Making a basic healthy Japanese bento box for your next lunch is already a creative process but a kyaraben will definitely add a little more fun.

In a kyaraben, the food in your bento can look like cute cartoon characters, animals, or even beautiful plants. Making a kyaraben used to be just a trick to get children excited about eating their bento but it has now turned into an art form where even competitions are held. It’s popularity has actually spread across the globe but there is always room to recruit more kyaraben enthusiasts.

Through our Nagomi Kitchen cooking program, you can learn how to make either a Hello Kitty or Pikachu kyaraben. Please make sure to indicate which kyaraben you would like to make at the time of your booking. You will also learn how to make healthy tofu balls, flowers out of cherry tomatoes, and sunflowers out of small sausages.

Why not have this experience as part of your stay in Japan?

This is the simmered vegetables which called as Nimono（煮物）in Japanese. Simmer carrot, lotus root, “Konnyaku” and any other vegetables with soy sauce, mirin and Sake. Sometime we add the chicken in it as well. The taste of these kind of Nimono depends on each home.

There are many kind of miso soup in Japan. In other words, you can add any ingredients as you like
And I like clams miso soup very much! Soup stock from clams is really nice, so yummy.

We are uploading many photos of Japanese home cooked dishes constantly at our website!

That idea and custom of  dispel evil with the beans were originally introduced from China maybe  in early days in Heian Period(794-1192).  Azuki sweet beans have  color of  red or purple, which were believed to have a magic power to repel evil.

On this date, Yoneura-sai(/粥占祭, a festival of  fortune-telling using azuki beans) is hosted at a lot of  Shinto shrines, where people put rice and azuki in a long bamboo tube and boil them to read outlooks of  timing of the prospective paddy harvests of the year as well.  In some areas,  people also host a festival of tug-of-war between a “land team” and a “sea team” to read if they can enjoy rich field harvests or rich fishey yields in the year.

Mix flour, eggs and water (sometimes use dashi stock) then fry it in the special pan, put the boiled octopus and keep turning them until they are round shapes. Place it on plate, and pour the Takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed powder and bonito flakes.

It’s so yummy! I highly recommend you to try it when you are in Japan even if you feel “I don’t want to eat Octopus”

If you go to Osaka, you can easy to find Takoyaki shop and get it approx. 6-8 Takoyaki balls for 500 yen.

Takoyaki is very popular especially at Osaka and people have own Takoyaki plate at their house so that they can enjoy their selves. (Since to make it shapes round, you need special pan to cook Takoyaki)

If you are interested in trying Takoyaki, join home visit program and visit Adachi family
Now they live in Tokyo but originally come from Osaka, so you can enjoy real home-made Takoyaki with them! They will tell you some tips how to make delicious Takoyaki

Not only will you be able to explore new dishes, home visit program will be a fantastic opportunity to have a meaningful cultural exchange or practice your Japanese skills. Think of it as a short home-stay program for those who do not have the time but still want the experience. There are families that welcome visitors during the day at lunch too so check through your schedule to see if you can find some time for a nice Home Visit.

If you would like to join, contact us via each host family’s page two weeks before your desired visiting date and we will arrange your visit to host family. Adachi family can welcome you on Saturdays or Sundays for lunch!

In Japan people eat traditional meal on new year days.
This meal called as Osechi and it’s variety kind of dishes and serves in a bento-box style plate.

People eat this Osechi with family and friends to celebrate new year.
I cooked Osechi this year! We can also buy Osechi at department store, supermarket or even via internet in these days but I cooked by myself it on 31st Dec.

Datemaki Tamago 伊達巻きたまご – Rolled up sweet omlet

I love this sweet omlet very much! Originally my grand mother bought us a special Datemaki every year so my favorite taste of Datemaki is not a homemade but I wanted to try to cook by myself.

Kuromame 黒豆　- Sweet black beans

Cooking this dish takes a long time but we use pressure pot for this time so could save the time lot

Steamed shrimp えびの出汁煮

All menu for Osechi has meaning and shrimp meaning “live a long time” because hip of shrimp stoop such as old man.

