• Miso soup – A simple broth soup made of dashi and miso paste. Sometimes veggies and soy tofu are added.

• Onigiri – Balls of sticky rice, usually bound together with a piece of seaweed and flavored with bonito flakes and miso.

• Tofu – Tofu is a must in Japanese cooking, and is prepared in many different ways. Sometimes it is grilled, sometimes it is deep friend and served with a sweet miso dipping sauce, and sometimes it is pan fried and served in any number of light sauces. Simmered tofu topped with green onions is also a popular favorite.

• Egg dishes – If you are a vegetarian who eats eggs, there are many Japanese delicacies to try, from egg pancakes to omelets to sweet egg custard.

• Noodles – Noodle dishes play an important role in Japanese cooking. Udon noodles, which are made of white flour, and soba noodles, which are made of buckwheat flour, are used in soups and sometimes mixed with veggies, tofu and sauces to form a dish. Sometimes the noodles themselves are deep friend and served with a sweet mirin dipping sauce.

• Seaweed – Most people are familiar with seaweed used in sushi, but it has many other uses in Japanese cuisine. You’ll find it in seaweed and cucumber salads, seaweed based soups, and deep fried and served on its own.

• Pickles – The Japanese are known for their pickled vegetables, and they can make great additions for other meals. Some pickles are sweet and some pickles are spicy. The most popular veggies to use in pickles are carrots and cucumbers, though most recipes allow for a little bit of creativity.

• Stews – Rich stews with veggies, tofu and sometimes seafood like oysters are also popular. Some are served alone, and some are served over noodles and rice.

• Rice – Rice is a part of almost every Japanese meal. Sometimes it is simple served alone, sometimes with a light sauce, and sometimes it is served with other vegetables, tofu, and other cooked foods as a base.

• Edamame – These young soybeans are served steamed and seasoned and make a healthy, low calorie, addictive snack.
• 

The Japanese love their food. This can be seen by the number of people who eat out, even in a time of recession, and the number of food-related programs on TV. Tell someone that you’re taking a trip to Hokkaido and the first thing they’ll do is insist that you try the seafood while you’re there or the Okonomiyaki in Osaka and so on. While sushi has become increasingly popular in the West, most Japanese food remains pretty much unknown. Japanese restaurants around the world have tended to cater for Japanese tourists and have been priced accordingly, ie. expensive. But in Japan there is a huge variety of food available at prices ranging from a month’s salary to very reasonable.

Many Americans are fascinated by Japanese culture. We’ve found a lot to love about the Japanese culture, especially when it comes to the food. If you want a Japanese flair for your party or you just want a nice Japanese snack for yourself, here are some ideas.

Yakitori – A kabob that is quite popular as a snack, party food, or casual dinner item. (Goes well with Japanese beer and Saki.)

Begin by soaking your wooden skewers in water to prevent them from burning.

What you need: – 3 chicken breasts cut up into small chunks – 1 tablespoon of sugar – 2 tablespoons of sake – 3 tablespoons of mirin – 3 tablespoons of soy sauce

You’ll now slide the pieces of chicken on the skewer, then mix together all the other ingredients in a bowl. Using a sauce as a baste, grill the chicken on the skewer.

Edamame – It’s finally gotten easier to find edamame in the grocery stores now that Americans have taken a shine to this popular Japanese snack food.

Serve it like we would pretzels (with beer during the game) or keep it in baggies like trail mix as a snack on the go. What a great way to get the kids to eat veggies! (Be wary of folks who are allergic to soy, though!)

To prepare your edamame, wash it thoroughly. Then, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add one tablespoon of salt to the water, then add the edamame. Boil for three to four minutes. Drain, then add a little more salt. Let it cool, then store it in an airtight container.

Sunonomo (cucumber and Daikon salad) – This dish is excellent either as a fresh snack in the afternoon or as a side dish for any meal.

What you need: – 1 daikan radish – 1 cucumber – 5 tbsp rice vinegar – 2 tbsp sugar – 1 tsp salt

Peel the radish first before cutting it into thin slices. Cut the cucumber just as thinly.

Salt both vegetables and allow the salt to soak in for about ten minutes. Wash them off and drain well. Mix the vinegar and sugar and pour over the veggies. Let sit for at least fifteen minutes before serving.

You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding Japanese snack foods, because the last few years have seen an expansion in Asian sections in grocery stores. Not to mention there are more Asian specialty stores than there used to be.

