Japan Retail News - Inside consuming Japan - Trends, Products, People, Tech - Market Entry Japan
  • Japan Retail News - Home
  • Japan's Retail Market
    • Japan Business Links
    • JapanTV ads (CM) >
      • JapanTVads-Food
      • JapanTVads-Refresh
      • JapanTVads-Beauty
      • JapanTVads-Fashion
      • JapanTVads-HighTech
      • JapanTVads-Cars
      • JapanTVads-Service
  • Japan Market Reports
    • List Japan Market Reports
    • Doing Business with Japanese
    • EyeWear Japan
    • Kitchen Market Japan
    • Solar Market Japan
    • Furniture & Interior Market Japan
    • Retail & Consumer Goods Japan
    • Cosmetics Market Japan
    • Machinery & Tools Japan
    • Semiconductor Market Japan
    • Automotive & Suppliers Japan
    • Automotive Aftermarket & Autoparts Japan
    • Luggage Market Europe
  • Japan Market Entry Services
  • About JRN
    • Contact

Japanese Food Wins over Foreign Epicures

1/16/2012

 
Picture
_Locally produced foodstuffs also have been "rediscovered" by Japanese and this has helped people regain the confidence they lost in the face of the devastation caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, many non-Japanese are knocking on Japan's door to learn the skills of local chefs.

Picture
_Derek Wilcox, a 35-year-old American, is one of 20 chefs at Kikunoi Honten, a Kyoto restaurant founded in 1912 that serves such seasonal delicacies as sashimi made from tilefish and crab meat. He has worked at the restaurant for five years.

Wilcox, who arrived in Japan after graduating from a cooking school in New York State, decided to seek work at Kikunoi Honten after tasting "amadai no kabura-mushi"--a steamed dish of tilefish with grated kabu radish--one winter at the restaurant.

Wilcox said: "The dish extracted the gentle sweetness and complex taste from the radish. The dish was not only tasty but warmed my heart. "I felt shocked, rather than impressed. In the United States, sophisticated dishes like this don't exist."

Since then, he has learned to cook food very carefully, making sure it is arranged on dishes properly. He pays particular attention to seasonal elements. "In the future, I want to open my own restaurant in the United States and introduce the cooking skills and hospitality of the Japanese," he said. Kikunoi Honten owner Yoshihiro Murata, 60, said his restaurant has received an increasing number of inquiries from non-Japanese who want to learn Japanese cooking. In the past two or three years, about 10 cooks from Italy, Spain and other countries have visited Kikunoi Honten.

Picture
__"Japanese words such as 'umami' and 'dashi' have become commonplace among cooks in Western countries," Murata said. "As an increasing number of people have become more health-conscious, the greater the chef's skills, the more enthusiastically they study low-calorie Japanese cuisine using dashi of dried kelp and katsuobushi [bonito fish flakes]."

Many students from other Asian countries learn Japanese cooking at Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka. The number has soared from five in fiscal 2007 to 54 in fiscal 2011. Lin Iku-shu, a 27-year-old from Taiwan, said:

"Taiwan people are extremely interested in Japanese culture. Japanese restaurants and izakaya pubs are popular." More people overseas are coming to love Japanese food. According to a Japan External Trade Organization survey, there are 14,129 Japanese restaurants in the United States--a twofold increase in 10 years--and about 1,000 restaurants in France and more than 500 in Britain.

Mika Hanada, chief of JETRO's agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food planning division, said, "Japanese cuisine is considered a life culture particular to Japan." Efforts will be made this year to promote Japanese cuisine overseas as a national "brand." In March, the government plans to apply to UNESCO to register Japanese food culture as an intangible cultural heritage.

Picture
__This World Heritage category covers social customs, festivals and other forms of intangible cultural elements. "The gastronomic food of the French" and "traditional Mexican cuisine" are included on the list.

