Destination Flavour Japan
It’s finally here! Tonight is the official launch of Destination Flavour Japan on SBS ONE at 8pm. I can’t tell you how excited and proud I am of this.
Making this series has been a real labour of love for me. I lived in Japan for 7 years and since them I’ve wanted to show what I love about the country and its food to the rest of the world. For Destination Flavour Japan, I wrote and developed the series together with our amazing director, Scott Tompson and Destination Flavour’s creator and Executive Producer, Erik Dwyer from SBS. My wife, Asami, was the senior researcher for the show and found all of the fantastic stories, so many of which are really close to my heart.
There’s episodes with my family, my friends, my favourite restaurants and so many extraordinary people who are part of Japan’s food scene. It’s a series I hope will give you an insight into Japanese food and culture, but also Japanese people and how life rolls by in this magnificent country.
You can watch full episodes online here, and there’s also the extended cut video recipes, written recipes and my weekly Behind-The-Scenes blog. (Sorry, the full episodes are only available in Australia, but if you’re overseas you can catch a sneak peek on Youtube.)
I’ll also be live tweeting most episodes so you can follow me on Twitter @adamliaw, or just use the #DestinationFlavour hashtag while you’re watching.
I really REALLY hope you enjoy the show!
UPDATE (11 October 2013): If you want to download the show from iTunes, you can do that here!
Oh Adam, I’m so excited about this! With a half Japanese mother and having been to Japan a few times (and one of those times bumping into you in Niseko), I am so fascinated by the country, culture and food. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be sharing.
Missed the show, but so glad I read your blog post and I can stream it online! Can’t wait for the next episode. 🙂
Loved the first show Adam, but unfortunately we missed tonight’s episode (funnily enough we were actually at flight centre booking our JR passes for our 3rd trip back to Japan) is there a way it can be viewed online or will the series be out on DVD when it’s over??
Hi Ryan,
If you’re in Australia you can watch full episodes on the SBS website (links above), and yes there is definitely a DVD coming. It’s available for pre-order on the SBS website already.
Have fun in Japan!
Cheers,
Adam
Excellent!! I actually saw it after i posted the message lol.. Thanks for the reply!
Haha we always do 🙂
Oh, I’m from Poland and I watching Masterchef with you over and over again! I love your passion and I am very happy when I watch your work on the Internet.
+sorry for my English. c;
Hi Adam, You and your Destination Flavour Japan is just stunning to watch. Eating Japanese food is one of the most pleasurable moments for me so your show is perfect. I’m a huge admirer of everything Japanese and when I watch your show I spend the following days thinking about the food, making some of it, eating out and dreaming of a trip to Japan. Thank you.
Congratulations Adam! looking forward to more episodes.
Thank you Adam for this wonderful series, you truly have a gift of teaching and knowing what it is we need to know to understand the cuisine. I have traveled to Japan, with my family (children in tow), we slept and ate as the locals did and it was an amazing experience – especially all those pickled veges and subtle flavours. I try to give my family the flavours of Japan, having Coeliacs to feed requires gluten free and the Japanese food is so healthy, natural, gluten free, flavour some and easy once you get your head around the requirements. Having only watched a couple of episodes I now know what to look for in the Japanese supermarket ( I travel an hour to get there and stock up & I grow fresh veges in my garden I can’t get at the local). I finally realise the reason I am not making the right flavours now, and the supermarket is not so much of mystery. I dearly hope you publish a book, Thank you for sharing your knowledge and cultural insights, your series has changed the way we eat and enjoy our food from it’s purest source. 🙂
Hi Adam,
I absolutely love your series – and you present with such warmth and enthusiasm, you and your subjects can not fail to inspire.
Will there be a cookbook associated with this series?
I hope so!
Thank you.
Sylvia
Thanks Sylvia. I hope there will be a book of the series, but we’ll have to wait and see how things go!
Regards,
Adam
I recently discovered your sbs series online and i love them! The show is very informative and showcases more than what we find in Japanese restaurants in Perth Australia. I am headed to Tokyo next year and very interested in the food, this is exactly what I wanted to learn about before going!! Thankyou!!
