Travel + Leisure Asia

Excited to have been tapped by Travel + Leisure Asia to pen a piece on eating in Japan. Great working with my editor, Veronica Inveen, to share with readers insider tips, having worked at both the Park Hyatt Tokyo and Takashimaya, and as the author of Food Sake Tokyo on dining out in Nippon. I hope you can…

Aomori Joppari

Spring break in Tohoku. We started in Aomori. Dinner at this very cool izakaya called Joppari. One wall is lined with sake. Diners sit around a c-shaped counter. The menu has lots of photos and features local Tohoku dishes including harako meshi of salmon and ikura over rice, tsukemono pickles, kara agé fried chicken, scallops…

Park Hyatt Tokyo Kozue’s Tohoku Heroes

Kozue at the Park Hyatt Tokyo is a lovely spot for Japanese cuisine. At lunch if the skies are clear you have a gorgeous view of Mount Fuji. At night the city twinkles below you. Two years ago Kozue did a special Tohoku menu to show their support for three prefectures that were hit hard…

2014 Tsukiji Market Record Tuna by Numbers

This year’s most expensive tuna sold at 7,360,000 JPY or roughly $70,325 US dollars. The tuna weighed about 230 kg. The price per kilogram was about 32,000 JPY or roughly $305 US dollars. The tuna came from Ohma in Aomori prefecture. The tuna was bought by the sushi chain, Sushi Zanmai. Sushi Zanmai has bought…