In an effort to gain recognition next year, an Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry official said: "We want to demonstrate that the basic Japanese meal comprises a bowl of soup and three dishes with rice as the main staple. We will also emphasize its excellent nutritional balance, and our sophisticated cooking skills in which we use fresh foodstuffs suited to Japan's nature."

Some foodstuffs do not have a high profile in Japanese cuisine, but they have been praised overseas and eventually exported. One of them is Unzen kobu takana, a variety of takana mustard greens that have galls on the surface of leaf stalks. It is a traditional vegetable in Unzen City, Nagasaki Prefecture.

Picture
_Setsue Baba, 61, a local producer of the vegetable in the city, displayed the salt-preserved vegetable at a food fair in Italy in October 2006. Local chefs said her product was suitable for use with pasta and all 1,000 packages on sale were snapped up. "I was pleased that the taste of my hometown was praised," Baba said. "At the same time, I feel responsible in preserving local foodstuffs."

She continues to participate in the biennial fair and now exports the vegetable to not only Italy but also Britain, Denmark and other countries. Chieko Mukasa, a food culture researcher, said, "Like a kaleidoscope, Japanese cuisine is attractive on many levels. "It has been praised overseas and prompted the Japanese to rediscover the joys of a Japanese lifestyle. I hope people introduce the excellent points [of cuisine] to the rest of the world."

Efforts to foster local brands have already started. The Japan Food Industry Center, an incorporated foundation, has launched a system that gives a stamp of approval to "real and genuine" products that meet quality and production criteria. The system is modeled on those in Europe in which food products are labeled with geographic names to preserve traditional foodstuffs. The government also plans to create a certification system for local foodstuffs by the end of fiscal 2016.
(Yomiuri Shimbun)


Comments are closed.
    JRN logo
    JRN

    Archives

    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    March 2008
    November 2007
    February 2007
    July 2006
    April 2006
    March 2006

    Categories

    All
    3d
    Abenomics
    Advertising
    Airlines
    Ana
    Apple
    Apps
    Architecture
    Asahi
    Beer Japan
    Bicycle
    Books
    Cafes
    Cars Japan
    Coffee
    Cosmetics
    Culture
    Department Stores
    Design
    Disney
    Docomo
    Dogs
    Drinks
    Economy Japan
    Ecotech
    Education
    Energy
    Farming
    Fashion Japan
    Flu
    Food
    Food Labels
    Food Market
    Forever 21
    Fujitsu
    Furniture Japan
    Gadgets
    Games
    Globalization
    Haagen Dazs
    Health
    Health Care
    Hello Kitty
    Heritage
    Hightech
    Hm Japan
    Hobby
    Honda
    Hotels
    Household Spending
    Hybrid
    Ikea Japan
    Industry
    Interior Japan
    Kids
    Kitson
    Living Cost
    Merger&Acquisition
    Merger&Acquisition
    Mitsubishi
    Mobiles
    Music
    Nhk
    Nintendo
    Olympia
    Online Shopping
    Online Supermarket
    Panasonic
    Pets
    Private Label
    Product Labelling
    Public Transportation
    Qr Codes
    Railway
    Real Estate
    Retail Japan
    Robots
    Sanrio
    Sanyo
    Science
    Security
    Sega
    Service
    Shiseido
    Social Media
    Solar Energy
    Sony
    Space
    Sports
    Statistics
    Supermarkets
    Tobacco
    Toilet
    Toshiba
    Tourists
    Toyota
    Toys
    Trade Shows
    Tradition
    Travel
    Twitter
    Uniqlo
    Vitamins
    Vuitton
    Wealth
    Wearable Tech
    Women

     


Our motto ...

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein

Stay in touch with JRN

 
Market Entry Japan request
> Get in touch with us/JRN
>> Speak to a Japan Expert
         Japan - a fascinating market with unique consumers buying extraordinary products. Be part of it.   Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved.   Japan Retail News© is powered by EJBC since 2005