Welcome to THE JAPANESE KITCHEN, Japanese Cuisine: Exploring Tradition, Flavor and Culture where The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) shares experiences garnered from our work and relationships with Japanese colleagues over many years, including content from our curriculum, our faculty, guest chefs, and supporters. Please explore!
From sushi and soba to Kaiseki, Japanese cuisine is a celebration of tradition, art, and global exchange. Explore all that Japan has to offer.
The CIA’s Japanese Cuisine Concentration
The CIA offers bachelor’s degree students the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture and explore its gastronomy through a full-semester concentration.
The Japanese Cuisine Concentration enables students to deeply study the nuances of Japanese ingredients, flavors, techniques, and culinary philosophy. While most of the coursework takes place on the Hyde Park, NY campus, students learn directly from a renowned Japanese chef and a visiting professor from the prestigious Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, Japan.
10 Days in Japan with the CIA
As part of The Culinary Institute of America’s Japanese Cuisine Concentration program, students spend 10 unforgettable days in Japan—exploring Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. From cooking okonomiyaki, dashi, and soba, to visiting ancient temples and tea fields, watch the students dive deep into the flavors and traditions of Japanese cuisine.
Watch Interviews with Japan’s Leading Chefs and Culinary Experts
From Chef Kenya Sakai’s playful take on modern Japanese cuisine at his restaurant Kenya in Kyoto, to Chef Daisuke Nomura’s traditional plant-based shojin ryori at Sougo in Tokyo, watch Japan’s leading chefs talk about their culinary philosophies.
Worlds of Flavor 2026
The 28th Annual Worlds of Flavor® International Conference & Festival will bring a distinguished delegation of chefs and food experts from across these five countries—as well as from across the United States—to The Culinary Institute of America’s Copia campus in Napa Valley, California. Together, we will explore how East and Southeast Asian food cultures are reshaping American menus through brilliant techniques, bold creativity, and an unwavering commitment to balance, seasonality, and the art and craft of deliciousness.
Save the date for Worlds of Flavor 2026, held November 4 - 6, 2026 at the CIA at Copia.
A very special thank you to our 2025 - 2026 Japanese Studies Leadership Council Members