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Japan belongs to the temperate zone with four distinct seasons, but its climate varies from cool temperate in the north to subtropical in the south. The climate is also affected by the seasonal winds that blow from the continent to the ocean in winters and vice versa in summers.

Japan is generally a rainy country with high humidity. Because of its wide range of latitude, Japan has a variety of climates, with a range often compared to that of the east coast of North America, from Nova Scotia to Georgia. Tokyo is at about 35 degrees north latitude, comparable to that of Tehran, Athens, or Las Vegas. The generally humid, temperate climate exhibits marked seasonal variation celebrated in art and literature, as well as regional variations ranging from cool in Hokkaidō to subtropical in Kyūshū. Climate also varies with altitude and with location on the Pacific Ocean or on the Sea of Japan. Northern Japan has warm summers but long, cold winters with heavy snow. Central Japan has hot, humid summers and short winters, and southwestern Japan has long, hot, humid summers and mild winters.

Two primary factors influence Japan’s climate: a location near the Asian continent and the existence of major oceanic currents. The climate from June to September is marked by hot, wet weather brought by tropical airflows from the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia. These airflows are full of moisture and deposit substantial amounts of rain when they reach land. There is a marked rainy season, beginning in early June and continuing for about a month. It is followed by hot, sticky weather. Five or six typhoons pass over or near Japan every year from early August to early September, sometimes resulting in significant damage. Annual precipitation, which averages between 1,000 and 2,000 mm (39.4 and 78.7 in), is concentrated in the period between June and September. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of the annual precipitation falls during this period. In winter, a high-pressure area develops over Siberia, and a low-pressure area develops over the northern Pacific Ocean. The result is a flow of cold air eastward across Japan that brings freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls to the central mountain ranges facing the Sea of Japan, but clear skies to areas fronting on the Pacific.

Two major ocean currents affect this climatic pattern: the warm Kuroshio Current (Black Current; also known as the Japan Current); and the cold Oyashio Current (Parent Current; also known as the Okhotsk Current). The Kuroshio Current flows northward on the Pacific side of Japan and warms areas as far north as Tokyo; a small branch, the Tsushima Current, flows up the Sea of Japan side. The Oyashio Current, which abounds in plankton beneficial to coldwater fish, flows southward along the northern Pacific, cooling adjacent coastal areas. The meeting point of these currents at 36 north latitude is a bountiful fishing ground.

Late June and early July are a rainy season—except in Hokkaidō—as a seasonal rain front or baiu zensen (梅雨前線^?) stays above Japan. In summer and early autumn, typhoons, grown from tropical depressions generated near the equator, attack Japan with furious rainstorms.

Its varied geographical features divide Japan into six principal climatic zones.

• Hokkaidō (北海道, Hokkaidō^?): Belonging to the cool temperate zone, Hokkaidō has long, cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is not great.

• Sea of Japan (日本海, Nihonkai^?): The northwest seasonal wind in winter gives heavy snowfalls. In summer it is less hot than in the Pacific area but sometimes experiences extreme high temperatures due to the foehn wind phenomenon.

• Central Highland (中央高地, Chūō-kōchi^?): A typical inland climate gives large temperature differences between summers and winters and between days and nights. Precipitation is not large throughout the year.

• Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海, Setonaikai^?): The mountains in the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions block the seasonal winds and bring mild climate and many fine days throughout the year.

• Pacific Ocean (太平洋, Taiheiyō^?): Winters are cold, with little snowfall, and summers are hot and humid due to the southeast seasonal wind.

• Southwest Islands (南西諸島, Nansei-shotō^?): This zone has a subtropical climate with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very high, and is especially affected by the rainy season and typhoons.

The warmest winter temperatures are found in the Nanpo and Bonin Islands, which enjoy a tropical climate due to the combination of latitude, distance from the Asian mainland, and warming effect of winds from the Kuroshio, as well as the Volcano Islands (at the latitude of the southernmost Ryūkyūs, 24° N.).

As an island nation, Japan has a long coastline. A few prefectures are landlocked: Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu, Shiga, and Nara. As Mt. Fuji provides rain shadow effects in Yamanashi it has the least rainfall in Japan, which still exceeds 1,000 mm annually. The others all have coasts on the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, Seto Inland Sea or have a body of salt water connected to them. Two prefectures—Hokkaidō and Okinawa—are composed entirely of islands.

