I owe a significant debt of thanks to my researcher, Emiko “Emi” Doi—not just for her amazing ability to get me into places I might otherwise never even have known existed but for her warmth and generosity to me and my family while we were in Japan.
So many people gave their time to help me in the research for this book and displayed remarkable patience when dealing with my innovative scatter-gun interviewing technique. Most are already mentioned by name, but I would again like to express my sincere thanks for their time and generosity: to Toshi, of course, although I doubt anything in these pages will come as news to him; Yukio Hattori, whose Tokyo Taste event I later attended and much enjoyed; Yoshiki Tsuji, a generous host during my visit to Osaka; miso expert Tony Flenley, who tells me the smell from his drains has much improved; Etsuko Shinobu, the Tokyo housewife whose tatami floor I besmirched with my borrowed red vinyl slippers; Yoshio Ando, the wasabi expert; Takahiko Sasaki, the konbu expert; Philip Harper and Akira Toko, the sake experts who shared their knowledge and enthusiasm; Kanae Okada, the remarkable soy revivalist; Shuichiro Kobori, the fu expert; Ikuko Uda, the wasabi cooking supremo; salt revolutionary Masakatsu Takayasu; master chefs Hiroshi Ishida, Yoshihiro Murata, Yoshifumi Mori, Takamitsu Aihara, Eiji Hayashi, and Jeff Ramsay; Osamu, the peerless sushi chef who kindly and with great forbearance showed us around Tsukiji; Junko and Sasha in Kyoto; Chiaki and Hiroshi for their incredible hospitality in Osaka; centenarian Matsu Taira; Ramen World Champion Takamitsu Kobayashi; our friends at the Onoe sumo stable (congratulations to Sumo Monster and Baruto, who since I wrote this book went on to great success and have now retired); Tamie Kosaki and Kayo Kosaki, the ama divers; Kurt, my Koya-san guru; gerontologist Dr. Craig Willcox; the renowned Osakan food writer Takeshi Kadokami, who gave generously of his time in order to help me understand the nature of Osakan cuisine; and the people at Fuji TV, the Wadakin cattle ranch, the Yaizu fish-processing center, Ajinomoto, and Kikkoman, all of whom received me with great generosity and kindness.
There are also some who aren’t mentioned explicitly in the book but were a tremendous help and inspiration, such as Kylie Clark at the Japan National Tourism Organization in London (a true Japanese food fan, and kindred spirit—go to www.seejapan.co.uk to have all your questions answered about visiting) and the helpful assistants at the various tourist offices around Japan, particularly in Mie Prefecture and Osaka.
And then there was the woman who politely tapped me on the shoulder while I was on my phone at a crossroads in Ginza and apologized for interrupting me to say, did I realize I had dropped a large banknote on the sidewalk? For me, she epitomized the decency and helpfulness shown to us by virtually every single Japanese person we met during our journey through their astonishingly beautiful, endlessly exciting, and thoroughly civilized land. (I like to think I sent the karma onward when, later, I found a wallet filled with large banknotes on the backseat of a taxi one evening in Kyoto. Perhaps in no other country in the world would I have judged it prudent to pass the wallet to the taxi driver, safe in the knowledge that he would hand it in to the police.)
Practical travel assistance was very generously given by the Japan National Tourism Organization (see above), the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (www.mandarinoriental.com/tokyo), and Oakwood serviced apartments (www.oakwood.com), which are fantastic if you are traveling with a family.
I am deeply grateful for the continuing support and sound advice of my agent, George Lucas at Inkwell, as well as the skillful and sensitive editing of Anna deVries at Picador. Sincere thanks also to my U.S. publisher, Stephen Morrison, and the original publisher of this book, Dan Franklin at Jonathan Cape in London.
Finally, to Lissen, in particular, I want to express my unbounded gratitude for your incredible support and patience during this journey. I know that sometimes there appeared to be precious little method in my madness but hope that in reading this you will see that there was at least some point to the many hours spent trying to entertain two young, restless boys alone in a strange land. (You can now see just how absolutely essential it was that I visit two cattle ranches, for example.)
One day we’ll go back and eat at Kikunoi together, I promise.