■ How to make soup stock (using dried bonito flakes)

1. Bring water to a boil in a sauce pan. Stir in dried bonito flakes.
2. Bring to a boil once again. Remove pan from heat. Let stand until bonito flakes settle down and stop moving.
3. Place paper towel inside a drainer and drain in a sieve.

■ How to make soup stock (using Konbu seaweed).

1. Wipe konbu seaweed lightly with a wet cloth. Cut the seaweed from both sides with a pair of scissors while putting inside the pan.
2. Put konbu seaweed in the pan with water. Let stand for two to four hours.
3. Heat the pan on the stove top. Take out the seaweed just before the water begins to boils.

■ How to drain Tofu.

1. Place tofu on a paper towel.
2. Wrap the tofu tightly with kitchen paper. Put some weight on it and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes.

■ How to wash and polish the rice.

1. Rinse with plenty of water.
2. Stir with hand to wash out dust and dirt. Immediately drain water off.
3. Polish the rice by rubbing the grains together in your hands.
4. Repeat this until water is no longer murky--3 to 4 times.

■ How to grind daikon radish.

1. Cut the daikon into easy-to-handle lengths. Peel the skin off.
2. Place a wet cloth beneath to prevent slipping. Grind the daikon radish against the daikon fiber.
3. Drain excess water lightly in a drainer.

■ Preparation of deep-fried tofu.

1. Place deep-fried tofu in drainer.
2. Pour over boiling water (or boil it briefly in the pan).

■ Preparation of daikon radish (round off corners, pre-cook)

1. Cut daikon radish into sizes appropriate for the meal.
2. Peel skin off. Round off corners slightly.
3. Pour plenty of water in pot with daikonradish and a pinch of rice. Heat the pan.
4. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until daikon radish is soft enough for bamboo skewer to go through.

■ How to remove lye from gobo root.

1. Brush and rinse the gobo root to remove soil. Peel off skin with the back of a kichen knife.
2. Cut into sizes appropriate for the meal.
3. Pour 3 cups of water in a sauce pan with gobo root. Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Let it stand for 1 to 2 minutes.

■ How to strain.

1. First, place a wet cloth beneath a tray to prevent slipping.. Then place a strainer on the tray.
2. Place the food to be strained on the opposite side. Using a wooden spatula, press and squeeze the food.
3. Pull forward the spatula at once. Repeat this.

■ Preparation of Konnyaku.

1. Rub it with salt to remove the odor.
2. Rinse off salt with water. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes to remove the lye.

■ How to make sweet vinegar dressing.

1. Prepare vinegar, light soy sauce, and sugar in a ratio of 2: 2:
3. Mix together all the ingredients in

■ How to make onigiri rice ball.

1. Wet hands slightly with water and rub with salt.
2. Scoop out a rice-bowl amount of rice by hand.
3. Angle the palm in a triangular shape in order to shape the rice ball, and adjust its bulk with the other hand.
4. Adjust the shape by rotating the rice ball 3 to 4 times in your palm..

■ How to make thin strips of omelet.

1. Beat eggs. Add salt and starch-water mixture. Beat to blend. Drain in a sieve.
2. Lightly oil a fying pan. Pour the egg mixture and spread over the pan.
3. Turn over the thin omelet with long chopsticks for cooking. Cook again a little and then take out and put on a cutting board.
4. Overlap several of the omelets. Roll them together. Slice thinly from the edge.

■ Grind sesame seed.

1. Place sesame seeds into a grinding bowl. With grinding rolls, grind sesame seeds in a circular pattern.
2. Adjust the size of the ground sesame seed according to the dish.

■ How to soften dry foods.

• Soak dry mushrooms in water for 1 to 2 hours. Then, remove all the mushroom stems.
• Lightly wash the daikon strips. Soak in fresh water for 10 to 20 minutes.
• Soak freeze-dried tofu in a bath of warm water with lid. Once it is softened, press gently in the water.
Change water and repeatedly press it and squeeze it.
• Wash dried shrimp with water. Pour just enough warm water to cover the shrimp. Add a tablespoon of sake or cooking liquor.
Let it stand for 2 to 3 hours. Once it's softened, squeeze the excess water.
• First, wash with water. Then, rub it with salt. Rinse off salt and soak it in a bath of warm water for about 10 minutes. Cook it in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes.

■ How to clean shellfish of sand and impurities.

1. Soak clams in salted water overnight.
2. For freshwater clams, soak in fresh water to clean sand and impurities.
3. It is better to let stand in a dark place both clams and freshwater clams.

■ How to fillet Japanese horse mackerel.

1. First cut under the pectral fin. Then remove the head.
2. Insert a slice in the underbelly and remove guts.
3. Cleanly rinse the underbelly with water and remove muck.
4. Insert a kitchen knife beginning from the head and trace down the spine, cutting the length of the body to the tail.
5. Remove the small bones while cutting the opposite side as well.

■ How to remove the back vein on the shrimp.

1. Insert a bamboo skewer in between the shrimp's shells.
2. Gingerly pull out the back vein on its backside.