Japanese Hirayama: Kumamoto and Kyushu Island Regional Cooking
Kumamoto Prefecture and Kyushu island, Japan
Kumamoto and greater Kyushu represent Japan's most culinarily distinct island—a collection of regional cooking traditions that sits geographically and culinarily closer to China and Korea than to Tokyo, with a food culture shaped by centuries of trade, volcanic agriculture, and seafood from both the Pacific and the East China Sea. Kumamoto's specific contributions to Japanese cuisine include: basashi (raw horse meat sashimi—the most famous horsemeat culture in Japan), karashi renkon (lotus root stuffed with spicy mustard-miso paste, fried in batter—a striking regional preparation), ikinari dango (large steamed mochi dumpling stuffed with sweet potato and anko), and Kumamoto ramen (tonkotsu-base with roasted garlic oil, called mayu, and different from Fukuoka's Hakata style). Beppu (in neighboring Oita) is famous for jigoku mushi—food cooked in the natural hot spring steam of the ji-goku (hell) volcanic vents. Nagasaki Prefecture brings the most internationally influenced food culture in all Japan due to the Dejima trading history—Nagasaki chanpon (thick noodle soup with Chinese and Japanese ingredients), sara udon (crispy noodles with Chinese-style stir-fry topping), and Nagasaki kasutera (castella sponge cake from Portuguese influence). Kagoshima at Kyushu's southern tip features tonkotsu different from Fukuoka, kurobuta Berkshire pork of international renown, and distinctive black pig preparations.