The hottest temperature ever measured in Japan, 40.9 °C (105.6 °F), occurred in Tajimi, Gifu on August 16, 2007.^{[3]  This post from Wikipedia.}

Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past. Popular films, television programs, manga, and music all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation can be traced to traditional art forms. Contemporary forms of popular culture, much like the traditional forms, provide not only entertainment but also an escape for the contemporary Japanese from the problems of an industrial world. When asked how they spent their leisure time, 80 percent of a sample of men and women surveyed by the government in 1986 said they averaged about two and a half hours per weekday watching television, listening to the radio, and reading newspapers or magazines. Some 16 percent spent an average of two and a quarter hours a day engaged in hobbies or amusements. Others spent leisure time participating in sports, socializing, and personal study. Teenagers and retired people reported more time spent on all of these activities than did other groups.

Many anime and manga are becoming very popular around the world, as well as Japanese video games, music, fashion, and game shows;[9] this has made Japan an “entertainment superpower” along with the United States and United Kingdom.

In the late 1980s, the family was the focus of leisure activities, such as excursions to parks or shopping districts. Although Japan is often thought of as a hard-working society with little time for leisure, the Japanese seek entertainment wherever they can. It is common to see Japanese commuters riding the train to work, enjoying their favorite manga, or listening through earphones to the latest in popular music on portable music players.

A wide variety of types of popular entertainment are available. There is a large selection of music, films, and the products of a huge comic book industry, among other forms of entertainment, from which to choose. Game centers, bowling alleys, and karaoke are popular hangout places for teens while older people may play shogi or go in specialized parlors.

Together, the publishing, film/video, music/audio, and game industries in Japan make up the growing Japanese content industry, which, in 2006, was estimated to be worth close to 26 trillion Yen (USD$ 400 billion.).[10][11]

This post from Wikipedia

All you need to know about Japanese Cuisine. The Japanese have easily a dozen different names for rice, depending on how it is prepared and what it is served with. The most common meal is a rice bowl, a bowl of white rice served with various toppings or ingredients mixed in. So popular is it that the Rice Bowl has even made its way into the world of Western convenience foods alongside ramen noodles.
Domburi is a bowl of rice topped with another food: domburi tendon, for instance, is rice topped with tempura and domburi gyudon is rice topped with beef.
The Japanese adopted fried rice from the Chinese, and a century ago, when curry was first introduced, developed Kare Raisu, curry rice. It is now such a popular dish that there are many fast-food restaurants that serve several versions of it in take-away bowls.

As an island nation, it’s not surprising that seafood is featured in Japanese cuisine. Sushi and sashimi both are raw fish and seafood with various spices. Impeccably fresh fish is the secret to wonderful sashimi and sushi, served with wasabi and soya sauce. The Japanese love of beauty and simplicity turns slices and chunks of raw fish into miniature works of art. Fish sliced so thin that it’s transparent may be arranged on a platter in a delicate fan that alternates pink-fleshed salmon with paler slices of fish. Sushi is typically arranged to best display the colors and textures to their best advantage, turning the platter and plate into palettes for the artistry of the chef. Traditionally, meat plays a minor role in the Japanese diet, though it has been taking a larger and larger role over the past fifty years as Japan becomes more westernized. Beef, chicken and pork may be served with several meals a week now. One of the more popular meat dishes is ‘yakitori’ – chicken grilled on a skewer and served with sauce. A typical quick lunch might include a skewer of yakitori and a rice bowl with sushi sauce.

In an interesting twist, Japan has imported dishes from other cuisines and ‘Japanized’ them, adopting them as part of their own cuisines. Korokke, for instance, are croquettes adopted from those introduced by the English last century. In Japan, the most common filling is a mixture of mashed potatoes and minced meat. Other Soshoyu – western dishes that have made their way into Japanese everyday cuisine include ‘omuraisu’, a rice omelet, and hambagau, the Japanized version of an American hamburger.Simple Japanese Cuisine menu.

