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Aburi Shimesaba: The Technique That Changes Everything About a Fish
Shimesaba is mackerel cured in vinegar. Aburi shimesaba is that same mackerel, then briefly torched. Those few seconds of heat change the fish entirely. The line between the two versions is thinner than it looks.
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Nikomi: The Stew That’s Been Simmering Since Before You Arrived
Nikomi is not made to order. It’s been on the heat all day, sometimes longer. The pot on the counter is always the same pot. That continuity is the dish.
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Baisu Sour: The Drink Almost Nobody Outside Tokyo Has Heard Of
Baisu sour is shochu mixed with a red shiso and plum vinegar concentrate. It’s not sweet. It’s not sour in the way lemon sour is. It’s something else — tart, herbal, faintly medicinal. If you’ve had it, you know.
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Potato Salad: The Dish Every Izakaya Makes Differently
Every izakaya has potato salad. No two are the same. The version a place makes is not a side dish — it’s a position statement. It tells you what the kitchen thinks food is for.
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Kinmiya: The Shochu That Became the Working-Class Standard
Kinmiya Shochu has no strong flavor of its own. That’s not a flaw. It’s the point. It goes with everything. It costs less than premium spirits. It’s been at the same kind of counter for sixty years.
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Yakitori and Yakiton: Two Different Things at the Same Counter
Yakitori is chicken on a skewer, grilled over charcoal. Yakiton is pork offal — heart, small intestine, diaphragm, various other parts — also on a skewer, also over charcoal. They are cooked the same way. They are not the same thing. Outside Japan, people use “yakitori” for both. Inside Japan, a yakiton place will let…
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Lemon Sour: Japan’s Default Drink, and What That Means
Lemon sour is everywhere now. Every izakaya has it, every convenience store sells it in a can. That’s not a problem. It just means you have to pay attention to who makes it well.
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Basashi: Raw Horsemeat, and Why a Place That Does It Right Doesn’t Explain It
Basashi is raw horsemeat, sliced thin, served cold. It’s lean and faintly sweet. A place that does it right puts it in front of you without ceremony. That’s the signal.
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Akaboshi: The Beer That Tells You What Kind of Place You’re In
Akaboshi is Sapporo Lager in the bottle — the one with the red star. You don’t find it everywhere. Where you find it, it means something.
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Tachinomi: Why Standing Changes Everything
In Japan, standing is not a compromise. Standing is the format. The experience is designed around it — and it changes everything from the exit to the hierarchy.
My name is Morio Sakaba.
I’m a food machinery salesman, currently on my fifth year of a solo work assignment in Tokyo.
Before this, Fukuoka. Before that, Nagoya. Twelve years of eating alone in backstreet izakayas across Japan.
Morio Sakaba（酒場盛夫）
Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo