Rice, Noodle, Fish (39 page)

MASU-NO SUSHI

Toyama Station

A peerless example of Japanese pressed sushi: thin slices of rosy river trout spackled with a thin layer of Kewpie mayo and draped over a flotilla of pressed rice like a savory cake for adults. Unchanged since 1912 and so good that Japanese go to great lengths to buy it and bring it to friends and family around the country.

(Matt Goulding)

ANAGO MESHI

Miyajima Station

One of the oldest and greatest
ekiben
in all of Japan. The same family has been making this beauty since 1901, roasting the saltwater eel over charcoal, glazing the meat with soy, simmering the rice in eel stock. It's best in the restaurant when the eel comes directly off the grill, but the
ekiben
(also available in Hiroshima Station) makes for all-world road food.

It takes a village to publish a book, but it takes a nation to publish one about Japan—at least it does when you are as clueless as I was when I first touched down in Tokyo years ago. My primary debt is to the people of Japan, whose extraordinary generosity turned an incomprehensible country into a place of abiding beauty.

This book would not be possible without the help of the following people, in particular:

Ioanna Morelli showed incredible grace and skill in being my interpreter—of language, culture, behavior, everything—through most of the book's research. I owe much of what I know and love about this country to her; her husband, Hisashi; and their friends.

Ken Yokoyama, a
shokunin
in the art of hospitality, performed minor miracles to help me better understand and appreciate Kyoto. He did so with the selflessness and precision that represents the very best of his country and his people.

I spent many an Osaka night in the expert hands of Yuko Suzuki, eating and drinking and learning things that would be inconceivable without her generous gift of time, talent, and spirit.

Hisaichiro Yanagihara (a wise and generous master of the food scene in Fukuoka).

Robbie Swinnerton should have laughed me out of his adopted country when I first told him about the idea for this book. Instead, he selflessly shared the expertise that makes him one of the great translators of Japanese culinary culture for the English-speaking world.

And the dozens of people who welcomed me into their restaurants, homes, inns, and lives: the Matsuno family of Arashiyama, Ben and Chikako Flatt, Fernando and Makiko Lopez, Kamimura Toshiyuki, Robert Yellin, Yoshiteru Ikegawa, Shinji Nohara, Brian MacDuckston, Gen Yamamoto, Nick Szasz and the ace staff of Fukuoka Now, Eric Eto, Sojiki Nakahigashi, Toshiro Ogata, Mick Nippard, Sanada Kodai, Sander Jackson Siswojo, and Miriam Goldberg.

Special thanks to Lauren Scharf and the Art of Travel crew in Kanazawa for showing me that Ishikawa Prefecture is deserving of a book itself. And to the fine folks at the JNTO offices in New York and Tokyo for supporting this project back when it was nothing more than a naive idea.

Closer to home, I owe pretty much everything I write to Nathan Thornburgh, my partner at Roads & Kingdoms, who has been the creative force behind this project since its genesis. You are the finest editor I know, and yet, somehow, an even better friend and collaborator.

Douglas Hughmanick, an alchemist of the highest order, could turn a few scribbles and a stack of Polaroids into a work of art. You've once again broken new ground with the design of this book. Thanks for always making us look good.

A huge thanks to Michael Magers, an endless source of positive energy, photographic excellence, and
conbini
love: your images say all the things that my words can't.

Tony Bourdain blew the doors off the food-writing world many years ago and continues to expand its boundaries to parts unknown. Anyone who writes about food and travel is in your debt—me more than anyone. Thanks for believing in Roads & Kingdoms and everything that we do.

Kim Witherspoon knows how to navigate the turbulent waters of the New York publishing world with preternatural ease and precision. Thanks for steering this ship safely into port.

To Karen Rinaldi, for believing that there was life after
Eat This, Not That!
, and for providing all the support and creative freedom to bring it to fruition. Her team at Harper Wave—including Hannah Robinson, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, and John Jusino—have helped us shape this book with incredible skill and patience.

And, above all, to my wife, Laura, my not-so-secret weapon, whose grace and beauty is the skeleton key to a world of closed doors.

(Michael Magers, lead photographer)

Matt Goulding
is a cofounder of Roads & Kingdoms and the coauthor of the
New York Times
bestselling series
Eat This, Not That!
, a series with more than 10 million books in print. He divides his time between the tapas bars of Barcelona and the barbecue joints of North Carolina.

Nathan Thornburgh
is a cofounder of Roads & Kingdoms, where he puts all his previous careers—as a musician, a foreign correspondent for
Time
magazine, and an accomplished drinker—to good daily use.

Douglas Hughmanick
is the head of the Roads & Kingdoms design department. He also founded and operates ANML, a digital design studio in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

Find intel on the best places to eat, drink, and sleep across the seven
regions covered in this book, all available in the palm of your hand. For more information, go to
roadsandkingdoms.com/japan.

COVER DESIGN BY DOUGLAS HUGHMANICK

RICE, NOODLE, FISH
. Copyright © 2015 by Matt Goulding and Nathan Thornburgh. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Goulding, Matt.

Rice, noodle, fish : deep travels through Japan's food culture / Matt Goulding ; edited by Nathan Thornburgh. — First Edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-06-239403-3

EPub Edition October 2015 ISBN 9780062394040

1. Food habits—Japan. 2. Food tourism—Japan. 3. Goulding, Matt—Travel—Japan. I. Title.

15   16   17   18   19         
ID
/
QGT
         10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada

www.harpercollins.ca

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

Rosedale 0632

Auckland, New Zealand

www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF, UK

www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

195 Broadway

New York, NY 10007

www.harpercollins.com