Yes please, do work on a book as a follow up, i would love to see it 🙂
Hi Adam, I’m so happy that you showcased the kyaraben bento in Destination Flavour Japan series 6 where Japanese mother created cute lunch box for her children. And I’m glad that you enjoyed in making it too, because that’s what I’ve been doing for more than 2 years now even though it’s not too popular in Australia yet. Please visit my blog : http://www.bebento-kids.blogspot.com.au whenever you have time, and thank you for introducing kyaraben bento to Australia. All the best!
Hi Adam,
Thank you for bringing us such a great cooking show! I am truly inspired!
I am going to Japan next month, may I get a list of restaurants or izakaya that you visited throughout the series especially in Tokyo and Kyoto?
Thanks
Novita
Dear Adam,
I lived for 15 years in Japan so your show really makes me homesick for Japan. I go back whenever I can and also teach Japanese in High School. It’s great the way you have connected the food with cultural items like sumo etc so I’m making worksheets and showing my Year 7 students. They love watching the show and it’s good for them to see you speaking Japanese all the time. I will definitely buy the DVD when it’s out. You have a very warm and natural manner for hosting a show like this. 次のばんぐみを楽しみに！がんばってね！
Congrats Adam on a brilliant series! We have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. You are a culinary genius. Your stories capture thre true culture and spirit of japan and reminds us of the food and adventures we had when we lived in tochigi and saitama many years ago. We can’t wait till next week’s episode. Garth and Colleen
Hi Adam
I really like your new tv show! Will you be releasing a recipe book of your Japanese adventure! I want a copy for Christmas!
Kind Regards
Rob
ohayo gozaimasu Adam-san, love your show – and especially your copper hammered cooking pots. Are they available in Australia??
I would love to buy them for Christmas.
thank you very much. Michael
Hi Adam,
DFJ is a fantastic series. We visited Japan a few years ago and I was frustrated at times I couldn’t communicate with the locals (and a chef actually refused to serve us food because he couldn’t speak English. We would have happily eaten anything he would have served us at his restaurant seemed so authentic).
Well anyway… what I wanted to tell you is that you’ve done a fantastic job at making japanese cooking, food and culture a more accessible to gaijins.
Each episode were a short trip to Japan. Thank you and well done!
Yes , we really loved it , so much so I had to buy the series.
TRUELY the best presentation of Japan, its food & what makes Japan so addictively loveable . You should be rightfully proud.
I too lived in Japan for 6 years, have a Japanese wife & we now have a 9 year old daughter (who has 14 stamps for Narita in her passport), in whom we are desperately trying to maintain & engender “Japanese-ness” .
Your program is a wonderful way to assist us to do that,… as well as enhancing my cooking skills.
The little background stories, (the iPad Oba-chans , etc ), so well explain “Japanese-ness” . Kudos to your wife for the research. The story of the Soya sauce factory destroyed by the tsunami & how others assisted them to re-establish their business brought this crusty old man to tears. Really.
If / when you do further food shows, ( this one will be had to top) may I suggest you do not change your style, it makes me want to watch . ALL other presenters over do the superlatives to the point I change the channel.
ごちそうさまでした
hello Adam
I’m Italian, I have seen all the episodes of Masterchef Australia
I loved your recipes and now I have found your blog.
I am an Italian chef and I’m happy to feel like you write.
See you soon.
Hi Adam,
This may sound like a funny question, but where can I find the bento boxes that heat themselves up? After watching your show last year, I went to Japan and made it a mission to find the mystical heat it up bento box. It got to the desperate point when I was in a station or a shop, I would actually pick up all the boxes and have a touch and feel for some string (this got some weird looks from the workers at the shop).
Thanks
Hi Weng,
I have only seen them during winter so if you were there out of season then they may not be available. They are a relatively recent thing, but I saw them at quite a lot of the bigger train stations.
