Japanese Home Cooking Travel Guide

Enriched with the pillars of miso, sake, dashi, and soy sauce, Japanese home cooking covers all kinds of dishes in Japanese cuisine. Japanese home cooking is incredibly diverse, including delicious rice bowls, hearty noodle dishes, flavors like teriyaki, and group meals such as hot pots. The well-balanced foundation of a typical Japanese meal is rooted in the philosophy of ichiju sansai, meaning “one soup and three side dishes,” where the main dish and two sides accompany a bowl of rice (alongside some obligatory pickles). Japan’s prefectures incorporate their regional produce and seasonal offerings into local home cooking, incorporating fermented foods (good for the gut) and thoughtfully portioned ingredients containing revitalizing health benefits.

Healthy and wholesome, a home cooked meal in Japan is created with side dishes working together harmoniously. Ohitashi, a mix of boiled greens like spinach, is a common Japanese side dish, served chilled and flavored with soy sauce; while vegetables in goma-ae are served coated with an addictive sesame sauce. Simmered vegetables like carrots and burdock root make for tasty kinpira gobo, and the wild seaweed-like hijiki features in Japanese home cooking, too. Check out our Japanese home cooking experiences below to discover the wonders of Japanese home cooking and the unique flavors found in kitchens throughout Japan. You could join a homemade Japanese cooking class, humble and balanced, or to eat like a local in a Japanese home dining experience.