Kurikinton 栗きんとん -Sweet potato with chestnut

Kurikinton is my favorite Osechi menu as well. My mother made it every year when I was child This is the sweet potato colored with brilliant yellow and put in some chestnut.

Typically this Osechi cooked a lot and have eaten for some days but we didn’t cook a lot for this time so it have been finished after few hours from 12:00 on Jan. 1st

PS.
Nagomi Kitchen schedule the hands on style cooking classes for Japanese home cooking twice a month from this month to April, please check the date and join us if you are interested in Japanese food, cooking with original ingredients or condiments

We made original Pikachu with Elizabeth who come from USA and Ai who come from Japan

First of all, started to make Tofu meatballs with teriyaki sauce.The teriyaki sauce made by same amount of Soy sauce, sugar, Sake and Mirin which the sweet cooking sake. It’s easy to remember isn’t it?
They fried meatballs with big smile!

From this time we prepared apron for each participants. The color is beige and black and the Japanese taste pattern on the pockets.So you don’t have to bring anything when join our cooking program!

Second step was making Pikachu, it’s a main event of the program I have a sample Pikachu but participants can make it as absolutely original Pikachu face with Nori seaweed.

Elizabeth made a eyebrow of Picachu, it’s a very manlike Nice!

She said she would like to join again when her friend come to Tokyo or another cooking program offered.
I updated the comments from participants who joined our cooking program, please check it

Maybe almost traveler will do that. Yes, maybe you will be able to feel some Japanese culture from your accommodation or meal at restaurant. But unfortunately it will be a little bit difficult to talk with Japanese people (not a service person but “normal” people) or feel real Japan such like knowing how Japanese people living or eating every day.

Why don’t you plan more original experience during your stay in Japan?

If you agree that you would like to experience original time and want to nice memory in Japan, our home visit program is one of the best activity. If you join our home visit program, you can visit Japanese people’s house and enjoy conversation with Japanese people with their delicious home cooked dishes.

“This activity was one of the best things I’ve done in Japan so far.” said Kaydee who comes from USA and participated the home visit program on Oct. 2011.
Do you want to know why Kaydee said like that? If you want to know, I will explain below.

But first of all I know maybe you say, “Visiting unknown people’s house? I’m in nervous…”. Don’t worry about it!

Check the host family’s page, they introduced themselves about their family and how welcome you.
Host families living and working at Tokyo or close to Tokyo every day. They are 20-30 years old. One of them have children or living their parents, or just married modern couples.The common thinking of them is they want to communicate with travelers as well and want to introduce their real living of Japan for travelers who come to Tokyo.

Additional they can speak English so you don’t have to worry about the languages. You can feel real Japanese life from them.

When you join home visit program, you will meet host family at nearest station of their house and go to their house along with them. The road to house is the real Japanese living town, not a sightseeing spot and something most travelers don’t see.

Michiel, who was a traveler from London and visited host family on September 2011 said “If I didn’t join this home visit program, I think I would never have seen the real place where Japanese people live”.

After arriving the host family’s house, start to have a dinner or lunch with them which they prepared for you.

The dishes is their home cooked dishes, which you will never taste at the restaurant.In Japan, usually the dish is not just one but some dishes on the table at once so you can try some home cooking during your stay.
For example, Suzuki family will serve you the Hirekatsu which is the deep fried pork with sauce. And other dishes is salad, sashimi (fresh fish), miso soup and rice. Michiel said “There are a lot of choice and almost of them are my first dishes.”

Of course the menu will be different whenever you visit. Another host family, Muro family will serve you the real green tea like tea ceremony style after the dish. All host family will introduce the nice culture by each nice style!

Do you feel it’s kind like a home stay program?

Yes, it’s kind like that but a big difference is the staying time. Staying a whole day or more requires a lot from both the guest and the hosts, but our home visit program is more easy, because the staying time will be just about 1 or 2 hour. So you can casually join and the host family can easier prepare for your visit.

