The cold weather, as Yoko just talked about, could only mean one thing: HOT POT TIME! Look at that thinly sliced, luscious piece of scarlet red cow flesh. How ever so privileged we are.

This is an individual-sized shabu-shabu nabe (hotpot) we got
Read More →

Here’s a fun accompaniment to U N I F O R M B E H A V I O R’s flan choux discovery. One morning my mom enthusiastically proclaimed to me, “Kayo, try this now, it’s delicious.” I admit this frightened me a bit, as my
Read More →

Just got to Tokyo late on Monday, and my aunt swooped my away immediately to Atami, a sea-side town just an hour out of the city. We relaxed there for a night bathing in the hot springs and went to a cheesy jazz band dinner show (where the food was terribly bad).

Above all else, there are two main things I’ve
Read More →

Have you ever read “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann? Everyone is dying of consumption up in the Alps, taking the “cure.” They are all a little too interested in the food because they have nothing else to do besides falling in love with other rapidly failing mortals. I went to Vals Therme, which is a kind of
Read More →

To celebrate the end of our film festival last week, my coworkers Ryo, Chisa and I bolted onto a 20 minute bus ride out of Manhattan to King Spa Sauna in New Jersey for a night of hot tub
Read More →

Live Yobuko squid cut up and staring at you while you eat it. Tentacles periodically lash out at you. This guy was just beautiful and the best squid I have ever had.

Read More →

What: Mid-winter ryokan getaway tripWhere: Seiryuusou ryokan, Shimonita, Gunma Prefecture (about 3 hours from Shinjuku station)When: Saturday February 9 to Sunday February 10, 2008Why: Thaw out, eat, wash away the grub of Tokyo

The food:In general, the food was unpretentious and featured local ingredients native to the region – big, thick, sweet green onions, mountain animals and
Read More →

While I was in Tokyo, we went down to Hakone. Hakone is sort of like Hamptons for New Yorkers. About 90 minutes from Tokyo, easy getaway, and instead of ocean, there are tons of onsens (hot springs).

Ryokans (traditional inns) are famous for their 13 course dinners, which you eat in your room. It’s prix fixe and we were
Read More →

Despite the year’s first and hardest raining typhoon hitting on the same day as the first day of our one-night onsen trip to Yugawara, we got to the ryokan in one piece (after a lot of wrong turns – Japanese maps do NOT help in any way, also given that they
Read More →

I’m from Monterey, California (home of the world-famous — and deservedly so — Monterey Bay Aquarium) which is one of the most beautiful places on earth (the breathtaking landscape was featured in Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo), but the problem with the beautiful places on earth are that they are usually turned into tourist traps —
Read More →