tokyo food file

Autumn is here. Says Tedorigawa.

 

Well, the leaves aren't turning red quite yet. Nor is there much in the way of mist and mellow fruitfulness. But at least the worst of summer has been blown away by the typhoon that's barreled across most of Japan this past couple of days.

And the dragonfly nymphs have hatched into adult aka-tonbo dragonflies...

It's never too early to raise a glass of good sake in toast to our favourite season of the year. This brew — a junmai karakuchi officially called Yatsukaho, but generally known to the rest of us simply as "Aki" (Autumn) — comes from the wonderful Tedorigawa brewery, in Ishikawa Pref..

 

 

Brewed in August, released and ready to drink in August. A frisky fresh brew indeed. 

 

And big thanks for this to Chef Hasegawa and the crew at Den.

Summertime. And the sippin' is easy.

Enter the dragonfly…

Natsu-yago nigori sake, from Izumibashi Shuzo (Kanagawa Pref.), nicely chilled and ready to pour into the glass, slightly fizzing and petillant... 

 

Natsu is Japanese for "summer". And yago are dragonfly larvae — as shown on the label of the bottle — before they metamorphose into the adult insects.