The Golden Week: A Taste of Japan

March 29 begins The Golden Week of consecutive holidays in Japan. There are four national holidays during this period: Showa Day (April 29), Constitution Memorial Day (May 3), Greenery Day (May 4), and Children's Day (May 5) . With so many national holidays in this short period of time, Golden Week is one of the busiest holiday seasons on the Japanese calendar, second only to New Year. Offices close for 7-10 days while residents pour into the streets to visit tourist destinations across the country, and families fill their kitchens with traditional fare, sitting down with friends and loved ones to welcome in the spring. We’ve trolled the web searching for the top five best foodie blogs with dynamic Japanese recipes to help you ring in some celebration of your own. Following these links, you’ll soon be able to whip up golden dishes to enjoy not just this week, but many more to come.

1. Just Hungry A Japanese Expatriate obsessively compiles her recipes and reminiscences of home, focused on healthy and ethical eating.

2. Sasasunakku The musings of a 30-year-old nomad with a penchant for Japanese cooking. Just check out her gorgeous green salad!

3. The Japanese Food Report A journalistic inquiry into all aspects of Japanese food culture. With gorgeous photographs of tantalizing food, this website compiles pretty much everything you’ll ever need to know about Japanese cooking, kitchen culture, and food history.

4. Tess’ Japanese Kitchen A somewhat disorganized and overwhelming site, but host to a fantastic array of traditional Japanese recipes ranging from hand pulled noodles to shabu-shabu hotpot.

5. Just Bento The sister-site to Just Hungry, Just Bento is dedicated to, you guessed it, Bento box lunches, a staple in lunch rooms and cafeterias across the country.

Photo by: OiMax