What is Japan for YOU?
Strange, but interesting people, age-long traditions and customs, marvelous places to visit or unforgettable national Japanese cuisine?
It might be interesting to know, that Japan is an archipelago (chain of islands) made up of about 3,000 islands. About two thirds of the land is too mountainous for development, so almost all the people live in cities.
Nowdays, Japan is interesting for millions of people with its national cuisine. It has been influenced by the customs of other nations, but has adopted and refined them to create its own unique cooking style and eating habits.
Japanese cuisine has developed over the past 2,000 years with the help of strong influences from both China and Korea.
It is important to remember that the major influence was the introduction of rice from Korea around 400 B.C. and within a hundred years it had become the staple food of Japan. Rice growing techniques were passed on to the Japanese during the Yayoi period. Then migrating tribes settled in Japan. Rice was used not only for eating, but also to make paper, wine, fuel, building materials and so on. Soy beans and wheat were introduced from China soon after rice. During Japan’s development tea, chopsticks and a number of other important food related items were also introduced from China.
Korea has also greatly influenced Japan. Religion has played a great part in Japan’s cuisine development. Buddhism, despite the pre-existing Shinto and Confucian religions became the official religion of the country in the 6th century. For the next 1200 years eating of meat was prohibited. Fish was also forbidden.
Spice utilization was minimizes because of the meat lack. Pepper and cloves were known from the eighth century and were imported either via China or directly from Southeast Asia, and garlic was also grown on a small scale. But these spices were used mostly to make medicines and cosmetics.
Finally, after a ban for more than one thousand years, beef returned to Japan during the Meiji Period (1868–1912). Western foods, such as bread, coffee, and ice cream, have become popular during the late twentieth century. Another Western influence has been the introduction of timesaving cooking methods. These include the electric rice cooker, packaged foods such as instant noodles, instant miso (fermented soybean paste) soup, and instant pickling mixes. However, the Japanese are still devoted to their classic cooking traditions.
Preserving fish also became popular and sushi originated as a means of preserving fish by fermenting it in boiled rice. A unique fifteenth-century development shortened the fermentation period of sushi to one or two weeks and made both the fish and the rice edible. As a result, sushi became a popular snack food, combining fish with the traditional staple food, rice. Today, Japanese cuisine is still heavily influenced by the four seasons and geography. Seafood and vegetables are most commonly eaten. Whilst to some westerners, the food may seem almost bland, freshness, presentation and balance of flavours is of paramount importance.
In fact, many  people recognize Japanese food as one of the world’s healthiest cuisines. With rice and abundant marine products at it’s mainstream, the traditional Japanese diet is impressingly low in cholestrol, fat, and calories, and high in fiber.
No wonder Japanese people have the highest longetivity rate.
So, would you like to know more about  Japanese cuisine, its history and peculiarities?
Try to visit us once more…(

Nori-dried seaweed.Best known as a wrapper for sushi and onigiri.Nori has a fresh,crisp taste. Seaweeds are very nutritious(30-50% protein content and various vitamins). Japan produces about 10 billion nori sheets(20x20cm) a year!!!

Renkon-lotus root. Eaten in winter and spring. Rich in vitamin C and potassium. Renkon is associated with long life.Eaten sliced.  You can taste it in many Japanese Cuisine dishes.Roots are crunchy and they look great. 

Tofu-soft,white bean curd cake.Made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the resulting curds into blocks.             Tofu is low in calories and rich in protein,calcium,iron and phosphorus.It is very easily digestible for the body.

Wakame-another popular seaweed in Japanese Cuisine. Japanese people say that wakame effective in treating hair loss and giving a nice shine to your hair.Harvested from May to June. Wakame very rich in iodine and minerals.Wakame is cut and dried.

Yakisoba-fried noodles.Made from wheat flour,salt and water.Dried on iron plate with some vegetables or seafood.You can add pork as well.With some ginger sauce this dish tastes the best.

Japanese Cuisine has it’s own stew-Nikujaga. Stew-like dish with  potatoes, beef, onions  and carrots.Flavored with soy sauce.”meat-potatoe” in english. You’ll laugh,but Japanese eat this meal with a  bowl of rice!!!

Wagashi-Japanese sweets.Wagashi are made from natural ingridients.Main ingridient is a sweet paste made from red azuki beans with wheat flour and glutinous rice.Wagashi sweets are popular gift among the Japanese.

Tobiko-is the  Japanese word for the flying fish roe. Tobiko used for many types of sushi.Plain Tobiko has a red-orange color,a mild salty taste,and a crunchy texture.Sometimes Tobiko is colored with Wasabi(green),Yuzu(orange)or squid’s ink(black).

Azuki-azuki beans.Brought to Japan from China about 3000 years ago.Second most popular bean after the soy bean.Azuki beans have a mild taste.Rice cooked with Azuki beans gives the dish a red color.Azuki uses for Japanese sweets.Beans are high in protein and iron.

Kushikatsu- Japanese kebab.Anything that can be skewered can be used.Popular ingridients are:chicken,pork,beef,squid,fried fish,shrimp,eggplant,potato,lotus root and many more.There are special Kushikatsu restaurants,but sometimes you can get it from street stalls.Easy and tasty!  

