To me, Shizuoka is a place I come to go surfing or meet up with friends. But this time I wasn’t looking for waves, but delicious ingredients for a sandwich while cruising on a bicycle. And the ingredients of this sandwich? Fresh sakura shrimp and pickled wasabi! (Japanese horseradish) Can you really put that on a sandwich? What a fantastic challenge! As I ride through the Shizuoka countryside my mind [...]

A vast field of vinegar-filled clay pots with a magnificient view across the sea towards Sakurajima Island; shochu distilled tenerdly by hand the old-fashioned way in earthenware pots; free-roaming free range chickens untouched by antibiotics or pharmaceuticals- the foods we ‘discovered’ in Kagoshima all shared a deliciously natural taste. Each producer we met was passionate about creating the [...]

When you bite into one of Akinori Kimura’s apples, the delicious flavor permeates your whole body, like a sip of virgin spring water. But the most incredible thing was how many times we encountered this same sensation: when trying local vegetables and meats; when eating a simple ramen at a local eatery; and from the breath of the wind as we took in the views from the foot of Mt. Iwaki. This was a trip [...]

A renowned chef pedals through a local town, afterwards creating a sandwich inspired by the local countryside and the people and produce she encountered along the way- it’s called the Tour de Sandwich. The first Tour de Sandwich took place in the hilly seaside town of Onomichi, with views stretching across the Inland Sea of Japan.
Pushing the pedals on this tour were renowned chef, Hisae [...]