The delicacy of Japanese cuisine has been sweeping the world. Japanese people are healthy, and taste- and hospitality-minded. Their cuisine attracts people from all over the world.
There are many aspects for making the Japanese cuisine well that are less familiar. For instance, line-caught fish, are preferable to netted hauls for a proper sushi topping. The sharpness of the knife and how deftly it is used greatly affect the flavour of the Japanese cuisine as well. There are 90,000 Japanese restaurants worldwide. Japanese cuisine, known as Washoku in its homeland, intrigues chefs and other food lovers with its breadth and depth.
Washoku World Challenge, a Japanese cooking contest for international chefs hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be held in Tokyo.
Washoku World Challenge is an event where chefs from different countries learn the essence of Washoku to become first rate Japanese cuisine chefs.
All foreign chefs who want to be expert in Japanese cuisine are eligible to participate in the event.
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Participants will be invited for the final competition in Tokyo in 2018.
They will be evaluated by a panel of strict judges, who will not only be evaluating them on the method of cooking ingredients and seasonings, but also about the understanding of the concepts behind Japanese food and hospitality.
In last year's competition, Malaysian chef, Cheong Chemg Long won the Gold Prize.
He skillfully combined seasonal ingredients of the four seasons of Japan with a winter fish and delicately mixed in vegetables.
His use of technology and ideas were highly appreciated.
Cheong Chemg Long said, "I use my sign, and ideas to present more Japanese cuisine to my customers."
Past finalist Miso, Kombu, Katsuodashi said, "Indian, Pakistani food is amazing, I love it. But it always nice to try something different which is like Washoku, which is simple food. Taste is very natural.
Masahiro Nakata, one of the judges in the panel, said, "There are five flavours of taste in Japanese cooking. First, there is pungency, sweetness, bitterness (harsh taste), acidity, and Umami (delicious taste). Umami is the basis of the cooking."
The final competition will become a learning opportunity, not for cooking skills, but for the knowledge and feelings used in cooking within the hospitality culture of Japanese cuisine.
They are also seeking participants to join the Sushi Cup, an event being held at the same time. There is a possibility for participants to receive certification from Japan's Washoku Authority.
Chief judge Yoshihiro Murata said, "There are 90,000 Japanese restaurants worldwide. However, only a few chefs studied Japanese cuisine in Japan. You must understand your own ability to cook Japanese food. I would like many chefs to test themselves."
Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and various new technologies are increasingly becoming more a reality day by day. In Japan, technology exhibitions introducing new technologies are popular and have attracted many enthusiastic visitors.
The internet era has brought these events together in one place for every one to both communicate and exchange information.
In the exhibition showcasing AI technologies, the unique product of an Osaka start-up company has attracted the attention of many visitors to the exhibition.
This palm-sized, box-shaped robot with AI capabilities is a personal assistant robot. It has a face recognition camera and Internet of Things (IoT) consumer electronics remote installed. Ideal for home use, it can be taken with you when you travel too.
From the beginning, the company has successfully used interns from overseas and has taken a global approach from the start.
This robot project won the global design Award.
The company plans a technology partnership of its language-processing engine with the natural language technology of a large Japan major mobile carrier in the future. This will incorporate an interactive system, enabling a conversation between a person and robot.
It can be used not only for personal use, but will enable the development of applications for businesses, including employees that work at the front desk of hotels, business schedules and location guides.
Yasutomo Shirahama of Sales and Marketing, PLENGoer Robotics Inc, said, "We have been developing humanoid robots for ten years. I want to develop a "help" robot that can cultivate the practical daily activities of human actions. For example, if you are taking a picture, the robot will be able to turn around and take the picture. Taking a video shooting, it will be able to move its neck while following the object when I say shoot the video. It has developed as a useful robot to have by your side."
The project has been successful in raising more than ten million yen from crowd-funding program and hopes to create new potential business opportunities.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
