Origin– The Land in Every Ingredient –
A food cannot be separated from where it is born. From the mineral water of Kyoto to the cold seas of Hokkaido, we travel to the landscapes that shape Japan's finest ingredients — and meet the people who tend them.
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Where Tea Becomes Itself: The Regional Geography of Japanese Green Tea
Where Tea Becomes Itself: The Regional Geography of Japanese Green Tea The same species of plant, grown fifty kilometers apart, produces two teas so different in flavor they seem to come from different worlds. Japan's tea regions are not simply growing areas. They are distinct expressions of soil, altitude, water, a... -
The Geography of Soba: How Place Shapes a Noodle
The Geography of Soba: How Place Shapes a Noodle Buckwheat grows where rice cannot — in cold highlands, volcanic soils, and mountain villages that have shaped some of Japan's most distinctive regional food cultures. To eat soba is to eat a landscape. Order a bowl of soba in Tokyo and you will receive something quite... -
The Cold Waters of Hokkaido: Where Kombu Begins
The Cold Waters of Hokkaido: Where Kombu Begins Before the dashi, before the soup, before the dish — there is the sea. Japan's kombu culture begins in the cold currents off Hokkaido, where three distinct coastlines produce three entirely different flavors. Pull a strip of dried kombu from its wrapping and hold it up...
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