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JAPAN A country told through its kitchens
Words: Editorial staff Photography: Japan Tourisme and archive
Japanese cuisine, recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, forms
one of the greatest bridges between Japan and the foreign visitor. In autumn – shoku-
yoku no aki, ‘the season of appetite’ – this connection becomes especially visible. It is
the time for mushrooms, roasted sweet potatoes, nuts, oily fish, and newly harvested
rice; ingredients that not only fill the table but also return to the traveller the sensation of
entering the intimate essence of the country. In Japan, eating is not an isolated act: it is
a way of understanding the landscape, the seasons, and daily life
Ichiba:Seasonality as a
language.
To enter a Japanese market, an ichi-
ba, is to step into the true rhythm of
the country. There is no better way
to understand its gastronomy than to
follow the movement of the fishmon-
gers at dawn, as they unload crates of
tuna, silver sardines, and turbot glea-
ming on crushed ice. The auctions set
the morning’s tempo, and the first bu-
yers move with a disciplined silence,
as if participating in a ritual repeated
every day.
Beyond the famous Toyosu market
in Tokyo, Japan preserves spaces
where tradition and local produce are
expressed without artifice. In Shio-
gama, in Miyagi prefecture, the fish
markets sustain a city with one of the
highest number of sushi restaurants
in the country. Kanazawa boasts the
Omicho market, with three centuries
of history, where the nodoguro – the
delicate ‘black-throated perch’ – is
presented as a jewel of the Sea of Ja-
pan. In Yamaguchi, the Karato market
offers the chance to buy sushi by the
piece, sample a pufferfish miso broth,
or simply sit and observe the artisans
of the sea at work.
The traveller who pauses at these
markets discovers more than just
fresh produce: they find the culture
of seasonality, that sensitivity which
turns each season into its own voca-
bulary. Here, autumn tastes of chest-
nuts, of matsutake mushrooms, of hot
sweet potatoes freshly taken from a
stone oven. And whoever tastes it im-
mediately understands that Japanese
gastronomy is, above all, an intimate
conversation with nature.
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