RAMEN KINGDOM

Justin McCurry

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 Justin McCurry, Japan and Korea correspondent for the Guardian, will cycle the length of Japan, fuelled by the best food and drink in the world: miso ramen in Hokkaido; the world’s most expensive tuna in Aomori;  battered octopus balls in Osaka; Tokyo’s little-known soul food monjayaki, and, yes, sushi and saké. Along the way, Justin will meet farmers, fishermen and fisherwomen, chefs, brewers and distillers, shopkeepers and families, for whom food is a direct link to their environment, community, and the past. He will eat in restaurants and cafes, on boats and in private homes and, inevitably, on the move as he unravels the mysteries of one of the world’s most celebrated cuisines during a journey of almost 2,000 miles.

In addition to his role with the Guardian, Justin is also a contributor to France 24 TV and the Lancet, and editor of the Number 1 Shimbun, the monthly magazine of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. Justin is the author of War On Wheels: Inside Keirin and Japan’s Cycling Subculture (Pursuit Books, June 2021), published in Japanese as Keirin: Sharin no Ue no Samurai Wārudo (Hayakawa, July 2023).