentice in 1966 Osaka. ABC TV archive feature built on 1966 footage of Kuniaki Yoshida training at Sushiman, a long-established Osaka sushi house, rising at 4am to cook rice over firewood.
- - An 86-Year-Old Tempura Master and the Third Generation. Shizuoka Asahi TV report on Tenkin in Hamamatsu, founded 55 years ago, where the founder still tests oil with his fingers and a grandson abandoned a job offer to take over.
- - Debating foreign workers: a soba chain where a third of staff are foreign. ABEMA Prime panel on Japan's acceptance of foreign labour, with the head of the Yudetaro noodle chain, an immigration recruiter and commentators discussing wages and shortages.