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Kyoto · Japan
A vermillion hall and arched bridge reflected in a still pond among autumn maples at Daigo-ji, Kyoto
Kyoto · Japan
Autumn at Daigo-ji, the vermillion hall among the maples.

the japan edition · field notes

Japanese Food

Japan's food follows its seasons as closely as its landscape does: a kaiseki menu is rebuilt around the morning's catch and the week's harvest, and a dish set on the table in spring will not appear there again in autumn. This is the writing on what to eat in Japan and why it is timed the way it is, from the dishes that explain the country and the etiquette of a proper sushi counter, to the sake breweries of Kyoto's Nishijin district and the kaiseki kitchens that compose a whole meal, course by course, around what a single morning has brought them. Every one of our tours is built around meals arranged this way, so that what arrives at the table reflects the week you are travelling in, not a fixed menu printed months before.

10 articles
A traditional covered wooden boat moored on a narrow canal thick with fallen cherry blossom petals, blossom branches arching overhead in golden evening lightexperiencesA Cherry Blossom Journey Through JapanA spring journey through Japan is felt as much at the table and in the bath as beneath the branches. The rhythm of the days, and the bamboo shoot, sea bream and firefly squid that mark the season on the plate.the full articleSteam rising through a mountain valley of brilliant red, orange and gold autumn foliageexperiencesAn Autumn Journey Through JapanAn autumn journey through Japan is a change in rhythm as much as a passage through colour: cool mornings, rail windows banded with leaf, evenings that return inward to a ryokan built for the season.the full articleSea urchin still in its spiny shell, grilling over open charcoal flameexperiencesThe Northern Table: Hokkaidō's FoodCold water, open pasture and a short hard summer built a northern kitchen with a character all its own. Crab, urchin, roe, milk and a bowl invented in Sapporo explain how.the full articleA full kaiseki course spread across a black lacquer table, a dozen small dishes in patterned bowls and plates each holding a single composed courseexperiencesKaiseki: the Art of the Seasonal MealKaiseki is Japan's most exact language of seasonal dining, a sequence of small, deliberate courses that read a single month rather than simply feed a guest.the full articleTwo blue and white shinkansen bullet trains with gold trim standing side by side at a station platform beneath an overhead canopyplanningHow to Plan a Japan ItineraryA Japan itinerary succeeds on rhythm rather than coverage, and the country rewards the traveller who builds one rather than a list of famous names.the full articleTraditional wooden sake fermentation vessels beneath a paper shoji window in a dim, steam-filled brewery interiorcultureSake, the Art of NishijinKyoto's most storied sake comes from Fushimi, and everyone who cares about sake knows it. One working brewery, in a neighbourhood famous for something else entirely, still answers a different, older water table.the full articleThree whole matsutake mushrooms resting on cedar sprigs in a wooden boxexperiencesThe Autumn TableJapan's autumn table is a study in ripeness and restraint: matsutake, chestnut, new rice, persimmon and the fish of cooling water, each let alone at the moment it is ready.the full articleMorning light through lattice windows in a traditional wooden onsen bathexperiencesThe First Morning in a RyokanWhat happens in the hour before breakfast, and why it is the hour most guests describe, months later, when asked to name the moment that changed how they thought about Japan.the full articleA sushi chef's hands shaping a piece of fatty tuna nigiri, pressing rice and fish together in the palmexperiencesThe Sushi CounterThe sushi counter is one of Japan's most exact forms of dining, a narrow room where a single piece of rice and fish arrives, is eaten, and is gone before conversation can catch up with it.the full articleA dozen small Japanese dishes in patterned bowls and plates arranged across a black lacquer table, each holding a single composed courseexperiencesWhat to Eat in Japan: Twelve Dishes, and the CostliestTwelve dishes explain Japan more precisely than any monument could, from a Sapporo ramen bowl to the fugu, otoro and Kobe beef that make up the country's most expensive and prized eating, each tied to its own counter, region and month.the full article

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