u/Healthy_End_2764

Two famous premium fish brands from Oita Prefecture. They're especially prized for sashimi. Absolutely delicious!

Local sake from Toyama with dried firefly squid, dried white shrimp, and Hida beef jerky seasoned with sake.

Do you like sake?

A traditional type of sushi from Toyama. It's a kind of pressed sushi made with trout and rice, wrapped in bamboo leaves. It's round, so you cut it into slices like a cake before eating.

Delicious!

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, but with udon instead of the usual yakisoba noodles. This one is topped with kaiware (daikon sprouts).

So good!

Dote-ni is a hearty stew made by simmering beef, beef offal, and other cuts of meat in a rich, sweet miso sauce.

Nagoya is particularly well known for its rich miso-based cuisine.

Takana-meshi is rice mixed with pickled takana mustard greens. Dango-jiru is a hearty soup made with hand-shaped wheat flour dumplings and vegetables.

My thoughts are with everyone in Kumamoto after the recent major earthquake. I sincerely hope for everyone's safety and a swift recovery.

It's the closest port to Mount Fuji.

The land rises gently from the sea all the way to the mountain, creating a beautiful landscape.

It's also famous for its whitebait rice bowls (shirasu-don).

"Gohan no Tomo" (御飯の友), a furikake from Kumamoto, is often said to be Japan's first furikake.

I hope everyone in Kumamoto is safe after yesterday's major earthquake.

This is the curry my family made.

It might be one of the easiest meals to cook in Japan—as long as you have a box of Japanese curry roux.

Interestingly, there's a theory that Japanese curry has gradually become darker over the decades. It used to be much more yellow.

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The Seto Inland Sea is a calm inland sea dotted with countless small islands, many of which are still inhabited. Visiting them feels like stepping back into nostalgic, traditional Japan. Although it's an inland sea, the tides are surprisingly strong, so the water stays very clear. I think the Shimanami Kaido is one of the best ways to explore the area. There are also some beautiful beaches.

These are shark nuggets from Kesennuma. Shark is a common local ingredient here and is often simmered as well as deep-fried.

Hamo is one of the seafoods most closely associated with summer in Kyoto.

A traditional type of sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves, which were originally used to help preserve it.

It's an old-style sushi that is still commonly sold as an ekiben.

Kamameshi is a Japanese seasoned rice dish, individually cooked in a small iron pot.

My grandmother boils the root portion of wakame seaweed. As it cooks, it turns a bright green. She then finely chops it in a food processor.

We mix it with dashi soy sauce and eat it over rice. It's sticky, but full of umami and very healthy.

Kourakuen is a ramen chain with many locations across eastern Japan.

Negi ramen is a slightly spicy style of ramen topped with plenty of finely shredded white green onion. It became especially popular in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s.

A traditional Japanese dish made by skewering and grilling drained tofu, then brushing it with a sweet miso glaze made from miso, mirin, and sugar.

Jingisukan is a style of grilled mutton or lamb, especially popular in northern Japan.

It is often eaten at restaurants, but people also make it at home.

I love the Japanese hamayaki style of grilling fresh seafood.

An Iwatani tabletop grill makes it easy to enjoy that experience at home.