Once you cook with a good soy sauce, going back is hard. But standing in front of a shelf, there is no way to tell which one that is. This site exists to try them first, on behalf of anyone choosing without knowing.

One test decides what gets listed: could you use it for the rest of your life? It has to be available all year, good enough that you won't go back, and everyday enough to use tomorrow. Price, rarity and age are not reasons on their own.

To judge that, I visit. I meet the makers, walk through the breweries, and ask why they still work this way. Labels and awards leave out most of what matters.

At Kisaichi Jozo in Kamagaya, Chiba, I was shown the cedar barrels lined up in the brewery. One barrel is used for seventy years, then taken apart, rebuilt, and used for thirty more. The sake lees they brew from are aged three years before brewing even starts, because that is how long it takes to know whether they are any good. Vinegar can now be made in twenty-four hours. They have not changed (read the story).

The persimmon vinegar from Sunomiya Jozosho in Katori, Chiba, is made from persimmons and nothing else. No water, no added enzymes. It sits through the seasons for over three years. They moved to Katori for the bacteria in the soil and the air there. The same method in another place does not give you the same vinegar (read the story).

Seasonings made this way rarely reach large stores. Companies that can afford advertising win the shelf, and small breweries doing better work stay unknown. This site sits between the people who make these things and the people looking for them.

Each of Japan's 47 prefectures has seasonings that only work with the water and climate of that one place. I am visiting them one at a time, writing them down, and putting them somewhere you can choose from.

Site

Nihon Chomiryo Tabi

Run by

Taiki Ogawa (sole proprietor)

What I do

Selecting seasonings, writing, and interviewing makers

Coverage

All 47 prefectures / 117 products / 51 articles (as of September 2026)

Contact

[email protected]

Social

@umami_labo

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