Fabulous Food in Japan

1 min

Japanese cuisine is among the world’s healthiest. In my opinion, it is also among the world’s tastiest! In 2007, while traveling in Japan to lecture and teach, I was fortunate to eat some wonderful, fresh cuisine in a variety of places and settings throughout the country. Photos are by Andre Fasciola.

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While teaching a workshop in the Nagano prefecture, I was invited to pick wonderful, organic strawberries at a local farm. I'm surrounded by scare-eye balloons. Birds are kept at bay because they perceive the bright spots as the eyes of predators.
I'm enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables at the home of Keiichi Ueno, who has translated all of my books into Japanese. He and his wife, Harumi Sugiwara, have a beautiful home and garden in Ito City.
Keiichi and Harumi's dog and I share a love of fine food.
Another wonderful meal: Freshly baked whole-grain bread, rice porridge, fresh-picked strawberries and a cup of green tea.
Close to an old Shinto shrine sits a nagashi somen (flowing noodles) eatery. These are summertime favorites throughout Japan. The noodles were cooked behind a shoji screen, then send down a split-bamboo flume in ice-cold water. The diner's task is to pluck out noodles with chopsticks before they pass.
Fresh-plucked noodles are dipped into tsuyu sauce before eating. Delicious!