Regards,
Adam
Hi Adam,
This is probably a bit late but just wanted to say that I have just finished watching your Destination Flavour Japan series for the second time on dvd and I just wanted to say how much I thoroughly enjoyed it! I am obsessed with everything Japan and it’s hard to find any really good dvds and tv series on it. You did a wonderful job and all of the stories were very touching. I am also a fan of your cookbook Asian After Work. Keep up the great work you have obviously found your calling,
Carly.
Hello Adam,
I have watched and enjoyed the series. It is being reprieved in NZ and I look forward to watching it again.
A wonderful and insightful look at Japanese food, culture and life. The best I have ever seen.
I very much hope the series will be continued – there is certainly so much more to show.
Keep up the good work.
H.
As a professional cook for many years, every once and a while a series appears that really gets me excited (ie hungry!). This series is one of them.
Hey Adam,
Great show, watching the SBS reruns so seeing it a second time….our7 year old daughter loves it!
I’d love to see a book too!!!
Also, are you doing a second series this year?
Hi Adam, Just watching this series on DVD again and I am amazed of not just the food but the country and the stories as well. I really wish there was a book of not just the wonderful food but the places that were visited in not just this series but the one down under and any upcoming series. Again I have enjoyed your journey and your books and so happy to see more great work from you in the future.
Regards,
Mark
Adam, for years I have been a fan of all things Japanese, and when I saw Destination Flavour Japan being shown on The Good Food channel here in the UK (2015), I had to put a series link in the planner to record the show and will revisit each episode with great attention. My dream is to one day visit Japan, but in the mean time, with the help of your show and recipes I hope to bring a little of Japan to my home. Thank you for the entertaining and informative show.
残り物には福がある。 Nokorimono ni wa fuku ga aru
Hi Adam,
I’m wondering where is that “unprepossessing seafood market” you went to in Hokkaido in your ‘Destination Flavour’ Ep 1)??
If you will please share the name of that market with me I will be most thankful and as I would like to visit the place on my next visit to Japan with my wife.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Edward
Hi Adam, I’m in Tokyo for a few days and desperately seeking a hammered copper pot, having admired yours. Any suggestions where to find one? The aluminium ones are around but haven’t seen copper ones. Thanks
Hi Adam,
Just returned from my first trip to Japan (loved it !) then stumbled across the last few eps (rerun) of Destination Flavour: Japan on SBS … please we need a book !!!!!
Hi Adam
I started watching your series filmed in Australia and New Zealand on Good Food network UK. Absolutely enjoyed watching episode. Now I’m watching Destination Japan and is following every series. You are truly remarkable in your style of presenting the best Japanese cuisines and restaurants. It’s so easy to understand the food and culture you presented; you are so talented. Suffice to say I’m now a huge fan of Destination Flavour especially as I was born in north Malaysia.
Hi Adam. I really liked the sound track of Destination Flavour Japan. Is there a way to find out what songs are those and maybe buy them?
Ah sorry, the music was an original score specifically for Destination Flavour Japan and I don’t think there are any plans to release the soundtrack. I’ll ask the network, because I really like the music, too!
Hi Adam,
I wonder if your recipes from the show are available in a book?
Regards
Ren
Hi Adam,
I only recently learned about your Destination Flavour Japan series and I am really excited about it. Unfortunately I live in Germany and SBS doesn’t enable streaming here.
Do you know whether there’s a possibility to watch Destination Flavour Japan here in Germany?
Mind that it’s not about streaming for free. It’s about any possibility to watch it.
Thank you for your kind advice.
Regards
Michael
Hi Adam
I enjoy your food and interactions with people at large. I would like the opportunity to connect with you regarding recipes, food, nutrition for the fast rising elderly population, the upcoming Baby-Boomers and those in nursing homes, to make a difference in flavours, nutrition to enhance their quality of life.
After much research, I gathered and wrote an aged care cookbook on easy to follow and yet old-time favourite recipes entitled: “Caring with Food: Enhancing quality of life through social enjoyment of food”. It is on my website
http://www.caringwithfood.com
I look forward to to communicating and sharing this research and recipes with you. ??? This could be another approach to your food program.
Kind regards. Elaine