Our guest is Takuma Inagawa who is the founder and CEO of WAKAZE. WAKAZE is a unique and forward-minded producer of Japanese sake based in Paris, France.

The Japanese sake industry has been facing challenges domestically due to various reasons, such as the decrease in the drinking population and the increase in competitive products in the market like wine and shochu. Compared to the peak of sake consumption in the 1970s, Japanese people drink only a quarter of sake now.

Ironically, the government regulations are not helping to stop the decline as they restrict licensing new sake businesses that can revitalize the industry.

However, WAKAZE is presenting a model to conquer the challenges by producing new styles of sake with traditional techniques and an innovative mindset.

In this episode, we will discuss why Takuma left his successful career as a business consultant and decided to start a sake brewery in Paris, his out-of-the-box approach to sake production, how he managed to convince French consumers to drink Japanese sake made in Paris, his new sake production in America, his global plans to grow the popularity of sake, and much, much more!!!

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Our guest is Morgan Adamson, the chef at Hoseki, a six-seat omakase sushi bar located at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

In previous episodes, we had several non-Japanese sushi chefs who proved that America has a distinctive pool of talent, and that the American sushi culture is on healthy ground. Morgan is definitely one of these talents, and being female, she is particularly unique as the traditional sushi industry has been notorious for not welcoming females to lead the sushi counter.

In this episode, we will discuss how a young woman from Michigan got into sushi, how she studied sushi-making and built a successful career, a unique concept of Hoseki where she expresses her own sushi-making philosophy, her advice to future sushi chefs in America, and much, much more!!!

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THE NOTO PENINSULA EARTHQUAKE DISASTER RELIEF

As you may know, a major earthquake struck Japan's Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on January 1st. The death toll keeps climbing and the damage to the beautiful region is tremendous. Importantly, 10 of the 11 sake breweries in the Noto Peninsula were completely or partially destroyed.

So if you can, please donate through reliable organizations including:

The Japanese Red Cross https://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/2024NotoPeninsulaEarthquake.html

Peace Winds America: A fundraiser by US-Japan Foundation/US-Japan Leadership Program https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/49472/ 　

The Ishikawa Sake Brewers Association

https://www.ishikawa-sake.jp/index.php　

(the donation account details) https://www.ishikawa-sake.jp/images/97-1.pdf)

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!

Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.

Our guest is Elizabeth Andoh, who already joined us 13 times and shared her truly deep insight into traditional Japanese food culture. Elizabeth is a food writer and Japanese cooking instructor based in Tokyo, and she has lived in Japan for over 50 years. She runs the culinary arts program called A Taste of Culture, which offers a great opportunity for non-Japanese people to explore Japanese culture through its food. Elizabeth is also the author of 6 cookbooks, including the award-winning “Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Kitchen” and “Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions.”

Today’s topic is Japanese curry. Curry is a universally popular dish, but like many other things, Japanese people remodeled the original and created a unique style of their own. Now, Japanese people eat Japanese-style curry as often as every 5 days, and the sales of all curry products totals 100 billion Japanese yen, or 660 million US dollars, annually.

In this episode, we will discuss when and how Japanese people created their distinctively unique style of curry, the difference between Japanese and other styles of curry in the world, how to make a perfect Japanese curry dish at home, and much, much more!!!

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THE NOTO PENINSULA EARTHQUAKE DISASTER RELIEF

As you may know, a major earthquake struck Japan's Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on January 1st. The death toll keeps climbing and the damage to the beautiful region is tremendous. Importantly, 10 of the 11 sake breweries in the Noto Peninsula were completely or partially destroyed.

So if you can, please donate through reliable organizations including:

The Japanese Red Cross https://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/2024NotoPeninsulaEarthquake.html

Peace Winds America: A fundraiser by US-Japan Foundation/US-Japan Leadership Program https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/49472/ 　

The Ishikawa Sake Brewers Association

https://www.ishikawa-sake.jp/index.php　

(the donation account details) https://www.ishikawa-sake.jp/images/97-1.pdf)

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Japan Eats by becoming a member!

Japan Eats is Powered by Simplecast.