The minute you step into Ichirin (一凛), it feels like a different world. The space is serene yet unstuffy, with a light wood counter dominating one side of the room and two tables generously positioned apart from each other and away from the counter, offering a bit of privacy. A young lady, clad in a white outfit that is often seen on Japanese chefs, quietly escorts you to your table and takes drinks orders, as if performing a time-honoured ritual…. Read more »
When Ken Mihara signed up to join a pottery club, he had no idea that this decision would change the course of his life. The ceramic artist, whose work can be found at top museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, entered university to study civil engineering with a view to becoming a bureaucrat. It was 1970s Japan, when the economy was growing rapidly and the then prime minister, Kakuei Tanaka was plastering the country with concrete,… Read more »
At first glance, cooking traditional Japanese food may not strike the uninitiated as particularly complicated or even very time-consuming. After all, how difficult can it be to slice raw fish or cook vegetables in broth? Difficult indeed, I discovered one afternoon as I stood in the kitchen of Totoya Usohin (ととや魚新), a comfortable and welcoming Japanese restaurant conveniently located 3 minutes from Akasaka subway station in central Tokyo. We had come to Totoya – nine women of various ages eager… Read more »
