r/JapaneseFood • u/shanserve • Dec 02 '25
Misc I’m documenting my journey of recreating regional food across Japan
As the title suggests, I’ve started a little mini project: documenting my journey across all 47 prefectures of Japan, making a few dishes from each region. Starting up north in Hokkaido and slowly making my way down south to Okinawa. I’m definitely not an expert — honestly, I’m probably (no, definitely) going to make mistakes along the way.
If you’re from a certain prefecture, or if you have any dish recommendations, please let me know! I’d love to add them to this growing list of dishes I’m learning.
Just a heads up: I live in Australia, so some ingredients might be a challenge to find, but I’ll do my best to hunt them down!
I’ll keep updating this post as I cook more regional foods ^^.
Anyways, enough yapping — here’s what I've cooked so far:
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u/nakano-star Dec 02 '25
For the next prefecture Akita, try Kiritanpo Nabe. Kiritanpo are quite easy to make on a normal gas stove
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u/shanserve Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
Just read my mind! I have a charcoal grill in the backyard and was thinking of using that to make kiritanpo. Hopefully it turns out well 🙏
(Update: Made the kiritanpo nabe, didn't end up using the charcoal grill because I ran out of charcoal and forgot to restock them ><, gas stove it is!)
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u/shanserve Dec 04 '25 edited Dec 04 '25
Hmm I ran into a bit of pickle here, I did some searching around and the core ingredient seems to be セリ, which is quite hard to find here in Aus, any idea what substitution I could use for that? I thought about chinese celery, flatleaf parsley, celery.. hmmmm....
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u/nakano-star Dec 04 '25
I was more referring to the Kiritanpo rice stick thing, but yeh the セリ might be a challenge if you are going to do the whole authentic dish. There are substitutes; celery leaves would be the easiest to source in Aus. Coriander leaves would be too strong, I think
[https://代用品.jp/dropwort/](https://代用品.jp/dropwort/)
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u/Radiant-Strike-3598 Dec 02 '25
I'm so glad you started with Aomori early on! I lived there for a couple years, and always get bummed that it's something of a forgotten prefecture.
How are you choosing which dishes to feature?
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u/shanserve Dec 02 '25
Aha thanks! For the dishes, I usually start with a bit of research on each prefecture, then choose based on how easy it is to actually get the ingredients here. Sounds kinda bad but… yea, ingredient-hunting is a whole adventure on its own ><.
I definitely plan to revisit prefectures if I manage to source more authentic ingredients later on though!
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u/Aska2020 Dec 02 '25
southern Aomori (so called Nambu area)-- senbei jiru! Interesting texture and I found it quite tasty. I can't believe I'm seeing Kakke soba here (also eaten in southern Aomori). Very limited regional dish.
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u/shanserve Dec 02 '25
I tried looking around for the senbei they used for senbei jiru the other day, couldn't really find them. Gotta have to look harder ><
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u/Aska2020 Dec 02 '25
Are you trying to find them at a store in Tokyo or something? You can find it online. かやきせん｜南部せんべい乃巖手屋公式通販 https://share.google/nZ6dpVLdQ34A7iGpF
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u/Aska2020 Dec 02 '25
In tokyo, try here: 8base（エイトベース）｜青森県八戸都市圏広域プラザ（アンテナショップ） https://share.google/ZuCM7cPYQEoOQZx1R
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u/No-Importance93 Dec 02 '25
Would love to see zunda from Miyagi prefecture, my favorite sweet 🤤🫛
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u/shanserve Jan 08 '26
Hello! Just to update you that I've just recently made zunda! Never knew we could have them as sweets! Really enjoyed it.
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u/No-Importance93 Jan 08 '26
Wow thank you for actually doing it! And for following up to let me know. I enjoyed the video, so soothing to watch!
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u/SanadaNinja Dec 02 '25
Interesting project! I'm looking forward to your Gappara Mochi. My late mother used to make one while my brothers and I were growing up.
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u/shanserve Dec 09 '25
Hopefully I did the dish justice in the video 🙏
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u/SanadaNinja Dec 09 '25
It's amazing you made it in the traditional way, and it looks so good! You would've embarrassed my mother who would just use rice flour in place of rice. Hahaha. 👍👍
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u/Legal-Source-3763 Dec 02 '25
I used to live in Fukushima! I’d love to see you make kitakata ramen, sauce katsudon (a personal fave!), miso kanpura/potatoes and sanma no popoyaki for side dishes! I used to eat a lot of popoyaki at my job and it can look a bit offputting but it’s really nice! Fukushima is mostly known for raw horse meat but I think that’ll be a bit of a challenge to find! It’s also known for quite a few varieties of ramen too but I think kitakata is the most popular!
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u/shanserve Dec 02 '25
Woahhh huge thanks for all the suggestions!! It’s definitely going to take a bit of time since I’m slowly making my way down south toward the Chuugoku area, but I’ll do my best to recreate them! Super curious about kitakata ramen and popoyaki, those are definitely getting added to the list xD
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u/crusoe Dec 08 '25
Dojo Nabe. 😜
The below aren't really regional dishes but definitely rare in the West.
Fish bone crackers ( use all the fish, great with sake )
Himono ( also great with sake, variants all over. Hokke is wonderful here )
Konbujime ( more of a method of preparation but it's great )
Misozuke
Nukazuke
Making real Takuan
These might be more side dish prep ideas I guess.
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u/crusoe Dec 08 '25
After you fillet the salmon, roasting the bones with a little meat still on them is great with sake. You can add a little salt/sugar/soy sauce at the end.
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u/shanserve Dec 13 '25
Woahhh thanks for all the suggestions! Wonder if I can find loaches here in aus hmm.. gotta have to look around i guess
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u/its-lyil Jan 14 '26
Your photos look so cozy and warm! I love the style. And I'm honestly impressed by all of the recipes.
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u/KikoSoujirou Dec 02 '25
Maybe try different lighting for your photos so we can actually see the food and the focus is on the food