The blog — Tradition

The Japanese summer is the season of festivals, and the June Lantern Festival (rokugatsudô) is unique in that it is specific to Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. If you think it's a bit late to mention it, don't worry: we're talking about the lunar month of June, which corresponds to our current month of July, which is why this festival takes place every year on July 15th and 16th. Celebrated in 5 shrines in the city of Kagoshima, the most famous is that of the Terukuni shrine, one of those rare shrines dedicated to mortals deified after their...

Among the regional specialties of Niigata, hegi soba noodles intrigue with their ubiquity. Why "hegi"? It's a long story... Tokamachi is a city in the south of Niigata Prefecture, long renowned for its sericulture and – since silk is readily available – its kimono textile industry. To give a certain patina and enhance the colors of kimonos, funori seaweed, a perfectly edible panacea, is also used in the paper industry for its adhesive properties. Who had the idea one day to add this fabric glue to buckwheat flour for soba? It's unknown, but the result is firm and supple noodles...