Kinako-soybean flour.Toasted and grounded into flour from soybeans.Has a nutty flavor.Used as a topping for dishes.

Contains protein and vitamin B.Kinako commonly used in Japanese Cuisine.

Momo-Japanese peaches.Originally came from China,but have been known in Japanese Cuisine since olden times.Peaches are high in potassium and vitamin C.

Fugu-Japanese pufferfish.Extremely famous Japanese Cuisine dish.Fugu contains a strong poison(tetrodotoxin).Can be cooked by licensed chefs only.The poison works by paralyzing the whole body -except the brain.There is no known antidote.

Amazake. Made by letting a mixture of cooked rice, water and koji ferment at 50-60 degrees C. for 12-24 hours. Drunk sweetened and flavored with ginger. Amazake-hot,sweet rice drink.Despite the name,amazake does not contain alcohol.

Okayu.

Rice porridge. Just rice and water flavored with some salt. Although some toppings as an umeboshi, or furikake, may be used, these should be sober and the rice should not be cooked with ingredients as it starts to resemble zosui.Very simple Japanese dish.

Tako-yaki-octopus balls.Means ”fried octopus”.Pieces of boiled octopus covered with batter.Some people add to this meal ginger and green onion.Tako-yaki are baked on a hot iron plate. Eaten with a tooth pick. Originally from Osaka.Very popular meal in Japanese Cuisine.

Goya-Japanese vegetable.You may say it’s pumpkin,ok sort of.Goya has a funny look,but very useful food.In english ”bitter melon” has been used in various Asian medicine systems for a long time.Goya is claimed to stimulate digestion.Rich in phosphorus,potassium and magnesium.Goya can be eaten in salads,made into tempura or as a stir-fried dish called “goya-champuru”.

Shiitake. Well known Japanese Cuisine mushrooms.Cultivated and consumed in many Asian countries.These days you can try Shiitake anywere in the World.Mushroom has long been considered a delicacy as well as a medicinal agent. Shiitake mushrooms contain big amounts of vitamin D.Ingredient in many stiamed and simmered dishes.

Tonkatsu. Pork cutlet Japanese style. Breaded, deep-fried pork cutlets are sliced and served on a  bed of shredded cabbage. As dressing a Japanese version of Worcestershire sauce is used; in Nagoya this is replaced by a thick miso-based sauce. This dish was invented in the late 19th century. It is served in traditional Japanese style with a bowl of rice, miso soup and pickles.

Shabu. Another one-pot beef dish cooked at the table, but very different in taste from sukiyaki. Paper-thin slices of marbled beef are swished for a few seconds with chopsticks in a Mongolian hot pot with simmering konbu (kelp) broth. To Japanese ears, “shabu-shabu” is the sound made when you swish your slice of meat in the hot water. Vegetables (Chinese cabbage, chrysanthemum leaves), mushrooms and tofu are also cooked in the broth. You eat the meat and vegetables after dipping them in one of two dip sauces: a sesame-flavored sauce which goes perfectly with the beef.

Kobe beef in Japan is a registered trademark of the Kobe beef marketing & distribution promotion association.^[2] It must fulfill all the following conditions:^[1]

• Tajima cattle born in Hyōgo Prefecture
• Farm feeding in Hyōgo Prefecture
• Bullock or castrated bull, to purify the beef
• Processed at slaughterhouses in Kobe, Nishinomiya, Sanda, Kakogawa and Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture.
• Marbling ratio, called BMS,^[3] of level 6 and above.
• Meat Quality Score^[3] of 4 or 5
• Gross weight of beef from one animal is 470 kg or less. This post from Wikipedia.

The most important thing in cooking ”right” sushi-is rice.Not every sort of rice will make your sushi tasty and delicious.Many people associate sushi with raw fish.But the main ingridient is rice.Japanese sticky rice seasoned with sweet vinegar.Of course,fish is important element,but not just raw fish.Smoked or cooked and even shellfish.So,try at your local Japanese restaurant every sort of sushi and enjoy healthy Japanese Cuisine.Bon appetit!   Sushi appeared at the end of 19 century due to the talented Japanese cook Yohei. He  first made sushi using raw fish. His culinary creations are immediately gained popularity.   Fundamentals of sushi:Sushi – this is a snack consisting of fresh fillet of raw fish, seafood or vegetables, cooked glutinous rice,wrapped in a special plate of seaweed (nori seaweed).They are the following:  Sashimi, Nigiri, Maki, Kone you can try at any Japanese Restaurant.