Written at the table, not from a guidebook
Itadakimasu is about the food that doesn't make it into travel guides: what's in the fridge, what's in the lunchbox, what everyone buys on the way home.
Most food writing about Japan is about restaurants. This site is about everything else. The point is not to tell you what's "authentic." It's to show you what's normal — what a family eats on a Tuesday, how a convenience store works, why a rice ball costs what it costs — so that when you're here, or cooking here, nothing feels like a mystery.
What you'll find here
- Everyday meals: breakfast, lunchboxes, weeknight dinners.
- Shops, explained: convenience stores, supermarkets, department-store food halls.
- Staples worth knowing: rice, miso, pickles, and the things people eat without thinking.
- How to eat it: etiquette that matters and etiquette that doesn't.
Who writes it
Itadakimasu is written by Kats, a chef with ten years' experience in Japanese restaurant kitchens. Kats holds Japan's national cook's licence (調理師免許, chōrishi menkyo) — a state qualification covering food hygiene, nutrition and cooking technique — and now cooks for the family every day. The professional training shows up here in a particular way: not in restaurant recipes, but in knowing why a home version works, what to do when an ingredient is missing, and which shortcuts are fine.
How this site is made
Photos are taken here, in real kitchens and real shops. Text is written in Japanese first and translated into English by the author, then checked against what's actually on the shelf. Where something changes fast — prices, seasonal items — the article says so and gives the month it was checked.