Japan Eats!

Our guest is Blake Richardson who is the president and owner of Moto-i in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Moto-i opened as a sake brewery and brewpub in 2008. There are around 20 craft sake breweries in the U.S. now, but when Blake started Moto-i, there was not much information available about Japanese sake in English, not to mention other craft breweries to learn from. Blake also runs a sake rice milling company called Minnesota Rice and Milling, which is important for American sake brewers, considering difficulties in getting premium sake rice in the U.S. In this episode, we will discuss why Blake decided to open a sake brewery in Minneapolis, how he studied sake production, his sake-making philosophy, why he started the sake rice milling business, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Mehdi Alexandre Medhaffar, who is a kurabito, or a brewmaster’s support, at Terada Honke in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. Mehdi is Franco-Tunisian and he has made sake at five breweries in Japan for the last 8 years. Terada Honke is distinctively unique and known for its strong focus on natural sake-making. Here, we are not talking about a natural-oriented brewing style but a never-ending pursuit of minimum intervention to maximize the power of nature. The brewery was founded 349 years ago but its philosophy shifted towards natural fairly recently. 　In this episode, we will discuss why Mehdi decided to pursue his career in sake-making, why Terada Honke chose to become a natural sake brewer, its mind-blowingly unique sake, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

japan, japanese, japanese food, japanese cuisine, washoku, Japanese culture, japan eats!, Rintaro, Izakaya, sylvan Mishima Brackett, akiko katayama, heritage radio network, food radioOur guest is Sylvan Mishima Brackett, who is the chef and owner of Izakaya Rintaro in San Francisco’s Mission district. Shortly after its opening in 2014, Rintaro was included in Bon Appetit magazine’s Top 10 New Restaurant list and has been beloved by many diners for the last 8 years. Born in Japan and raised in California, Sylvan has a unique and beautifully balanced approach to Japanese food culture. He also worked for the iconic American chef Alice Waters for years who has deeply influenced his view of food. In this episode, we will discuss why the son of a Japanese temple carpenter decided to become a chef, Sylvan’s apprenticeship at traditional restaurants in Japan, how he integrates Japanese and American food cultures at his restaurant Rintaro, his favorite Japanese kitchen equipment, and much, much more!!!Are you a business owner? Become an HRN business member! For $500 HRN will shine a light on your work AND you will help sustain our mission to expand the way people think about food. As a thank you for this tax-deductible donation, your business will receive on-air mentions, social media posts, listings on our website and more. Go to heritageradionetwork.org/biz to become a business member todayHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Marcin Miller who is the founding partner of the Kyoto Distillery in Japan. The distillery is the maker of the award-winning beautiful Japanese-style craft gin called KI NO BI. Before he co-founded the Kyoto Distillery in 2014, Marcin has been in the spirits industry for a long time as a writer, importer, distributor and consultant. Until very recently, no one would have expected that Japanese-made gin would become popular nationally as well as globally, but the Kyoto Distillery initiated the current Japanese gin boom. Marcin and his business partners David and Noriko Croll launched KI NO BI in October 2016 and popular brands like Roku, Sui, Nikka Coffey and other craft labels quickly followed. As a result, in 2020, the sales of Japanese gin exceeded those of imported brands in the country.In this episode, we will discuss why the British spirit writer ended up starting a distillery in Kyoto, what is special about Japanese-style gin, why the terroir of Kyoto can produce a unique gin, the latest and the future of Japanese-style gin and much, much more!!!Are you a business owner? Become an HRN business member! For $500 HRN will shine a light on your work AND you will help sustain our mission to expand the way people think about food. As a thank you for this tax-deductible donation, your business will receive on-air mentions, social media posts, listings on our website and more. Go to heritageradionetwork.org/biz to become a business member today.Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Bob Florence, who is the founder of Moromi based in Connecticut. At Moromi, Bob produces hand-crafted, small-batch Japanese-style fermented products such as shoyu, miso, hot sauces, and other condiments.Bob studied how to make authentic Japanese fermented products in Japan and uniquely integrate the Japanese tradition and local flavors of coastal Connecticut. In this episode, we will discuss how an industrial chemist became an artisanal food producer, why Japanese-style fermentation is distinctively unique, how Bob learned Japanese-style fermentation, different types of Japanese soy sauces Bob makes, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Ken Suzuki, the founder of the Suzuki Farm in Delaware, which opened in 1983. In the last 39 years, Ken has devoted himself to introducing native Japanese vegetables and fruits to America. He and his team grow a variety of Japanese produce on their 28-acre land and harvest more than 30 kinds of crops throughout the year. I have been hearing about Suzuki Farm through Japanese and non-Japanese chefs who look for the uniquely delicate flavors of Japanese vegetables. In this episode, we will discuss why Japanese-born Ken Suzuki decided to farm in the US, what kinds of Japanese crops he grows, how unique and special they are, how you can use them in your kitchen, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Takashi Miyazaki, who is the chef/owner of ichigo ichie in Cork, Ireland. Takashi moved to Ireland in 2008 where Japanese food was yet to be more deeply discovered. Also, he was met by the global financial crisis shortly after his arrival in Ireland. After going through numerous challenges, he fell in love with Cork, a small city in the south-western part of the country, and opened a kaiseki restaurant called ichigo ichie in 2018. The restaurant became a huge success and earned a Michelin star only 6 months after its opening. In this episode, we will discuss why Takashi ended up moving to Ireland, why he fell in love with Cork, his philosophy of cooking Japanese food outside Japan, how he effectively utilizes Irish ingredients to cook authentic Japanese cuisine, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Genki Ito, who is the founder of Tippsy Sake, an online store that specializes in Japanese sake, based in California. Japanese sake has been increasingly popular globally in recent years and the US is one of the most promising markets for the sake industry. For example, between 2011 to 2021, the value of Japanese sake export to the US tripled, and its quantity doubled, according to the Japanese government’s statistics. In other words, Americans are drinking not only more sake but also higher-quality sake than 10 years ago. But if you live in America, you normally have to go to Japanese restaurants to discover great sake, partly because your local liquor shop doesn’t carry good enough sake for you (or sells no sake at all), or the store does not have anyone who can give you solid advice on which one to buy.Tipssy Sake is a nice solution for the problem by making Japanese sake more readily available to everyone from sake novices to connoisseurs. In this episode, we will discuss how Genki’s unique background led him to come up with the successful business concept, what types of Japanese sake people are drinking right now in America, how COVID-19 dramatically boosted Tippsy Sake’s business, and much, much more!!!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Makiko Harada, who is a salt specialist and the owner of Glamsalt, a salt shop based in the Hudson Valley, New York. She opened Glamsalt in 2012 and now has numerous famous chef clients who adore her products, including those at Sushi Nakazawa, Sushi Yasuda, and Hatsuhana. Makiko is known for her extremely high-quality, unique products, and the awe and respect for salt in Japanese culture underlie her business approach. In this episode, we will discuss how Makiko got into salt, the importance of salt in Japanese culture, why salt can taste so diversely different, depending on the origin, how her top chef clients choose a specific type of salt, and much, much more!!! Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is Whit Johnson who is the co-founder of Horyzon Spirits based in Atlanta, Georgia. Whit founded Hryzon Spirits in April 2021 to produce very unique products that blend Japanese tradition and American terroir. More specifically, he chose to use Japanese koji mold, which is the foundational ingredient of Japanese cuisine, to produce his spirits instead of malts. Also, he uses Carolina Gold rice, which reflects the rich history of American South agriculture. It is very exciting to see how the two cultures are beautifully merged in his products. In this episode, we will discuss how Whit got into the spirit industry after his successful career in an entirely different industry, the difference between koji and malt-based fermentation, how a traditional Southern American rice naturally merges Japanese traditional koji, and much, much more!!!  Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.