Series ・ 10 parts

Washoku and Yoshoku: The Story of the Japanese Table

A single grain of rice crossed the sea from the continent and transformed the tables of the archipelago. Rice and soup, the dashi of kelp and bonito, the Buddhist taboo against eating meat and the cuisine of monastic devotion. This first episode quietly traces how the foundations of Japanese food took shape from antiquity into the medieval age, following the historical record.

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01 The Land of Rice and Dashi — The Origins of Washoku A single grain of rice crossed the sea from the continent and transformed the tables of the archipelago. Rice and soup, the dashi of kelp and bonito, the Buddhist taboo against eating meat and the cuisine of monastic devotion. This first episode quietly traces how the foundations of Japanese food took shape from antiquity into the medieval age, following the historical record.
02 The Perfection of Ichiju-Sansai — Washoku as a Style Honzen ryori, born of warrior etiquette; kaiseki, nurtured by the way of tea. And in the streets of Edo, a city of a million, sushi, tempura, and soba emerged from the food stalls. This second episode traces the road by which the form of washoku we know took shape, where the beauty of style met the energy of the common people.
03 Black Ships and the Lifting of the Meat Ban — The Table of Civilization and Enlightenment In the closing years of the shogunate, black ships appearing off Uraga pried open Japan's door. With the country's opening, Western food flowed in, and in 1872 the emperor is said to have eaten beef. This third installment traces how a meat taboo more than a thousand years old was lifted, until a steaming pot of beef became the symbol of civilization and enlightenment.
04 The Birth of Yoshoku — The Flavor of Japanese Spirit and Western Technique Curry rice, tonkatsu, croquettes, omurice. Dishes that came from the West were reworked into flavors that went with rice and could be eaten with chopsticks. This fourth installment traces, along with the various theories of their origins, how a uniquely Japanese genre called 'yoshoku' came to be born apart from authentic Western cuisine.
05 The Taste Spread by the Military and Schools — How the State Standardized the Table On the Meiji seas, young sailors were collapsing one after another from beriberi. From one military doctor's challenge to solve that mystery, naval curry is said to have been born. A military mess hall, and a single rice ball for a poor child. This is a fact-based story of how the modern state, measuring food by the yardstick of nutrition, standardized the national table.
06 The Popularization of Eating Out — Cafés and Department Store Dining Halls From Taisho into the early Showa years, café lights flickered on in the city's entertainment districts, and in streets that had recovered from the great earthquake, the grand dining halls of department stores bustled with life. A children's lunch with Mt. Fuji-shaped rice and a tiny flag planted atop a single plate. This is a fact-based story of the urban table, where eating out became a pleasure and yoshoku became the food of ordinary people.
07 Hunger and Recovery: From Food Shortages to Bread War stripped abundance from the Japanese table. Ration books and meal tickets, suiton and substitute foods, and then the severe hunger that followed defeat. Eventually American wheat and skim milk powder arrived, and the bread and milk of school lunches quietly but profoundly rewrote how Japan ate.
08 High Growth and the Food Revolution Japan, rising from the ashes, grew rich at astonishing speed. Instant ramen in 1958, the refrigerator that entered the kitchen, and the age of family restaurants and fast food that opened in 1970. High growth brought a revolution that transformed the Japanese table in both quality and quantity.
09 The World Discovered Washoku No one once imagined that a culture of eating raw fish could be embraced across the seas. The sushi boom, the health-conscious turn, washoku's 2013 inscription as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Japanese restaurants spreading across the world. This is a neutral account, within what has been reported, of how washoku became a global word.
10 The Table to Come More people eat alone, prepared dishes support the table, and much of the food supply is owed to lands across the sea. Where is the Japanese table, where washoku and yoshoku have melted together, now headed? This final chapter looks neutrally, within what has been reported, at the modern questions of solitary eating, ready-made meals, food self-sufficiency, and the passing on of tradition, and quietly brings this long story to a close.