Dramas Movies WatchedAsian Dramas MoviesMovies FilmKorean Dramas2000 MoviesMovie 1998Korean Films PhotosAsian FilmsAsian MoviesForward'Il Mare' starring Jun Ji Hyun and Lee Jung Jae ('The Lake House' is a remake of this one - 'Il Mare' is better)Filmmaker David Gelb on his vision for the showHow to Download or Stream movies/video Disclaimer:Rating 17+ This film is unrated, but may only be viewed by persons 17 years of age or older. By streaming/viewing, you are agreeing to our MATURE AUDIENCES AGREEMENT. Streaming video on this site ~Video Instructions.XTABLET Users: VERY IMPORTANT!! IF you still can't view. Your "SECURITY" setting maybe too high/strong for your web browser. Try and lower the security setting; and you should be able to view/stream... ***IF you ENJOY this site, please "LIKE" on Facebook to receive updates***“The concept of shokunin, an artisan deeply and singularly dedicated to his or her craft, is at the core of Japanese culture. Tokyo is the city of ten thousand shokunin.

If you come to Japan to eat, you come for them.” Basically, I didn’t want to throw art in an artisan’s face. how to get sushi rice in chefvilleBut I also couldn’t eat their food.sushi conveyor belt naperville Unlike my gluten free guide to Barcelona, where I gave specific addresses, this Japan guide addresses the biggest pain point: communication and knowledge.jiro dreams of sushi shaw on demand Understanding the basic kanji so you can read ingredients, knowing what is safe and unsafe, and being able to show a card that can help is far more important than an address where you might not be faced with a waiter or staff who can communicate. ichiban sushi menu creve coeur

That said, at the end of the post is a list of gluten free restaurants in Japan that were provided thoughtfully by fellow celiac Sarah.watch jiro dreams of sushi gorillavid This kind of research is a good part of what mitigates my fear as a celiac when I travel. jiro dreams of sushi videobbI did not do it ahead of this trip, and I regretted it. In my research I did note that some blogs discuss MSG as being a derivation of wheat. There has been discussion on the web about MSG being unsafe for celiacs, but in the United States, the US Food and Drug association notes: Does “glutamate” in a product mean it contains gluten? No—glutamate or glutamic acid have nothing to do with gluten. A person with celiac disease may react to the wheat that may be present in soy sauce, but not to the MSG in the product.

In addition, the Gluten Free Dietician confirms that while MSG used to be derived from wheat flour, it is no longer the case and has not been since the 1960s in North America. That said, sites have referred to Japanese and Chinese MSG as potentially still isolating the additive via wheat gluten. However, the main producer of Japanese MSG, Ajinomoto, does not derive their MSG from wheat. From the blog Just Hungry: Now specifically about Ajinomoto, the white granulated product that is synonymous with MSG: According to the official Japanese Ajinomoto company site, it is currently made by “fermenting the sugar extracted from sugar canes or corn, tapioca starch and other ingredients”. Of course other companies might still do so in the Asian or Southeast Asian region. I should note that most of the MSG I saw being used in Vietnam and Japan was Ajinomoto. Having stuffed my face in Asia for the last many years, my inadvertent glutening has been related to soy sauce consumption or sauces with flour and not MSG.

I would love to hear other people’s experiences here. We went to quite a few izakaya bars during my time in Japan, both with the G Adventures trip and with my friends from the trans-Pacific crossing. Izakaya are casual drink and food places, smokey from the grilled meat and loud with beer-filled patrons hungry and conversational. While almost all of the food at an izakaya will have wheat or soy, you can ask for your meat or chicken skewers (yakitori) to be made with a salt (shio) cooking technique, instead of the sweet and savoury sauce which has soy in it (called tare). Choose salt and you will be ok, or at least I was! They consisted of yakitori that were brushed with salt and grilled, and were not pre-marinated. In North America, it is quite difficult to find 100% buckwheat (soba) noodles. Despite the name, buckwheat does not contain any wheat, and also has no gluten. Buckwheat has been providing protein, zinc and potassium to humans for almost 8,000 years, first appearing in the Balkans in 4000BC.

Despite being more prevalent in Japan than North America, many dried and fresh versions of soba noodles in Japan are nonetheless mixed with wheat. I only found one noodle restaurant during my travels that made their noodles with 100% buckwheat, far more expensive than the usual soba fare. Unfortunately I was not able to eat the noodles with soup broth because they had put soy sauce for flavouring, so they were kind enough to provide me with the water these same noodles were boiled in and also some freshly grated ginger. Most soba stops will be making noodles with a mixture of wheat and buckwheat, so despite the technically gluten-free base ingredient, they should be avoided unless you’re sure they are all buckwheat. Regardless of where I was in Japan, there was a 7-11 or a Family Mart convenience store nearby. Full of fun ice cream treats and prepared food in crazy (to this Montrealer anyhow) flavors, these shops also contained something for the gluten-free eater.  

Often there are grocery stores attached to transportation hubs like bus and train stations. These stores are well-stocked and contain many of the snacks I list below. Sashimi is usually just fine, as is sushi when the rice vinegar is not mixed with malt. Avoid eel (unagi) as it is marinated in a soy-blend. If getting a donburi bowl, like the tuna one below, show them your gluten free card so that you can make sure they don’t brush any soy sauce on the rice prior to placing the fish in the bowl. Morning fish markets — Kanazawa and Tokyo have wondrous ones — are great places to eat fresh sashimi or sushi, as well as freshly shucked oysters. You can also grab a scallop, have it shucked in front of you, and then watch it get grilled on a tiny BBQ. Again, just show the card and make sure they do not put soy sauce as a condiment. They always had lemon juice instead. Plenty of sea urchin too. In Miyajima, you can also get grilled oysters on the side of the alleys, with lemon juice and soy sauce.