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Kitchen & Crafts

Kitchen & Crafts

Japanese Chopsticks Made in Japan: Read the Label, Pick the Bowl

Lacquered chopsticks from Obama, the label word that proves real urushi, the red mark on certified crafts, and which bowls can't go in the microwave. Checked Oct 2026.

Several Japanese kitchen knives of different shapes laid out on a wooden cutting board
Kitchen & Crafts

Japanese Knives Explained: Santoku vs Gyuto, Steel Types and Care

Which Japanese knife to buy first – santoku vs gyuto, single vs double bevel, carbon vs stainless steel – and how to care for and sharpen it. Checked 9 October 2026.

A table set up like a Japanese festival stall, with takoyaki on an electric takoyaki maker, a hand-crank shaved ice machine with strawberry kakigori, fish-shaped taiyaki and an okonomiyaki
Kitchen & Crafts

Takoyaki maker, kakigori machine, taiyaki pan: Japanese festival food at home

Make takoyaki, kakigori and taiyaki at home: which maker or pan to buy, why Japan's 100V machines are a risk abroad, and what is in the flour. Checked Oct 2026.