60 Fun Facts About Japanese Food

Traditional Japanese cuisine, based on rice, miso soup and seasonal side dishes, is known by what name?

It was added to UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list in 2013.

The phrase ichijū-sansai, describing a typical Japanese meal, means what?

The set is served with steamed rice and pickles, and also describes the first course of a kaiseki dinner.

What is the one defining ingredient of sushi?

Raw seafood is the most common topping, but plenty of sushi contains cooked seafood, vegetables or omelette and none at all.

Nigiri sushi, seafood on hand-pressed rice, is credited to Hanaya Yohei around which year?

It was the fast food of Edo's townspeople; the city is now Tokyo.

Yoshiaki Shiraishi got the idea for kaiten-zushi, sushi that circulates past diners, from watching what?

He opened the first Mawaru Genroku Sushi in Higashiosaka in 1958 and expanded to 250 restaurants.

What does the word sashimi literally mean?

The name may come from spiking a fish's brain the moment it is landed to keep the flesh fresh.

Ramen's alkaline wheat noodles trace back to which community in Japan?

Nearly every region now has its own style, from Kyushu's tonkotsu to Hokkaido's miso ramen.

Tonkotsu ramen, invented by a street vendor in Kurume in 1937, has a broth based on what?

Many shops offer a second helping of noodles for the leftover broth, a system called kaedama.

Tempura arrived in Japan in the 16th century thanks to which visitors?

The name may come from the Latin tempora, the fasting 'Ember days' when Catholics ate battered vegetables instead of meat.

Miso, and soy sauce, are made by fermenting soybeans with which fungus?

The mould is called kōji in Japanese and is also essential to brewing sake.

Dashi, the stock at the base of miso soup, is most commonly made from kombu kelp and shavings of what?

Kombu's glutamates and katsuobushi's inosinate combine into a synergy of umami.

The smoked, fermented, rock-hard fish shaved into bonito flakes is made from which species?

The fillets are simmered, smoked and fermented until rock hard, then shaved into flakes.

Which Tokyo chemist identified umami as a distinct taste in 1908 while studying kombu broth?

He linked the savoury taste to glutamic acid and later commercialised MSG.

Which slimy, smelly breakfast food is made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis?

Legend credits its discovery to the samurai Minamoto no Yoshiie, whose boiled beans fermented in straw bags.

Wagyu is the collective name for how many principal Japanese cattle breeds?

The famous marbling is really a trait of just one of them, the Japanese Black, which makes up about 97 percent of wagyu.

Genuine Kobe beef must come from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle raised in which prefecture?

The animals must also be heifers or steers and be processed at one of five approved slaughterhouses.

Matcha gets its bright green colour and strong umami from what?

The powdered-tea method was brought from China by the monk Eisai around 1191.

Which monk is credited with introducing powdered tea to Japan around 1191?

The tea ceremony, chanoyu, still centres on preparing and drinking matcha.

Despite being called rice wine, sake is made by a process more like brewing what?

Starch is converted to sugar and then fermented; undiluted sake reaches 18 to 20 percent alcohol.

Before brewing, sake rice is polished to remove what?

The more of the grain milled away, the more refined the grade, up to daiginjo.

Shōchū, Japan's distilled spirit, is typically what strength?

It is made from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat or brown sugar, and occasionally chestnuts or even carrots.

Most 'wasabi' served outside Japan is actually a mix of horseradish, mustard, starch and what?

Real wasabi is a difficult, water-hungry crop, so growers cannot meet demand and it stays expensive.

Soy sauce originated in which country about 2,200 years ago?

Kikkoman, formed in Noda in 1917 from eight family firms dating back to 1603, is now the world's largest producer.

Kikkoman was created in 1917 in which town, through the merger of eight family firms?

By 2002 it was the world's largest producer of soy sauce.

Mochi is made by pounding what?

The pounding ceremony is called mochitsuki, and mochi is the traditional food of New Year.

Onigiri are traditionally filled with salted salmon or what pickled fruit?

Ume is usually translated as plum but is closer to an apricot; the pickles are extremely sour and salty.

Soba noodles are made from which flour?

Long soba eaten on New Year's Eve, toshikoshi soba, symbolises long life.

Toshikoshi soba is eaten on which day?

The tradition dates from the Edo period; buckwheat's hardiness makes it a symbol of resilience.

Okonomiyaki, the savoury griddle pancake, has two main regional styles from Kansai and which city?

Toppings include a Worcestershire-based sauce, mayonnaise, aonori and bonito flakes; the name means roughly 'grilled as you like'.

Takoyaki, the ball-shaped Osaka snack cooked in a moulded pan, is filled with what?

