Making sweet and savory jellies and aspics from the sea begins with harvesting tengusa (天草 literally “heavenly grass”), a group of red marine algae that grow in fairly shallow waters. The most common variety is makusa (Gelidium amansii); in Japan most of the...

In Japan, hand-held, flat fans called uchiwa have been creating cooling breezes for millennia. Uchiwa can be many things: In addition to being practical tools in the kitchen (for fanning rice when making sushi... for fanning cooking fires when broiling), uchiwa often...

This month I was inspired to choose biwa as the theme for my newsletter and web posts when I was gifted a box of luscious loquats from friends in Chiba. The southern Boso Peninsula is famous for Boshu Biwa, a premium variety cultivated there since 1751 and...