2WIF1414HD Journey To Japan The Story of Kikkoman Soy Sauce Transcript

- Announcer: This week on "Wisconsin Foodie"...
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- Ryohei "Roy" Tsuji: And welcome to Kikkoman Foods. And I'm the President and the COO of this company. And I'm from Japan originally, but I've been here 14 years already in Wisconsin. Kikkoman, we are really proud of the number one brand in the world to produce the soy sauce. Soy sauce has a long history in Japan. From maybe around 1,000 years, we have the history, and then, kept improving the quality and keep improving the method to produce the naturally brewed soy sauce. It's been more than 350 years in our tradition, and then, we keep the same quality all over the world, and, of course, in US, too. We use this naturally brewed process. This is a tradition to make a good quality of soy sauce. From 1,000 years ago, we only use water, soybean, wheat, and salt. That's it. You know, 'naturally' is the key word for the consumer would like to see nowadays, and we've been doing that for more than 350 years. And we have just finished celebrating 50th anniversary. Mr. Mogi, Mr. Yuzaburo Mogi, is the guy who initiated, he started the business in the US, and he started the global business in the Kikkoman Corporation. We are the one with the first Japanese company established a manufacturing bases in United States. Why we chose here? But one of the main, main reason is the people, work ethic. The working here in Wisconsin, in the Midwest. You all-- that we know that people are hard worker, and that they have the good, good, you know, work ethic.

- Luke: I can't really express how excited I am to be here in Walworth to see how the soy sauce comes together. And I'm really, really anxious to walk through and see the entire process.

- Dan Miller: So, these are our raw ingredients for soy sauce. If you look at the label of a bottle of regular soy sauce, very clean label, very few ingredients, everyone can understand. It's water, wheat, soybeans, and salt. And, really, what we do here is like brewing beer. It's a kind of a combination between a brewery and a winery. As we're making soy sauce, we're brewing it the way it's been done for hundreds of years but just applying technology throughout the process to control quality, control food safety, improve production efficiency. But really the essence of the process is the same as you would see hundreds of years ago. So, Luke, this is our koji culturing area. We have ten koji beds, or culturing beds, here in our plant. After the soy meal and wheat is moistened, it comes into this department for the first step of culturing. When the material is loaded into the koji beds, it looks like this. So this is moistened soy meal and roasted crushed wheat. So, after three days in the koji bed, this is what the material looks like when it comes out.

- Luke: Wow!

- Dan: You can see that yellow material, that's the microorganism that's growing.

- Luke: Wow!

- All right. So, from here, it travels upstairs to go into fermentation tanks.

- Luke: All right!

- This is our fermentation department. We have about a million square feet of plant space and a lot of that space is taken up by fermentation tanks. 

So, we have three different sizes of fermentation tanks. We have 15,000 gallon tanks, 25,000 gallon tanks. We even have some 100,000 gallon fermentation tanks. The previous department that we were in, the koji department, after the material is discharged out of those koji beds, it goes upstairs, it's mixed with a brine solution, and it's charged or filled into these fermentation tanks. 

The time it spends in these tanks, three to six months of time, and this is where, as I explained before, that layering on the complex flavor profile of our product, 300 different components, during the fermentation process, that's where that layering on of flavors happens. 

So, a lot of our almost million square feet of plant space is tankage because we wanna make sure that we have empty tanks to fill and we have tanks that the batches are fully fermented and ready to put into production. So, it's a combination of art and science.

- Yeah.

- What we do here. So, Luke, what we have here, this is the top of a fermentation tank. So the koji material was discharged from the koji beds. It was mixed with a brine solution, and then, it was charged or filled into this tank. The first step in the process is to inject air and give the tank a good mix to make sure the material is well mixed before fermentation starts. So, that's what you're seeing here.

- Luke: I had no idea how complex, how large this operation really is. And to see that raw product kind of go in there, go through the steps of the process, it's very humbling. I'm never gonna look at soy sauce the same way, I promise you that.
[relaxing cheerful music]

- So, the point of this department is to separate the raw soy sauce from the soy and wheat solids. So, we take a strip of woven nylon cloth, a continuous strip when sewn together is 6/10ths of a mile long. It's folded onto itself to make a tube. And that fermented moromi material is sprayed on the inside of that tube of cloth, which allows the raw soy sauce to pull out through the cloth and hold the soy and wheat solids on the inside. That tube of cloth is then folded back and forth onto itself into a cake. And it spends three days. The first day, gravity basically does the job.

- Luke: Okay.

- It's squeezing out the raw soy sauce. The next day, a 12-inch hydraulic press, slowly, over 24 hours, squeezing. And then, finally, one day with an 18-inch hydraulic press, again to try to extract every drop of raw soy sauce that we can because there's so much investment in time into the product at this point, we wanna get every drop out that we can.

- There's nothing about this that's quick. It's all seasoned through time. Make hay slowly.

- Dan: Make hay slowly. So, Luke, this is the bottling department. From our bottling department, we have nine different packaging lines. So, our glass bottle lines, they run at about 300 bottles a minute.

- Luke: Okay!

- Dan: For the most part. We make several different sizes, from 5-ounce up to 20-ounce glass bottles. Every bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce in every supermarket in every little town in the United States, Canada, Mexico came off of our production lines.

- Luke: From start to finish, a million square feet. It takes a lot of time and steps and care and intention to start with wheat and soy and salt and end with this on your table. I really am super excited, actually, to kinda up my soy game and the understanding of the applications that are possible. So, I think, I might have to take a little bit of a field trip to really taste the true essence of the soy and gain a cultural perspective for where we are and how we got here. What do you think, Ike? Sound good?

- Atsuo "Ike" Yaginuma: That sounds good.

- Luke: I grew up in a town of 745 people, so I have no idea what to expect when we hit the ground in Tokyo. The food customs of Japan are things that, as a chef, I'm finding myself immersed in a culture and a language that I don't speak with foods that I've read about, or watched Bourdain talk about, is a dream. But I can say that I'm simultaneously, like, terrified and so excited.
[flight attendant gives instructions in Japanese]

- Luke: Thirteen hours later, we're in Tokyo Airport. I'm ready; I'm so ready.
[greetings]

Welcome to Japan!

- Luke: Hey, how are you?

- Great to see you, man.

- Luke: Likewise. Likewise. Luke: Thank you so much for taking time outta your schedule to play host to me and the crew.

- Ben Van Orsdol: Yeah, by the way, I only have one couch. I thought it was...
[Luke laughs cheerfully]

I didn't know about all of this back here, but we'll work with it. We'll work with it.

- So, we're here following a storyline about Kikkoman, the soy sauce maker.

- Ben: Yeah.

- They have, like, their largest plant in the world in Wisconsin, but it's a Japanese corporation and I think that there's so many dynamics that kind of play into why we are more similar than we are different. But I've got a couple day s to explore, too, and just take in as much Japanese culture as I can. And I hope you're down for that, as well.

- Absolutely! Absolutely...

- How did you choose Japan as a place to come to?

- Chiba is a prefecture right next to Tokyo and it's Wisconsin's sister state. And so, there's a special program where if you graduate from the UW System or if you are a resident of Wisconsin, you have access to apply for this job teaching English in Chiba. You don't have to know any Japanese. They're really forgiving, as you can tell.
[Luke laughs heartily]

They picked me. It has totally changed my life. I no longer teach English. I'm a gardener. I'm actually supposed to be at work right now, Luke.
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So, this is Kaminarimon, which is 'Thunder and Lightning Gate.' So, the two gods on the side are protecting the holy space inside. So, when you get here, show some respect. Hands at the side, right? You remember? You remember? You remember how to bow? And then, boom. So, this temple is like one-- I think it's like 1,400 years old.

- Wow!

- Thereabouts. This lantern is only the fourth one. Three others before it have burned. But throughout that whole time, there's only been four of these. Yeah, this is Asakusa, this is the main temple. This is Senso-ji. It's a really important temple for Japanese people and for their Buddhist traditions. But it's also so beautiful that people come from all over the world.

- Luke: Sure.

- Ben: Come here. Lots of souvenirs, lots of great sweet shops. Good stuff to eat. This is a place for people just to come and mix.

- Luke: I gotta imagine there's amazing street food everywhere.

- Ben: Absolutely.

- When you come down here and you're interacting with this part of the city, like, where do you even start?

- Oh, you smell that? It might be taiyaki. In different forms, they do these like these little pancake things.

- Luke: Oh, yeah.

- Ben: They have different sort of sweets on the inside, like the oncu paste or maybe some sort of a sweet potato come out super hot and fresh.
[relaxing upbeat music]

- Luke: So, this is the actual entrance to the temple proper, right?

- Yeah, this is the second gate. And after this there's gonna be a little place for people to buy omamori, which are fortunes and things that people are praying for. You can be very specific.

- How about this?

- What do you want?

- Let's go in there and pray for an amazing culinary experience here in Japan. And that our connection that we're able to make with the culture and the food radiates beyond the borders of Wisconsin and Japan for everyone.

- Ben: Perfect.

- Luke: Let's do it, man.
[Ben speaking in Japanese]

[relaxing bright music]

[door rattles]

[bystanders chatter]

- Ben: This is the spot.

- [Luke speaking in Japanese]

- [Masaru Kaneko replying in Japanese]

- Oh, nice! You learned it. You did it. You did it. You did it.

- Yay!

- What this one is really famous for and which is super popular is mochi balls on a stick. And then, they're marinated in sweet soy sauce.

- Luke: Okay!

- Ben: Or, you can have one that's also grilled and then wrapped in a seaweed wrapper.

- So, I love that kind of contrast between the sweet and the salty.

- Yeah.

- I think actually that it's a very Midwestern flavor profile.

- Ben: Yeah.

- Luke: Let's give it a shot.

- Ben: Can we? Can we do that?

- Thank you. Arigato gozaimasu.

- [Masaru speaks Japanese]

- [Ben speaks Japanese]

Let's eat!

- Where at, here?

- Yep. Just in appearance.

- Yeah!

- I've had mochi before, but never with, like, the sweet soy coating.

- Ben: Yeah, I kind of resisted this. I mean, I'm supposed to be, you know, this open-minded guy. I resisted this. I saw this and I was like, "Not for me. Not for me." And then, I finally had one. I was like, "Oh, my gosh. This is fabulous."

- B, there's nobody that looks at you in that mustache and thinks, "This is not an open-minded guy."

- Ah, well.
[Luke laughs]

- Whoa! The richness and the chewiness. It's almost like a gummy bear. Like the OG gummy bear, this mochi.

- Ben: Yeah.

- And then, the soy is sweet. I guess the closest thing I can come to is like almost a maple in the richness and the umami.

- Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally! Like a maple syrup kind of thing.

