food Archives - Unseen Japan

Bowls of uncooked white rice and white rice flour with rice stalks, on a bamboo mat.

Traveling Gluten-Free in Japan: What You Need to Know

Traveling to Japan while also wrestling with a gluten allergy? It's tricky but it can be done. Here's what you need to…

Glazed chicken yakitori skewers grilling over glowing charcoal as a hand turns a skewer.

Yakitori in Tokyo: From Cheap Skewers to High-End Grills

All you need to know and more about yakitori: its history, nose-to-tail cooking, and popular chains vs. Tokyo's luxury omakase grills.

A chef in a brown apron, arms crossed, composited over a Nagoya street scene with a silver spherical museum building

FOOD

Celebrity Japanese Chef Says “Nagoya Has No Good Restaurants” – and the City Erupts

A remark from influencer chef Ryuji ignited a firestorm in Nagoya, but there's a lot more than meets the eye to Nagoya's…

INSIDER

Japan Discovered MSG. Why Do Even Some Japanese Call It “Poison”?

MSG has been pilloried for decades in the United States. But Japan's "additive-free" movement has also labeled glutamate's most prominent supporter a…

Illustration of a black bear walking through a village of houses, flanked by two large cuts of meat on the bone

FOOD

Japan’s Bear Crisis Is Putting Bear Meat on the Menu

As bear populations expand and attacks increase, Japan is looking to turn an environmental challenge into a culinary trend with bear meat.

Stone steps lined with weeping cherry blossoms beside shelves of red daruma dolls at Katsuoji Temple

TRAVEL

Minoh: Discover Forest Trails, Temples, and Autumn Colors Beyond Osaka

Tired of the crowds in Osaka City? Enjoy some fresh air, a slower pace of life, and local delicacies in nearby Minoh.

Oversized tamagoyaki nigiri wrapped in nori, held up in front of the JR Shinjuku Station sign

FOOD

I Ate Edo-style Sushi for Less than $10 at a Japanese Train Station

Want to eat sushi like they ate it during the time of the shogun? A shop in Shinjuku Station is offering this…

SOCIETY

Is Japan REALLY Trying to Ban Saying “Itadakimasu” at Schools?

Japan's "War on Christmas" is a viral online claim framed as an attack on Japanese culture. Just one problem: it isn't true.