The batter also holds tempura scraps, pickled ginger and spring onion.

Yakitori literally means what?

It is chicken grilled over charcoal and seasoned with tare sauce or salt.

Tonkatsu, curry rice and korokke were known as the 'three great' examples of what kind of cuisine?

Tonkatsu is a pork cutlet coated in panko crumbs and deep-fried.

Curry, now virtually a national dish of Japan, was introduced in the Meiji era by whom?

It first appeared in Japanese cookbooks in 1872, probably via the Royal Navy and its curry powder.

Shabu-shabu takes its name from what?

It was created in the 20th century at the Suehiro restaurant in Osaka.

Sukiyaki simmers thin beef at the table in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and what?

It is a winter dish, common at year-end bōnenkai parties.

The 1961 Kyu Sakamoto hit 'Ue o Muite Arukō' was retitled 'Sukiyaki' abroad. Why?

The words have nothing to do with the hot pot; it topped the US charts in 1963.

Fugu is dangerous because its organs contain which poison?

The liver, considered the tastiest part, is also the most poisonous, and serving it has been banned since 1984.

Since 1958, chefs who want to serve fugu must do what?

According to one Tokyo chef, the Emperor has never eaten fugu because of a centuries-old ban.

A bento decorated to look like anime or game characters is called what?

'Picture bento' shaped like animals or buildings are oekakiben.

The first ekiben, or railway station bento, sold at Utsunomiya in 1885, consisted of what?

Stations across Japan now compete with ekiben built around local specialities.

Osechi, the traditional New Year foods, are served in stacked lacquer boxes called what?

Each dish carries a wish, for long life, prosperity, a good harvest or success.

Sheet nori was first made in Asakusa, Tokyo, around 1750 using a technique borrowed from what craft?

Before that, nori was eaten as a paste; it had been used as currency and shrine offerings since the 700s.

Edamame are what?

They are a classic beer snack, boiled or steamed and salted.

Momofuku Ando launched the world's first instant noodles in 1958 under what brand name?

A 2000 poll voted instant noodles the best Japanese invention of the 20th century.

Nissin's Cup Noodles, instant ramen in a disposable cup, went on sale in which year?

By 2018 the world was eating about 103 billion servings of instant noodles a year.

Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles, was born in which place?

He founded Nissin in Ikeda, Osaka, after a bankruptcy, starting as a small salt producer.

Pocky, first sold by Glico in 1966, is named after what?

In much of Europe it is sold under licence as Mikado.

Ramune, the marble-stoppered soda, was introduced in Kobe in 1884 by a pharmacist from which country?

Alexander Cameron Sim's drink was a carbonated lemonade, which is where the name comes from.

Anpan, the sweet roll filled with red bean paste, was created in 1875 by Yasubei Kimura, formerly what?

Emperor Meiji took a liking to it after being served anpan during cherry-blossom viewing.

Taiyaki is a filled cake baked in the shape of which fish?

Seijirō Kobe of Naniwaya first sold it in 1909 when his round imagawayaki cakes were not selling.

Dorayaki, the red-bean pancake sandwich beloved of the cartoon cat Doraemon, is named after what?

Its two-layer form was invented in 1914 by the Usagiya shop in Ueno, Tokyo.

What flavour is a traditional melonpan?

The name comes from the crispy cookie crust's resemblance to a melon's rind.

Which chocolate bar has 400+ Japanese flavours and a name that sounds like 'kitto katsu', 'you will win'?

Nestlé says it overtook Meiji Chocolate as Japan's best-selling confectionery from 2012 to 2014.

Sticking chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice is rude in Japan because it recalls what?

Passing food from chopsticks to chopsticks is taboo for the same reason.

Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, once the world's largest, closed in October 2018 and moved where?

Tsukiji had opened in 1935 to replace a market destroyed by the 1923 earthquake; the old site is now a tourist draw.

Jiro Ono of Jiro Dreams of Sushi fame founded Sukiyabashi Jiro in which Tokyo district?

Born in 1925, he served Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe there in 2014.

Which two companies dominate Japanese whisky production and exports?

Pioneer Masataka Taketsuru studied Scotch-making and chose Yoichi in Hokkaido for its Scotland-like climate.

The kanji for kaiseki, the multi-course haute cuisine, literally mean what?

It refers to a warmed stone monks held against their stomachs to stave off hunger.

Yakiniku Day falls on 29 August because of what?

The All Japan Yakiniku Association proclaimed it in 1993; the style descends from Korean barbecue.

Omurice, fried rice under an omelette, gets its name from what kind of word?

Omu comes from the French omelette and raisu from the English rice; it is a staple of children's set meals.