- Luke: Mm-hmm!

- Oh, for sure.

- Man, I'm super appreciative that you brought me here because this is like an experience that you almost have to come to Japan to really, really get the essence of.

- Ben: Oh, absolutely.

- Luke: And I love the connection and the people moving all the way through the streets. I'm excited to keep eating.

- Ben: Yeah!

- Luke: Shall we?
[Takahiro Iwamoto speaking in Japanese]

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- From what I've understood, this is a very important meal for the people of Japan. Can you talk to me, a little bit, through the significance of unagi?

- Naoyuki Yanagihara: We love unagi, especially summertime is unagi season. And also autumn time also good. But basically, we eat a lot in the summertime because it's-- unagi have big power. If you eat it, you get power.

- Sure.

- Yeah. Unagi sure is taste good and also this like sauce, the most important things, too. Takahiro.

- Ah, secret.

- Naoyuki: Secret. His secret.

- Ah! Of course!

- Naoyuki: Basic sauce is we use soy sauce and very in these restaurants unagi, I love it. So you will enjoy it.

- Ben: In Japan, sushi and things like unagi and also meat-- Wagyu, right? The Japanese beef. It's a gratitude of the life that's given. It's becoming more and more endangered. So, they tend to keep this as something for a special occasion. Oiwai, a celebration. This sauce we're tasting has been made over and over again, but with the same base for 80 years. The sauce has not changed. They just keep adding to it. It's the same pot.

- This particular sauce, the flavors are incredible, the textures are incredible. It is very satisfying. But the fact that 80 years of tradition goes into each application of unagi at this restaurant truly does feel like a gift.

- Ben: Yeah.

- I would love to know more about Japanese cuisine and how it connects us, unites us. Obviously, there are so many things around the world that bring people together, but food happens to be my area of expertise. And I'm wondering: do you have any availability where I could maybe pop in at your cooking school?

- Naoyuki: No, why not?

- Luke: And learn a little bit more about Japanese cuisine?

- Naoyuki: Please come to my cooking school. Then, I show you how to make Japanese cooking.
[relaxing instrumental music]

- Luke: This is the thrill of a lifetime. And I'm here with my dear friend, an esteemed chef.

- Naoyuki Yanagihara: So today, I prepared traditional Japanese cooking style. One food, three dishes. First one, I show you some how to make dashi.

- Kombu?

- Yes! Kombu, sea kelp. First, I already thickly soak in water.

- Luke: Okay.

- Naoyuki: Then, I just put little bit warmed up. And also, bonito flake.

- So, it's fish that has been smoked, it's been dried, and then, it's been shaved very, very thinly. So, you pull that out, you heat it up until boiling.

- And stop it.

- Okay!

- And add some bonito flake. Yeah, about this one is 15 grams or something.

- Luke: Okay!

- Yeah. Then, about one minute.
[traditional instrumental music]

Then, squeeze a little bit. This one is a Japanese dashi.

- Dashi
[speaking Japanese]

!

- Luke: I like it.

- Naoyuki: This is Japanese spinach.

- Luke: Okay.

- So, let's boil the spinach. Cold water. You know what it is?

- I've only used that for like rolling sushi, right?

- Naoyuki: Yes!

- Luke: Yeah? Okay, great.

- Naoyuki: And... roll up and squeeze water.

- Luke: Yeah! I love it!

- Yeah, I make some rice.

- Rice!

- Rice.

- Luke: And this is short grain Japanese rice?

- Naoyuki: Yeah, yes.

- Luke: These are known for having lots of starch in it.

- Naoyuki: Yes!

- So, what is it?

- Like sticky rice, yeah.

- Sticky rice? Exactly.

- Naoyuki: I put some of it in. So, I use this one, I put some. And also, I like chestnuts with rice.

- Luke: Okay.

- Yeah. Like this.

- Yeah.

- Then, I put the lids on. Start the heating. So, I make some sauce.

- Sauce. Yeah.

- Naoyuki: Some soy sauce.

- Luke: Mm-hmm!

- Naoyuki: And same amount of mirin.

- Okay. Equal parts mirin and soy.

- Yeah, equal and soy. And some sugar.

- Luke: Sugar?

- Yeah. A little bit sweet is good. Yeah, this is a typical basic teriyaki sauce.

- Okay.

- Then, some oil. Little bit.

- Luke: So you're putting the chicken in skin-side down?

- Yes!
[pan sizzling]

Yep. Yep. Like this. Add some raw onion.

- Mm! Ooh, a little sear on those onions. It smells like Heaven. So, we have the chicken, we have the onion. You know the richness of the chestnut and the rice, it kind of perfumes the whole kitchen. And now, he's going back into the sauté with the maitake mushroom, which really is going to enhance the umami quality of this dish.

- Naoyuki: In like that.

- Luke: Mm!

- I put some-- This is sake and water.

- Okay!

- Naoyuki: Yeah.
[pan sizzling]

There.

- Okay, so you're gonna let this kinda steam off. And at this juncture, you're steaming the chicken and the vegetables all together. It'll cook itself down.

- Yes.

- Ooh!

- Naoyuki: Ready?

- Luke: Mm-hmm!

- Yeah. Teriyaki sauce.

- Luke: Teriyaki.

- Naoyuki: Yeah. Teriyaki.

