Rice, Noodle, Fish (12 page)

SCALE MOUNT SAKE

Remember, you're here to drink. Now that you've warmed up, move on to a
junmai daiginjo
from Niigata, Japan's greatest sake-producing region.
Daiginjo
means at least 50 percent of the rice has been polished, giving it a more delicate, complex flavor.

(Michael Magers, lead photographer)

TACKLE THE TEPPAN

Griddle-cooked staples like
yakisoba
and
okonomiyaki
make it onto most izakaya menus, but it's crispy gyoza, Japan's juicy pork dumplings (best when lashed with chili oil), that offer the best match for your blooming buzz.

(Matt Goulding)

SWITCH YOUR POISON

Now that you've warmed up on sake, time to wade into deeper waters. Shochu is the distilled drink of choice in Kyushu, packing twice the punch of a typical sake. Try a sweet potato–based
imo
shochu. (No shochu? Make it a highball—a salaryman favorite.)

(Michael Magers, lead photographer)

GREASE UP

Fried food makes the perfect booze sponge.
Karaage
(fried chicken) and
agedashi
tofu (fried tofu) are the most ubiquitous, but crispy oysters and
satsumaage
, fried fish cakes from Kyushu (a perfect match for the shochu!) offer a chance to break new culinary ground.

(Michael Magers, lead photographer)

BE BRAVE

Finish with something from the inevitable section of izakaya oddities: fermented squid guts, cod sperm, fried testicles. There's no better time than right now.

 

(Matt Goulding)

Kobe is what your local gastropub calls its sliders, not what the Japanese call their high-fat beef. Kobe is a city famous for the quality of its Wagyu (the proper name for Japanese beef), but it represents less than 1 percent of all Japanese beef. Lavishly marbled Wagyu comes from nearly all of Japan's forty-seven prefectures. Want to sound smart? Look for Matsusaka, Omi, or Mishima Wagyu, among the most revered in Japan.

Rumors that Japanese cows get fat on beer, sake, and massages turn out to be greatly exaggerated. Historically, some small part of the Wagyu industry advocated beer or sake to stimulate appetite in the warmer months, while others massaged cows for better fat distribution, but the practice is limited to a tiny percentage of the overall Wagyu game. Most cows live on a diet rich in grains and move very little—two secrets to the intense intramuscular marbling.

Wagyu is ranked on a well-defined scale of letters and numbers based on the quality of the beef and the intensity of the marbling. A5, the highest ranking for Wagyu, indicates meat so densely marbled that the red protein is tough to spot. The best Japanese beef eats like European butter, which is a neat trick for protein, but those who love the intense minerality of, say, a grass-fed sirloin may be left wondering, Where's the beef?

Whether it's worth it depends on how deep your pockets and your love of beef fat are. Dedicated Wagyu restaurants charge up to $200 for a basic steak dinner. Get your fix with a few bites at a high-end izakaya, or try a Wagyu
sando
—lightly fried beef stuffed between soft bread. You'll find better value with F1 beef, a mix of Wagyu and Angus that delivers much of the extravagant richness of the high-class stuff without the price tag.

 

The blade makes its way from hand to hand, from anvil to grinder to whetstone. The four artisans in this famed knife town south of Osaka create some of the finest edges in a country that still reveres a balanced blade. American photographer Michael Magers crossed Japan in search of
shokunin
, Japan's fading class of master craftsmen, and came to Sakai for these intimate portraits of the men of steel.

(Michael Magers, lead photographer)