MUSUBI KILN

Soft-spoken and deliberate, when first meeting Richard Geoffroy there’s no way you would know this man has helped change the landscape of Japanese alcohol with his project, IWA Sake. I didn’t know what to expect, but by the end of the interview, I’d not only learned an incredible amount about the sake industry (I thought I had a decent amount of knowledge already) and his place within it, but I felt I’d made a real connection. His warmth and friendliness put me at ease.

When you’ve spent your whole life somewhere, it can be simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying to watch it change. In Japan, more and more of the population is relocating to cities for any number of reasons—opportunity, convenience, proximity to others—which means that the smaller towns and villages in more remote areas are dwindling in population. But even the not-so-remote places are affected.

One such area is Higashi-Iwase, a once-industrious town just 20 minutes from Toyama Station on the light rail. Higashi-Iwase suffered a decline of industry and business, and the people went with it. Masuda Ryuichiro, the fifth-generation owner of sake brewery Masuda Shuzo, witnessed this during his childhood. And when he stepped into his position at his family’s sake brewery, he decided to reverse the trend.

It is now growing in population, becoming an artists’ enclave that welcomes creatives of all kinds: glassmakers, potters, Michelin-starred chefs, and more. During our tour of Toyama, Team Musubi stopped by the town to speak with Masuda himself and enjoy a guided walkthrough of the town to see what it has to offer, and what the future holds.

As a culinary genre, seafood can take many forms. From the single-table, family-style meal of a crawfish boil to the most elegant omakase counter seat, bodies of water worldwide offer a vast bounty to feast on. At Aphotic in San Francisco, California, Chef-owner Peter Hemsley seeks to take advantage of that bounty and elevate the seafood dining experience in America—going beyond the traditional and diving deep into innovation. And he’s been awarded a Michelin star for his efforts.

The cornerstone of high-end cuisine is using high-quality ingredients to create a stunning and delectable experience for all diners. And when it comes to high-end Japanese food in the US, there tends to be an emphasis on authenticity, which often results in importing ingredients from Japan.

There’s more than one path to true flavors, however. Chef Masa Hamaya of O-Ku, originally from Saitama but now based out of Atlanta, seeks to blend the flavors of his two homelands in a way that contributes to the authenticity of one without sacrificing the other. Using ingredients found in the States to create dishes that wouldn’t be out of place at a local sushi spot here in Tokyo, he seeks to harmonize the cultures that are a part of his multinational life.

To learn more about how his trans-Pacific background bleeds into his culinary creativity, we sent him the new Musubi Mono chawanmushi bowls to try out. Then, we sat down for a truly illuminating conversation about historical aspects of food, cultural collaboration, and how MUSUBI KILN’s pieces fit right in.

Here at MUSUBI KILN, we are big fans of nihonshu, or Japanese sake. With over 1,000 years of history behind it, it’s been the perfect addition to traditional Japanese meals for many generations. And it’s gaining traction outside of Japan as the go-to companion in sushi restaurants, as well as paired with Western-style food like stews and cheese to amplify the umami flavors.

Whatever your pleasure, sake doesn’t need to be something you have only when you go out. You can bring the full Japanese sake experience to your home bar by adding just a few pieces from our wide assortment of sake items. Read on to learn how to store your sake, how to serve it, and how to drink it with the variety of cups, carafes, and sets that may be found in restaurants and the homes of sake connoisseurs.

While you may be familiar with the fried chicken tradition of Christmas in Japan, you may not be aware that some people in Japan have been prepping for the New Year’s holiday almost two weeks before Christmas takes place.

The New Year’s preparation is serious business, and you can read more about it here. In addition to the big clean, there are lots of New Year’s decorations, called oshougatsu-kazari, to put in place so you can maximize the luck your home receives when the clock strikes midnight on January 1. Let’s dive into the symbolism and history of the pieces that appear in Japanese homes from December 13th onward.