- Oh, that smells beautiful, Chef. The richness and the aroma of the soy sauce really actually brings together the aroma of the mushroom and the onion and the chicken. So, the sugar, as it cooks down, takes on a lot of that caramelization. And as we know, when that happens, when you get sugar concentrated, it makes caramel.

- Exactly!

- So, what you're basically doing is making soy sauce flavored caramel, which adheres to all the ingredients, it coats it evenly, and creates a beautiful base line for that soy sauce and all the other ingredients to harmonize with each other. Perfect!

- And some soup.

- Luke: So we're going back, this is our dashi.

- Naoyuki: Yes, dashi.

- Luke: Okay!

- Naoyuki: And some eggs.

- Luke: Mm-hmm. We have those in Wisconsin.

- Dashi and put some salt.

- Okay.

- Naoyuki: And some light color soy sauce. Okay, and then, some yoga.

- Okay. Make the tornado thing. I like that.

- Naoyuki: Wee! Okay, I put some eggs like this.

- Luke: We're not in Kansas anymore. Here goes that egg.

- Naoyuki: Yep.

- Luke: Oh that's beautiful.

- Okay, first of all, spinach.

- Mm-hmm! Man, that's cool!
[relaxing music]

- And this one is roasted sesame.

- Luke: Sure. That is beautiful.

- Naoyuki: Sauce. Yeah. Later it's gonna be like a ssh! And next one is chicken. Onions. And mushroom. Umami soy sauce, teriyaki sauce.

- This is so cool.

- Naoyuki: Lovely.

- Luke: Yeah, it is.
[relaxing music continues]

Oh!
[chuckles]

Yeah!
[both laugh]

- Naoyuki: I love this one.

- Luke: Yeah!

- This one is salmon roll. Yeah.

- This party just went to 11.
[laughs]

- This one, yeah. This is for you.

- Thank you so much, Chef.

- Thank you.

- Oh! Knowing what I know about the way Kikkoman brew soy sauce and the traditions that you brought to the table here today, I feel like I'm seeing a page not only out of Japan's history, but a better future, a more connected future, a well-seasoned future. This is exceptional. Thank you for your hospitality.

- Naoyuki: Thank you.

- Thank you for having me in to your studio. Thank you for showing me Japanese cuisine from the heart. I really appreciate you.

- I'm happy to hear that. Yeah.

- Luke: Arigato.

- Naoyuki: Arigato.
[pulsing upbeat music]

- Here's an unexpected gift. We're in Tokyo's financial district where we've learned of a cheese shop that is actually featuring American cheeses. I'm so excited to go inside and learn a little bit more about what the Japanese value in their cheese and to explore this emerging cheese culture.
[pulsing upbeat music continues]

[pulsing upbeat music continues]

- Translator: So, he first judged in Wisconsin in 2006.
[Shigenobu Murayama speaking in Japanese]

- And he personally thought that the way the Wisconsin competition judges cheese is number one in the world.

- Luke: Speak my love language.

- Translator: So, this is a delicious cheese, even as is, but it would be delicious even more aged, as well.
[speaking in Japanese]

- And it has a delicious sort of indescribable, sort of lingering taste after you eat it.

- Alpine style.

- So, you can taste the sort of harmony and the family's love with this cheese.

- With one bite, you took me home.

- Oh!
[speaking in Japanese]

- Translator: Beautiful.
[Luke laughs]

- Great!

- Oh! What makes Wisconsin cheeses the best in the world?
[speaking in Japanese]

- So, he thinks it's the best because it is made with care and love and it is very versatile and usable in a lot of cooking.

- I couldn't agree with you more. I definitely always look for that flavor of care and love and passion. And, you know, I think walking away, I'm going to have my eyes open to the emerging Japanese cheese culture and know that it's largely because of Mr. Moo.
[group laughs cheerfully]

This guy's a national treasure. I love it. I love it!
[Translator speaking in Japanese]

[Shigenobu speaking in Japanese]

- I'm glad I came today.

- Yes! Me too. Me, too. Thank you. Arigato.
[Shigenobu speaking in Japanese]

- Translator: It's very happy. Make my day.
[relaxing, upbeat music]

- Listen. Look at this. No cover charge.

- No cover? Hey! Shinji!

- Ben: It's a familiar face.

- Luke: Oh, my goodness. It's so good to see you, my friend.

- Shinji Muramoto: Good to see you, too.

- Thank you. I appreciate you.
[Ben speaking in Japanese]

Good to see you.

- I'm doing good. Good. Good to see you, too.

- Oh, so where are we right now?

- We in Shinjuku Golden Gai.

- Ben: Golden Gai is a place where there's all these tiny-- Every single door is its own little bar.

- Shinji: As you see, each shop has only five to ten seats.

- Luke: You're right, and it's beautiful.

- But each bar has got its own vibe, its own owner who makes their vibe just totally unique. And so, each place that you go to is gonna be totally different. And there's usually not enough room to like even walk past you. So, you got, everyone has to stand up if you wanna go to the bathroom. 

This is really where you can get a real taste of Japan, both literally and emotionally. Because when you go in, most of the time, it'll be no English menu. And they might ask you, "Can you speak Japanese?"
[speaking in Japanese]

And if you can't, there's no seat for you.

- Luke: There's no seat?

- Ben: Yeah, and you just kind of gotta take it on the chin and just be ready to go to the next place.

- Luke: I'm wondering, should we get some ramen?

- Ben: Yeah! Why not?

- Shinji: One of the most famous one.

