This is the beer garden at Aoyama Food and Flea, a wonderful farmers market in Aoyama, Tokyo.
The proud owner Okunaga Yoshihiro of Mankai ramen in Osaka. He worked in a Fukuoka ramen shop for 20 years before opening his own place in Osaka.
We met this cool crew at Afuri ramen in Ebisu, Tokyo. The man on the right said we were the first foreigners he's come across who ate ramen correctly.
We traveled to Hiroshima to eat Hiroshima style okonomiyaki, a dish I've made for years but have never tried. Every place we went to was so so good.
This is the front sign at Okariba in Kyoto, Okariba means "hunting grounds." The head chef is an avid hunter and actually serves everything he kills in his restaurant.
This man studied Kaiseke cuisine for years before opening his own izakaya. He serves such brilliant food that people travel from around Japan to visit his tiny Osaka izakaya.
The chef loved to joke around, Eizo and Yosei (another friend of ours in the picture) loved to joke around, Ben and I loved to joke around. We had a really good time here.
I went to a great sushiya in Ebisu for an upscale Omakase style sushi dinner. I had to. It was worth it.
Took a side trip to Java to eat Indonesian food. This is the window of a Masakan Padang, a type of cuisine found all over Indonesia but originating in Padang. It's the best.
I spoke too soon. THIS is the best. This is a Sundanese restaurant in Bandung, West Java. Fried meats and veggies with Sundanese Sambal and rice. Holy moly.
You tell 'em what you want, then they throw it in a giant pot of oil that's flavored from everything that's been cooking in it.
Our friends in Bandung had a barbecue when we got to town. Stayed up late cooking fish, smoking cloves, talking about music. A real good time.