Hello, world!

My name is Shige. I was born and raised in Japan but live in the United States now.

This is my first post on my new website, Shige’s Kitchen. Here, I am going to explain why I started this blog.

First, I have a question for you. What would you answer if you are asked,

Your answer would be,

I know that everyone knows sushi even outside Japan! That is amazing, but maybe, many people can’t come up with anything else.

Or, if you are familiar with Japanese cuisine a little bit more, your answer would be,

This answer is quite right. All of these are definitely among the most popular dishes in Japan. Some would also answer soba, udon, and ramen, all of which are variations of noodles that are super popular in Japan.

But I wouldn’t answer any of these that I raised above, not even sushi, because Japanese people only occasionally eat them, usually at restaurants, even though they are all for ordinary people rather than only for rich people or aristocrats. Some people cook them at home, but that is not common so much. And I guarantee that the dishes that lay people cook at home do not taste as good as those offered at restaurants because all the dishes above belong to the realm of art. In other words, only experts who trained for many years can properly cook them.

Then, what would I answer? If I was asked this question, I would confidently answer,

These dishes are the three most popular foods in Japan. You haven’t heard of them? They are not well known outside Japan, but they are absolutely the most popular foods in Japan. People eat them both at home and at restaurants. Of course, it would be better if you eat them at a restaurant, but you can definitely cook them at home. And your plate would taste good if you just follow the recipe. If you practice several times, it would become better and better!

As I will introduce in later articles in the future, karē raisu, omuraisu, and hanbāgu are all Western-style, or yōfū in Japanese, dishes even though they hardly exist in the West. Having been inspired and influenced by Western dishes, Japanese people adapted those dishes into their own dishes. In fact, tempura and ramen are also from other countries. Tempura is originally from Portugal while ramen is originally from China. But indeed, all of them are today truly Japanese dishes.

It is not only the case with Japanese cuisine, but home cooking is often neglected when people talk about cuisine. High-class foods are also important and delicious, but what people actually eat every day are home-cooked dishes. If you only eat at restaurants or only eat pre-cooked meals that you bought at grocery stores, that is a bit sad.

I wanted to let people outside Japan know about Japanese home cooking. And I want you to try it at home. That is why I started this blog.

From the next article, I will introduce recipes, concepts, techniques, tools, and philosophies of Japanese home cooking.

That being said, I’d like to introduce many other Japan-related topics in this blog. For example, Japanese cuisine in general (rather than home cooking), the Japanese language, Japanese popular cultures, and so on. That is why the tagline for this website is “Japanese Home Cooking and Other Stuff.”

Forgive me even if I write mostly about the “Other Stuff”!

Thank you for reading, and be at home at Shige’s Kitchen!