- Luke: Great! Let's go.
[bright, relaxing melody]

- Ben: Tonkotsu is a pork base, whereas this is anchovies, but both are very pungent.

- Luke: Sure.

- Ben: When you walk past a tonkotsu place-

- Luke: You can smell it, yeah.

- Ben: You know it's tonkotsu. And when we came in here, I knew, "Oh, this is anchovies."

- Luke: Yeah.

- Ben: But the flavors are so different, so complex. So, this is the only place you can get this kind of ramen.
[bright, interwoven notes]

]

So, they have a spoon here.

- Luke: Yep.

- You can put that under your noodles so that your noodles, so that the soup doesn't splash. When you slurp, slurp it up. And slurp it up. Be energetic about it.
[group laughs cheerfully]

Let the world know you're enjoying the ramen.

- Shinji: Yes! That's it. Slurp it. Make sound. Shinji: Oh!
[mouths slurping]

Mm!

-
[Ben speaking in Japanese]

- Luke: Yummy! Yummy is "Oishi." Oishi! Oh! Chef, how long have you been making ramen?

- Sonoda Nobuhiro: Twenty five.

- Twenty five years? Wow!

- Shinji: They use a 20 different kinds of dried anchovy.

- Luke: And that's what makes this so delicious and unique.

- This taste is the soy sauce. So they use a Kikkoman soy sauce.

- Oh, that's fantastic. Why do you use Kikkoman soy sauce?

- He thinks it's the best.

- Oh, well, yeah! That's great! That's all I needed. Yeah!
[laughs]

That's what I wanted.
[laughs]

Oh, and it shows.

- Yeah!

- High five.
[group laughs cheerfully]

One of the things that I think is really beautiful, Shinji, is you brought a lot of awareness to Japanese cuisine to Wisconsin.

- Shinji: Yeah.

- And to the Madison market. I know that some of my formative food experiences came from your plates, and, like, understanding all these beautiful ingredients working together. To be here and to be with you, to have all these connections kind of come full circle is really, really a dream come true for me. So Shinji, you're still working to bring these connections and these two cultures together. Tell me about what's happening with the Great Dane.

- Shinji: We started about five years ago, the Great Dane, and the two other guys wanted to open Great Dane in Japan. As you know, Wisconsin, you cannot open more than five breweries within the state. So, for Great Dane to grow, they have to go outside of Wisconsin or they have to go overseas. So, one day, we decided to go to Japan and I was looking for reason to come back to Japan many years. Then, I jump on that project.

- Yeah! Shinji, this has been out of this world, but it's about time for me to get out of Tokyo for a little bit, and I would love to take the train to Sendai and come see you tomorrow. Is that okay?

- Shinji: Yes, of course.

- Luke: All right! Great! I can't wait. I cannot wait.
[bright, relaxing music]

Rob and Phil, I feel like I'm in that Scooby-Doo fever dream. I went to bed in Wisconsin and here I am in Sendai, or in rural Sendai, in Japan, talking about the Great Dane. Oh, my gosh. It's good to see you guys.

- Rob LoBreglio: Thank you. Great to have you.

- Thank you!

- Yeah, even though I helped start it, it's still a lot of cognitive dissonance.

- Luke: Yeah!

- I look around like, "Where am I?"

- How has this experience been for you guys coming out of Wisconsin and like the process of opening a business with such strong traditional roots from the Midwest in Japan?

- Rob LoBreglio: Every day is an adventure. It's very fascinating. The reception that we've gotten here, the support, it's just been overwhelming. Phil and I have three other partners here, Chef Shinji Muramoto, Tetsuya Kiyosawa, and:
[speaking in Japanese]

Three Japanese guys who, of course, take point in communicating our story to the public.

- And having Shinji running the kitchen is a really brilliant move because I haven't actually ever had a bad plate that's come out of a place he's run. And he kinda did this thing in the opposite direction for so long.

-
[speaking in Japanese]

- Thank you, Chef.

- Hey!

- Hey! That's great. First cheese curds I've ever had in Japan.

- Luke: Yeah? Seriously!

- This is crazy. This is so surreal, dude. Oh, my gosh.

- A food no one knows about it here.

- Nobody knows about it, I'd imagine.

- Ben: Not yet. Not yet.

- Oh, you fly halfway around the Earth and you get a plate of this golden goodness dropped on you. This is truly incredible.

- Phil Dawson: Well, for me, this is like what it's all about, right? Is bridging that gap from Wisconsin to Japan. And how do you do that better than food and drink?

- Exactly!

- This is what I know, and seeing it like come to fruition here is, like, an amazing thing for me. Because what do I miss most about being in Wisconsin? Well, it's here now.

- Luke: Yeah! You didn't say, "winter."

- I know.
[group laughs cheerfully]

- Can you talk to me a little bit about how you create that cultural connection when you, in a lot of ways, have to really grow that market organically?

- We're importing Briess malt from Wisconsin. So, I mean we're gonna have the same products here that we have in the US. Now, we're gonna create a new flagship beer for here that's completely unique and only available in Japan. But, at the same time, all of our most popular beers from the US will be replicated here to the T. And we really got lucky with the cheese curds because there's a great local cheesemaker and they wanna use our spent grain from the brewery.

- Luke: Sure!

- Rob: So it'd be a nice synergistic relationship. We give them the spent grain, they feed it to their cows, they produce the milk, they make the cheese curds we use.

- Luke: Wow!

- Nice!

- Brats!
[laughs]

- All right.