The cost of joining this program is 2,300 yen. Not only do you get to enjoy a delicious meal but you can also experience real Japanese living with people who welcome you like friend and you can enjoy home cooked dishes which you never eat at Japanese restaurant at your town or even in Tokyo restaurant.

Why not have this experience as part of your stay in Japan? After you say goodbye to the host family, I believe you can feel like Kaydee and it will be one of your best memories from your trip to Japan.

If you would like to join this program just contact us via each host family’s page two weeks before your desired visiting date and we will arrange your visit to host family. Most of the host families can welcome you on Saturdays or Sundays for lunch/dinner!

Oh, Michiel has written down his experience on his blog, so check it as well

I currently teach cooking classes at a well known school in Japan. I love cooking very much!
I’m interested to know if there are any cooking enthusiasts among the people who visit Japan every year. But I wonder there is few food tourism program which travelers can join casually in Japan as of now, so I decided to organize some food related tourism program as Nagomi Kitchen.

Nagomi Kitchen is the program which you can experience Japanese home cooking through eating and cooking. In Japan, you can find a lot of delicious restaurant, it’s not only Japanese dishes but also world dishes. But Japanese people don’t eat everyday at restaurant, they cook themselves at home. Don’t you think it is the real Japanese dish?
If I visit foreign country, every time I want to know the real food culture of the country -what dishes people eat everyday. So Nagomi Kitchen is for everyone who want to know the real food culture in Japan.

We have two kind of food relates program, home visit and cooking experience. If you want to know the real Japanese people’s life and delicious home cooked dishes, join our home visit program.
In this program you visit Japanese people’s house and enjoy lunch or dinner with them like following video.

And if you want to try to cook by yourself Japanese home cooking, our cooking experience program is the good way to try it during your stay in Japan.
Actually about 50 people have already participated in our cooking program and discover Japanese original ingredients and condiments.

For example they cooked Pikachu lunchbox

On this blog I will introduce you about Japanese food culture, easy Japanese recipe, and big smile of participants who join our programs

FamilyMart had originally planned only 500,000 Slime buns, but the early buzz led the chain to double its production batches.

FamilyMart assures people that it is not using artificial food coloring for the blue color. The pork inside is flavored with soy sauce, oyster sauce, bamboo shoots, and onions.

The buns celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dragon Quest franchise; as early-stage monsters, the Slime creatures have been an icon ever since the very first game in 1986.

Each bun costs 170 yen (about US$2.20). Even though “November 29″ is the official launch date, it is up to each store when to actually put them on the shelves. FamilyMart had 8,649 stores in Japan as of the end of October, so each store has an average of about 115 buns.

The actors extended words of appreciation of the huge supports and popularity of the anime work by the fans and announced the movie version of “K-ON!” was going to be released at 137 movie theaters nationwide on coming Dec.3rd.

The five actors, who play music in the band as their anime characters do as “After School Tea Time” in the work, sang the main theme song of the movie version, “Unmei♪Wa♪Endless!” and the ending theme song,”Singing!”.

Two sorts of  set dishes “After School Tea Time Set A” and “-Set B”(both are ￥800) related to  K-ON! are provided between Nov.23-Dec.31.  Set A consists of one soft-drink and a Mont Blanc, while Set B is of  a blancmange containing edible brown algae covered with  black source(Set B is available only on weekends and public holidays in this December).   

A food competition in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, over the weekend drew around 515,000 people keen to enjoy cheap and satisfying dishes vying for the honor of being judged the country’s top “B-grade gourmet” fare.

The number of visitors reached a record 515,000 in two days as 63 groups from 29 of Japan’s 47 prefectures took part in the sixth competition to promote their local specialties in the western Japanese city.

Visitors’ votes at the “B-1 Grand Prix” awarded the gold prize Sunday to a group from Maniwa, Okayama Prefecture, which featured “Hiruzen yakisoba” pan-fried noodles containing cabbage and chicken, seasoned with miso sauce.

Hiruzen yakisoba

The next contest is scheduled to be held in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, in October 2012.

