Trails to Tsukiji - Season 1 / Year 2015

This program features green tea, a popular Japanese drink with 1,000 years of history. The Japanese enjoy green tea in various occasions in their everyday lives: with meals, at tea breaks during working hours, and even when they have visitors at their homes and offices. Our reporter visits traditional tea stores in Tsukiji, a huge green tea field at the foot of Mt. Fuji, and introduces the traditional process of tea making and tea culture, which is deeply rooted in Japanese society.

This program features Japan's unique food market, Tsukiji, where excellent food is assembled from all over the world, with a special focus on strawberries. Japanese strawberries are referred to as "fruit jewels" thanks to their red, shiny and perfectly shaped appearance. There are some original strawberries such as white ones and gigantic ones. A researcher cultivating new breeds and a chef who invented the ultimate strawberry dessert along with other specialists tell you what is so fascinating about Japanese strawberries.

We focus on"Aji", an extremely popular fish in Japan. Aji can be grilled, fried and even eaten raw as sashimi. Especially highlighted is a type of Aji called Donchitchi, highly recommended by fish specialists. We go to Shimane Prefecture, in western Japan, and discover state-of-the art technologies that monitor and check Donchitchi's fat rate and storage temperature, ensuring the finest quality. You'll also learn various ways in which Aji is deliciously prepared. Come with us on an Aji adventure.

This program showcases various Japanese food ingredients. Today's focus is the black paper-like seaweed called Nori which is a must for sushi. The Japanese love it and eat 10 billion sheets per year, making it a kind of Japanese soul food. Check out how they farm it in the sea and how it's enjoyed with many different ways of cooking.

We focus on ume, Japanese plum. Though it is a fruit, it cannot be eaten raw. For more than 1000 years, the people have been in favor of this unique ingredient by processing them such as liquor and jam. Above all, sour umeboshi, made by putting ume in salt, has been their all time favorite. Ume has strong association with seasonal Japanese traditions. People enjoy its scent and flowers in early spring and pick their fruits in rainy season. You will be fascinated by the world of ume.

Our focus is kombu, dried seaweed, a necessity for the dashi soup stock which is a key component of washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine. Our reporter flies to Hokkaido, the far north of Japan, to report on kombu farming. He also learns how to make good dashi and how to cook healthy Okinawan cuisine rich with kombu. The program shows how kombu is deeply rooted in Japanese food culture.

This program is all about sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are used in a variety of delicious ways, from desserts to traditional Japanese dishes to salads, and as the basis for shochu liquor. Yakiimo, a baked whole sweet potato, is a very popular snack in Japan. As a result of repeated breed selection, there are about 90 types of sweet potatoes with outstanding sweetness in Japan. Farmers constantly pursue sweeter potatoes with improved textures. Enjoy the mysterious world of the sweet potato.

In this program, we focus on Ika, squid, eaten more in Japan than any other country in the world. Our intrepid reporter visits Hokkaido, in the north of Japan, to learn about midnight squid fishing, discovers an amazing way to deliver squid live, and eats various delicious squid dishes, including traditional Japanese ones as well as a unique fusion with Italian cooking. Join us!

This program features tuna, the king of fish, traded in Japan's largest food market, Tsukiji, where various kinds of food from around the world are traded. Enjoy the exciting tuna auction where a fish can cost over 100,000 dollars and learn about the world's first complete tuna farm raising site. From unique ways of cooking to state-of-the-art research to protect tuna, a precious resource, learn just what makes tuna so great.