JapanUp! magazine

From Everyday Snack to Edible Jewelry If you walk into a typical American supermarket in Los Angeles, fruits are treated as a cheap, healthy, everyday commodity. You grab a giant bag of apples or a plastic box of strawberries, toss them in your cart, and don’t think twice. But if you walk into the basement of a high-end Japanese department store like Mitsukoshi or Takashimaya, you will enter a realm of edible jewelry. Welcome to the Japanese “Fruit Boutique.” Here, you will see a single, perfectly spherical cantaloupe resting on a silk pillow inside a wooden box, guarded by a…

The Predictable American Aisle If you walk into a grocery store or a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles, the snack aisle is comforting because it is completely predictable. Year-round, you can find the exact same classic flavors of potato chips, chocolates, and cookies. But if you step inside a convenience store (Conbini) in Japan, you will face a dizzying, hyper-speed culinary calendar. The shelves are constantly mutating. In Japan, snacks are rarely permanent items; they are temporary, seasonal experiences that match the changing environment outside, turning every quick trip for a snack into a race against time. The Magic of the…

The Ultimate Japanese Comfort Food After a long day of work or a late night of social drinking, nothing hits the spot quite like a warm bowl of “Ochazuke.” This quintessential Japanese comfort food consists of a bowl of steamed rice topped with savory ingredients and submerged in hot green tea or dashi broth. If you buy the famous instant Ochazuke packets at a Japanese supermarket like Mitsuwa or Nijiya, you will notice a delightful mix of dried seaweed, green tea powder, and tiny, crunchy rice balls called “Arare.” While they add a beautiful, toasty texture, these little crunchy balls…

The Slow Beverage Dilemma When you sit down with a group of friends at a bar or lounge in Los Angeles, ordering drinks can take a significant amount of time. Everyone looks through a multi-page cocktail menu, asks the bartender about specific hazy IPAs, or customizes their wine selection. It can easily take fifteen minutes just for the first round of drinks to arrive at the table. But in the fast-paced world of the Japanese Izakaya (pub), this slow, individualistic approach is completely rejected. In Japan, the time between sitting down at your table and clinking your glasses together for…

The Post-Party Hunger Craving If you enjoy a night out drinking with friends in Los Angeles, the evening usually ends with a frantic late-night drive to a taco truck or a 24-hour diner for a greasy slice of pizza. In the US, eating heavy food after drinking is a common, messy craving. But in Japan, this late-night food run has been elevated into a highly systemized, almost mandatory cultural ritual known as “Shime” (the closing or tightening). No matter how much food you consumed during the main party, a Japanese night out is never officially complete until everyone sits down…