Out and About with Alice Gordenker: Oki Islands Alice shares of her recent media tour of Oki Islands, just off the coast from Matsue, Japan. 在住外国人メディアと隠岐のトレッキング With foreign media on Nishinoshima, Oki Islands, doing the super-impressive downhill trek from Matengai Cliff past Tsutenkyo Arch to Kuniga Beach, in the company of freely grazing cows and…

Jimbocho Den: Dishes Without Rules…Part I by Mora Chartrand Much has been written about restaurant Jimbocho Den since its 2007 opening by chef-owner Zaiyu Hasegawa, then a 29-year-old unknown. Today, he is no longer unknown. Den is almost always on the must-dine list of those passionate about Japanese cuisine, both from Japan and abroad. In…

Buaisou Indigo by Matt Gross from AirBnB Magazine. Introduction by Mora Chartrand Main Article: Buaisou Indigo from AirBnB magazine, written by Matt Gross If there is one color that epitomizes Japan for me, it is indigo — deep, mystical, midnight blue. The oldest evidence tells us that indigo dyeing first appeared in Japan in the…

The largest gallery space in Tokyo (18000 sq. ft.) was recently home to 300 koinobori (carp streamers) designed by Japan’s Reiko Sudo (founder of Nuno Corporation), one of the world’s leading textile designers where the fabric fish powerfully splashed their way through the exhibit. Sudo had been inspired by the traditional annual event of flying…

A TREE MOVES IN MINATO-KU It’s a matter of priorities.  Minato Ward has its right! Unbeknownst to me, the powers that are in Tokyo’s Minato ward, where many Embassies are located, and many international residents of Tokyo live, decided that the venerable camphor tree in the historic Arisugawa Park needed to be moved.  By chance or…

by Elizabeth Andoh Botanically a fruit, not a vegetable, eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a member of the nightshade family (as is the tomato and potato). Thought to have originated in India thousands of years ago, the Chinese were probably the first to make use of eggplant in a culinary manner. Widely known throughout Asia, eggplant…