At the cafe consists of four sections, namely “Theater”,”Cafe”,”Private room”,and “Shop”.  At “Theater”, you can enjoy buffet style meals with movies of AKB’s concerts on a large screen. At “Cafe”, you can enjoy special dishes created by AKB’s members ,which are to change from month to month. And “Private Room” whose capacity is 16 people is equipped with DVDs of AKB.  In addition, at “Shop” you can buy original items related to AKB.

Sometimes AKB’ members make “surprise” visits to the Cafe& Shop, which  makes customers amazingly happy.

And here is another new information concerning AKB48 project. On this Oct. 1st,  AKB’s management announced it is going to launch a project of a new sister group of AKB48. The new group is “TPE48″,  which is to be based in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.  Further details of the project will be noticed to public at the end of this year, and the new group is expected to start theatrical performances around the summer in 2012.

TPE48 is to be the second sister group of AKB48 out of Japan, following JKT48 which I wrote about here before.http://www.tenkai-japan.com/2011/09/12/jkt48-project-launched/

100% Chocolate Cafe

Corporate chocolatier Meiji Seika opened the space in 2004 to go beyond its normal mass market (and not always scrumptious) confectionery lines into more sophisticated realms.

The cafe’s menu is full of desserts and drinks all based on the monolithic cocoa theme, such as cakes and fresh chocolates. And this may be the only place in Tokyo that offers variations on ‘chocolate milk’: in this case, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania and Venezuelan Ocumare.

When customers order a drink, it will come with the chocolate for the day, a complimentary bite-sized chocolate which changes every day and carries the stamp of that date.

The assorted chocolates on sale, with their colorful and modernist package design color graded by country of origin, may also work as the perfect Tokyo souvenir.

100%ChocolateCafe.

View 100% Chocolate Cafe in a larger map
Place:2-4-16 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Telephone：03-3273-3184
Hours：8:00 to 20:00( Monday to Friday),11:00 to 19:00(Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays)

It was the first major overseas sales promotion for the food, planned and led by Hidehiko Watanabe, 52-year-old chairman of the Fujinomiya Yakisoba society.

Shortly after the opening of the yakisoba stand on Madison Avenue in Manhattan in the morning, people formed a line of about 100 meters and had to wait for about 45 minutes to taste the noodles, which won the grand prize at 2006 and 2007 B-grade local gourmet competitions in Japan that featured cheap and satisfying eats.

All 800 servings priced at 5 dollars a pack sold out by the evening.

Garry Davenport, a 26-year-old resident of New York who works as an assistant manager of a retail store, said he enjoyed the noodles because they were “firm like Italian pasta (cooked al dente)” and really “filling.”

Mitsuhiro Araki(/荒木水都弘),the sushi chef of "Araki"(/あら輝) （left）

    There are some new features in the latest edition which is the fourth edition of  this Guide. One is that it adopts an icon called “Coin mark” which indicates a restaurant at which you can enjoy a meal at 5000 yen (≒$ 61,€46)or less like the lateset edition of  the Guide of  restaurants in Kansai(the West Japan). 

The second is that  for the first time the Tokyo Guide has information on restaurants in Yokohama , the capital city of Kanagawa pref. neighboring Tokyo and Kamakura, a city well known as a popular historical city of tourism  that I  have often written about here before, in Kanagawa as well  in its 4- year history.  That is why the title of the latest edition is “Michelin Tokyo Yokohama Kamakura Guide 2011″.    Both Yokohama celebrated its 150th anniversary since it opened its seaport to the international community last year and Kamakura are visited by so many tourists including  a lot of foreign sightseers.

The number of  restaurants winning three stars is 14 all of which are in Tokyo, those with two stars is 54, and facilities with one star is 198, so,totally 266.   10 of the 14 restaurants won the position for the second time in a row and the “Araki”(/あら輝)　a sushi restaurant remarkably got three stars at its debut on the Guide.  

The Guide will be a big help for those who are interested in restaurants or food in Japan(not necessarily Japanese cuisine ) and foreign visitors to Japan.

The chefs of restraunts that have won Three Stars in the 2011 edition