- Again, we really wanna not only be Wisconsin, but we wanna support Wisconsin. So, that's why we're importing Briess malt, Jones Dairy Farm, Johnsonville, Kikkoman.

- I mean, and that's literally what brought me over here in the first place. This idea that even though we are thousands of miles apart, when it comes down to it, we are so closely connected. We push outside of the boundaries of the state. It radiates. That is the purpose of "The Wisconsin Idea," right? We're all connected. These ideas are so amazing, and, in this case, so delicious. So, with that being said, kanpai!
[group chatters and laughs]

Luke: What you're doing is the best kind of work. You are global ambassadors for this Wisconsin tradition of food and agriculture and I am just honored to be here in Japan tasting these notes of home that have been reflected in Japanese culture and cuisine, as well. With that, I do have to catch the train. I have to meet with some amazing humans at Kikkoman who are also doing some of the same things that you are. They're making the world smaller one plate at a time. And, my man, you have been amazing! This entire experience, you kept me from an international incident. I appreciate you so much.

- You breaking up with me?

- Luke: Ah, yeah, dude. This is it.

- You leaving? Are you leaving?

- This is it. This is the end, man.
[Ben cries dramatically]

[Luke laughs]

It's gonna get gross now.
[laughs]

I gotta run. Peace.

- Phil: All right.

- Rob: Dude.

- Luke: Cheers.

- Ben: Cheers!
[relaxing upbeat music]

- I'm Yuzaburo Mogi. I'm honorary chairman of Kikkoman Corporation and also, I'm a chairman with the board. I've been working for Kikkoman many time, many years.
[laughs]

Since 1958. And we started to make soy sauce in the 17th century, around 1630. We became corporation in 1917. Then, in 1957, we started internationalization of business because sales of soy sauce in America, in American market, was growing, you see. We started to compare 50 states. Then, we narrowed down. Finally, we picked up two states in America as possible site. One is Wisconsin and another one is Illinois, and finally, we chose southern part of Wisconsin. Then, we celebrated 50th anniversary of that plant this year. Wisconsin plant is the biggest plant in the world. So, there's two main reasons why we chose Wisconsin as plant site. Labor quality, and then, access to raw materials. In January 1972, we had a groundbreaking ceremony in Wisconsin in January. You know, on that day, temperature was minus 50, including wind chill factor. Last time I visited Wisconsin, every day I had steak.
[laughs]

I think quality of meat, you see, Wisconsin is quite good.

- Interviewer: How about the cheese? Have you tried the cheese?

- The cheese! Yes, I like it there. And also, I like beer. Yeah.
[enchanted, relaxing music]

- Today, I'm in Noda City in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan. Chiba is a sister state to Wisconsin, and has been so since 1990, but it's also the home of Kikkoman's world headquarters. I'm here to explore how our food and farming culture connects us all over the world.

- Kotaro Yamashita: Hey, please come in.

- Luke: Thank you!

- Kotaro: Now, here, you can find the machines for soy sauce making, about 100 years ago.

- Luke: So, this is much smaller than?

- Much smaller.
[laughs]

- Luke: Than the procedures that I saw in Walworth, then I'm guessing that you have here.

- Kotaro: Ah, yes, yes.

- Luke: But the consistency in the product hasn't changed.

- Kotaro: No. Kotaro: Now, I will show you the koji tray. It's a tray that prepares the koji mold and we mix it up, each tray, with our hands.

- Luke: And I see on here it says that these were used until 1970.

- Kotaro: Yes.

- How as the process of making soy became more and more mechanized, were there issues in going from wood boxes to a more automated process?

- Kotaro: Oh... The process is the same.

- Luke: Sure.

- But it became mechanical in the large size. But the same thing is happening. Now, here you can find the real moromi.

- Luke: This is alive? Is this part of the imperial soy sauce process?

- Kotaro: Yes.

- Luke: So, one of the things that strikes me is when we went through the Walworth facility.

- Kotaro: Yeah.

- We had the moromi in very large vats.

- Kotaro: Ah, yes.

- That they would have air pumping into them to mix the moromi to ensure that it continued the process efficiently and evenly. How do you accomplish this in an artisan fashion?

- We use this kind of.

- Oh, the paddles?

- Yes, paddles. And put them in the moromi.

- Sure! And move it.

- Kotaro: And move it.

- Move it by hands?

- Yes.

- Wow! How long has it been in here? Do you know off the top of your head?

- Kotaro: Yes, about one year.

- Luke: Okay, one year.

- Kotaro: Yeah, yeah.

- Luke: Is this almost done? Is it ready to be?

- Kotaro: It's almost done and we are going to press it in about a month or two month.

- Luke: Okay.

- Kotaro: Yes.

- But this is a very real and live process to see something with this much importance to Japan's history, to Japan's future.

- Ah, yes.

- And to see the artisan process still alive and well.

- Exactly.

- And connecting you all around the world through soy sauce. This is incredible.
[bright arpeggios]

Well, where do we start in this?

- Masami Oura: Good question.

- Right! Right.
[Masami speaking in Japanese]

Which is it doesn't have the, we call, pasteurizing.

- Oh!

- Heat. We don't put any heat on it.

- Luke: Okay.

- Masami: So, very low flavor. I want you see color, flavor, and taste.

- Luke: Okay. Mm. It smells beautiful. A light color to it.

- Mm-hmm.

- It's not overly assertive. It's mild, but it is still very, very delicious.

- Okay. Next. Heat treated.

