Masa's Japan

Tony and Masa ate fresh seafood at this market. They had sea urchin, kanogani (snow crab), grilled eel livers, and giant oysters "as big as freakin' clown shoes".

Tony and Masa watched a geiko perform at Fujinoya Tea House (could not find exact location on map).

Traditional kaiseki restaurant that dates back to 1890. Menu changes as seasonal ingredients become available. ""Preserved in a tightly wrapped bamboo leaf, intended to resemble a sword, sea bream served chimaki-style over rice slightly sweetened by vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame... Grilled rockfish made Horaku style, steamed in smoking wormwood. Bamboo shoots and wagyu beef prepared tableside with soy sauce and mirin. Today's sashimi course is cod, salted and pressed between leaves of kelp for 2 hours, coated with sake-cured codfish roe. Next to it, flounder, its skin gently rubbed with grilled tomato the day before. Finally, a super luxurious clam hot pot: rice is steamed with clam and a bonito broth, then topped with plump torigai plum and manju clams, as well as creamy sea urchin and a Japanese broccolini blossom for good measure. Simple, perfect."

Tony described this area as "unlike anyplace I've ever been in Japan." Masa's good friend and pottery mentor, Haruo Konishi has a family hideaway here. They made iwana (char) caught that day in a mountain stream, Hokkaido scallops, wild Japanese boar, grilled fukinoto, and soba noodles with duck, green onion, and dashi sauce.

One of the BEST sushi places in the world. Masa learned here. They had seared horse mackerel over green onion and ginger, maguro (bluefin tuna), Japanese tiger prawn, octopus, fluke sashimi, striped jack, anago (sea eel) rolled in seaweed, and tamagoyaki (breaded shrimp eggs and fish paste)

The rural town where Masa grew up. Tony and Masa visited his family (mom and daughter). His mother made motsuni, "a slow simmered stew of pork tripe, konnyaku, daikon, green onions, and miso," sashimi with freshly grated wasabi, uni, and otoro (tuna).

Tony met with Masa's high school friends and had a soak in the hot spring, then ate sukiyaki (meat slowly cooked, tableside, in a broth), Tochigi beef with maitake (type of mushroom), and home-brewed sake