- Luke: Heat treated?

- Masami: Teriyaki soy sauce.

- Luke: So, I can see already that it's darker.

- Masami: Mm-hmm!

- We got a little bit more caramelization going on here.

- Mm, correct.

- Mm. It's got a deeper aroma. It almost has a sweeter.

- Okay!

- Sweeter on the very first touch of the palate, and then, it continues to undulate back and forth. Again, your whole tongue gets brought into it, which is the essence of that umami. It's really connecting all those flavor points on your palate. That is very delicious.

- Then, next two soy sauces are kind of special.

- Yes!

- Masami: It's fermented in old tank. So, to keep the fermentation steady in old tank, salt water is little bit higher.

- Luke: Okay.

- Masami: The content is a little bit rich, so tastes stronger.

- I mean, this has the look of a very dark cup of coffee or tea. The aroma profile is very complex, almost, as I was saying earlier, like red wine.

- Mm-hmm! Yes.

- You get some of those complex aroma profiles. So, on the first note, it is significantly stronger.

- Correct.

- It is stronger, but it is delicious. It is robust and deep. It really has deep, deep caramel notes in it. I keep wanting to go back to it.

- Okay.
[laughs]

- Yeah. I won't for the sake of time, but I could. I could go back to that over and over and over again. That is lovely.

- Masami: Okay. The final one, doubly fermented.

- That's the good stuff.
[Masami laughs cheerfully]

Rich aroma complexity again. It fills my palate. Mm! And it fills it with something that's very unusual to find from a very small sip. It's this essence of... deep caramel, deep thyme almost, and it pulls you back for it. 

As a matter of fact, I'm going to have a second taste of this one. As I breathe air over my palate, you get the salinity. But the salinity usually on my palate, doesn't actually push flavor towards the back of my mouth. And this keeps me wanting more... and more and more! I can't imagine a food application where this wouldn't be delicious. This is a miracle.

- Masami: Oh!
[laughs]

- It really is. It's a work of art and I appreciate you sharing it with me. I might not let this one go back.
[both laugh jovially]

- Great.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you very much.

- Oh, that's so nice.
[mellow instrumental]

We're at restaurant Colza in Tokyo's Ginza District where we get to experience the care and love that Kikkoman puts into their soy sauce in a very practical restaurant application. 

Roy, it's good to be here. I feel very at home in Japan thus far. You've done so well to make us feel so seen and loved, and the hospitality has been completely over the top. Can you tell me a little bit about Colza?

- Ryohei "Roy" Tsuji: Colza is, of course, the teppanyaki place, but in US, I think you use the hibachi, right?

- Luke: Sure!

- Roy: Yeah, but we use here the terminology the teppanyaki. This restaurant is run by Kikkoman, actually.

- How important is soy sauce in the teppanyaki process?

- Roy: Yeah. Usually teppanyaki process that you can find many soy sauce to be used, but especially here because we, Kikkoman, run this business, we would like to make it quite unique.

- Yes.

- Roy: Yeah. And the soy sauces are, of course, the signature product.

- Luke: Mm-hmm! I can't believe that this same soy sauce that we are going to enjoy here in the Ginza District of Tokyo is the same soy sauce brewed in Walworth, Wisconsin.

- Roy: Yes! Brewed in Walworth, Wisconsin. Same quality as in Japan. So you can enjoy them.

- Yeah, that is wild!

- Roy: Same look, same quality of the soy sauce. When you travel to Europe, you can enjoy the-- also the same quality. This salmon is quite unique because it is raised in a special place. The water is always fresh.

- Luke: How important is it to really get the freshest ingredients to complement the soy sauce?

- Roy: One of the attractive point in this restaurant called Colza is, of course, that they always use most fresh ingredients. They are sourcing from many, many places in Japan and they try to make it always fresh. 

Bon appétit.

-  Bon appétit. 

Thank you so much, Roy. It's creamy, it's rich.

- Roy: Creamy inside, rich and more. Yeah.

- You get that herbaceous, topped with a little bit of the dill, and maybe parsley there.

- It's a parsley, I think.

- Parsley?

- Roy: Yeah.

- And this sauce, mustard seeds. The soy base, though, really one of my favorite things about soy sauce is it really lights up your entire palate. That idea of umami, right? The sense of earthiness.

- Roy: Umami, yes.

- And the...

- Roy: Yes, mouthfulness.

- Yes!

- Roy: And umami and then, yeah.

- Smell the beach.

- Roy:  Oh, smell of beach. Really beautiful.

- Luke: Really beautiful.

- Roy:  Yes. I usually pour the sauce side, and then, put in.

- Luke: Work the fish into it. Okay.

- Roy: The salmon is okay with soy sauce, right?

- Oh, yeah! It's more than okay, sir. It is absolutely breathtaking. Yes.

- Roy: Yeah? Great. It's one of the famous cow that from the Miyazaki Prefecture is the southern part of the Japan. Yes. It's a Wagyu.

- It's Wagyu. Of course, of course.

- Roy: Of course, Wagyu. And moromi is the soy sauce mashed paste. So, this is another unique sauce that you can enjoy here in this restaurant.

- Yeah.

- Roy: Especially.

- I actually tried to get Dan and Ike to let me take some moromi out of the Walworth plant, and, no, no. They're like, "No, no, this doesn't leave." 
[chuckling]

Because when I tasted it there, it was so incredible. It lights your palate up in so many different and unique ways.

- Roy: Yes.

- And has that very comfortable undertone of the soy sauce and the salt. But it was so complex.

- Roy: Yeah.

- Teppanyaki rivals any television show you're ever going to watch. I mean, this is like it happening right in front of you. Like most things in Tokyo, it's not just one sensation that you're getting at a time. 

It's the smell of the moromi. It's the smell of the searing beef. You have the vegetables, you have the amazing knife work. It's all these things that you're kind of taking in simultaneously that really make this an absolutely unique dining experience. 

And it strikes me a little bit, Roy, that for a company that has been making soy sauce for 350 years, 50 of those years in Wisconsin, how you maintain such exacting consistency with the product that by all standards is very simple, but yet so complex.
[speaking in Japanese]

- Luke: Thank you. Arigato.
[chef speaking in Japanese]

- Roy: Sirloin is the right-hand side, and you can use all these, you know?

- Okay.

- Roy: Soy sauce, and then, wasabi mashed up.

- Okay.

- Roy: The left side is already been dipped.

- Okay.

- Roy: In soy sauce paste.

- Luke: It's almost beyond words, Roy. It's sublime.

It's melting in the mouth.

All the richness of the moromi and knowing what I know now about the tradition of, the process in making soy sauce, that with the Wagyu beef, I've never had a bite that I-- I honestly didn't wanna chew it. I wanted it to stay on my palate forever.

- Roy: It's melting away.

- It's melting away.

- Roy: It's melting away, so it's really good.

- Oh, my goodness! So, the soy sauce on our right?

- Roy: This is the imperial.

- Okay, that's the imperial.

- Roy: That's the imperial.

- And this one is unpasteurized?

- Roy: Unpasteurized.

- Okay.

- Roy: Raw. Raw soy sauce.

- Okay.

So, that bite, the filet with the fat, that just kind of melts away.

- Roy: Melts away. More, more and melts away.

- All the beautiful balance in the soy sauce really gets an opportunity to shine. That fat just ends up being this perfect vehicle for bringing that soy and its complexity onto your palate. You smell it, you taste it, you get that familiar essence of beef and the texture that is like none other than Japanese Wagyu.

- Roy: Soy sauce is delicious on meat.

- Mm. Mm-hmm.

- Roy: Right? But soy sauce paste also gives you a different flavor.

- Mm-hmm! It's a different complexity. It really is. There's an inherent sweetness in the moromi, like that essential sugar, which still exists. Texturally, I can really taste where it adheres to the meat, the little grooves in it, which is incredible.

- Roy: Of course, soy sauces have the five in the basic taste, as you know, the saltiness and sourness and bitterness and the umami and sweetness. All five essence, basic essences, are existing in soy sauce. This is one of the reason why the soy sauce is good on everything.

- Seriously, the world's most popular condiment. I mean, it's...
[laughs]

- Roy: One of the most popular condiment. Thank you.

- Well, after this, it may be the world's most popular kind. If I do my job right here, Roy. For me, food is this tremendously connective medium. And I promise you, traveling from Wisconsin to Tokyo, while it seems like you are worlds apart, truly these flavors bring me back to my time in Walworth, the aroma of the soy, the dedication to the process, the combined almost 400 years of tradition used to brew this soy shine every single time a piece of food hits my palate. This is brilliant, Roy. You do good work, Sir.

- Roy: Thank you very much for saying that. You're really happy.

- I couldn't be more proud to sit here and be able to make a connection to that place I call my home, we call our home. Thank you so much for taking the time and giving us the opportunity to walk through the facilities in Walworth and hear the stories of Kikkoman. 

But additionally, Roy, opening your doors to us in Japan and allowing us to come in and see the world from your perspective to understand that we are not that far apart, that there are connected elements all around us. This has been the experience of a lifetime.

- Roy: You are very, very welcome, and you will always be our good guest. And we appreciate for taking such a long trip, come over to Japan.
[speaking in Japanese]

[speaking in Japanese]

- I'm Yuzaburo Mogi: In Japan, we have proverb that if people eat same foods, they become friends. Or people in Japan, US, and other part of the world eat same thing, eat soy sauce, I think they become friends.
[upbeat music]

- I might be able to fall asleep standing up.

- Can I look at that again?
[group chatters]

§ Boom, boom, ba, ba, ba, ba §
[rhythmic clapping]

§ Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm § § Dee, dee, dee, dee, ee, ee § § Ee, ee, ee §

- That is incredible. This is incredible! This is incredible. This is incredible. This is pretty incredible. That's incredible. Incredible. Incredible! Incredible. Incredible... But this is incredible. Oh, that is incredible.

- Group: "Wisconsin Foodie!"

- Luke: ["Laverne & Shirley Theme (Making Our Dreams Come True)"]

§ Yada, yada, dooby, new, moo § § La, da, do, do, do, do, do § § We're gonna make our dreams come true § § In the Kikkoman §

- Announcer: "Wisconsin Foodie" would like to thank the following underwriters.
[upbeat music]

[upbeat music continues]

[relaxing guitar music]

- Announcer: The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite "Wisconsin Foodie" and remind you that in Wisconsin we dream in cheese.
[group cheers]

Just look for our badge. It's on everything we make.
[upbeat banjo music]

- Announcer: Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993. Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer is made.

- Announcer: With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore. From local animal sourcing to onsite high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically-raised, grass-fed and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers. The Conscious Carnivore. Know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Announcer: Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin. 
[pulsing electronic music]