Name: Behind the Counter at a Local Japanese Oden Restaurant
Uploaded: 2025-10-25T18:50:59.000Z
Duration: 15 min 7 s
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This is oden, a very traditional Japanese food, also known as a winter comfort food dating back centuries in Japan.

Kind of like fried chicken or mashed potatoes with gravy.

For Americans in Japan, you can even grab bibing hot oden at convenience stores in the winter.

That's how rooted the dish is in Japanese culture.

The question is, can it create the same warm and fuzzy feeling for someone like me who didn't grow up here?

Well, I'm traveling to Tokyo's Ginza area to get to the bottom of this, and

I'm gonna go behind the counter at Kameko, a traditional Japanese to kanto style oden restaurant that for 30 years now has continued to nurture their signature broth, replenishing it and simmering it daily to build its unmistakable rich and deep flavor with an aroma that fills the shop.

All run by a Japanese man who's devoted his life to crafting this authentically nostalgic cuisine.

And this may be the perfect spot to find out if this Japanese comfort food is really that comforting.

He took over the business 15 years ago to continue on the original owner's legacy.

Azuma san once worked at Otako, a long established oden restaurant with more than a century of history.

When the original owner decided to open Kamiko through the Japanese custom known as noren wake, receiving permission to carry on Otako's signature oden recipe, Azuma san was asked to join him.

So how long have you been running this shop?

He says that one night when he was young, he had gone to dinner with his father at a traditional style Japanese restaurant and noticed how impressive and equally delicious the dishes were.

It was at that moment when he got his first inspiration to become a chef.

Oden traces its roots back more than 800 years to Japan's Edo period, a time when street food culture began to thrive.

Originally, it was a simple dish, boiled tofu and vegetables served with miso on top.

But for the busy people of that era, this style of eating proved too slow.

The ingredients were made to simmer in broth throughout the day, ready to be served at any time, and

it soon became one of the most popular street foods of its time.

By the Meiji period, new ingredients like fish cakes were added alongside tofu, konnyaku and vegetables, shaping oden into the hearty, comforting dish Japanese know today.

While waiting for the ingredients to cook, he refocuses his attention on preparing the fish.

Although their primary cuisine is oden, the shop also serves a variety of seasonal dishes that change weekly, like sashimi and fried foods, all crafted carefully to pair with the shop's selection of drinks.

He says that his father and Xisuma san used to work together, and his father introduced them.

Azuma Son continues to prep now, working on their fresh octopus sashimi.

Now he prepares the stuffing for the shop's signature oden kuroke, which is one of their most popular items.

The flavored oden is chopped up and mixed with potatoes and then fried.

Since it must also be cooled down, the entire process takes two days.

He adds that he often goes to these lives with his wife.

Despite inflation and rising food costs, Azuma San does his best to keep his prices steady, valuing his regular customers more than his shrinking profits.

It was only in 2019, when Japan raised its consumption tax from 8% to 10%, that he finally adjusted his prices.

He strives to create a space where they can relax and feel at home.

A place that they can rely on year after year.

Now that the daikon is finished simmering, Azuma sun transfers it to the main rectangular pot filled with her signature broth, made by combining their pre cooked broth with more dried sardines, more thick cut bonito flakes, and

also chicken stock, all slowly simmered for three hours to soak in all of that goodness, creating a deep, comforting umami flavor with each bite.

That wraps around you like a warm embrace.

From here, he begins adding a variety of oden ingredients, carefully timing each one so it's served to his customers at the perfect moment.

In total, he offers 33 different Oden ingredients.

And remarkably, he keeps track of how long each has been simmering entirely in his head.

Oden, after all, is all about timing, anticipating the rush, reading the flow of the shop, and

managing every ingredient with precision.

It's a craft that only a truly experienced chef can master and one that defines the soul of his cooking.

It simmers for three hours before being left to cool overnight.

The next day, they carefully trim away the excess fat and cook it once more in a pressured pot, creating their iconic Yu Suji dish.

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Behind the Counter at a Local Japanese Oden Restaurant

authentic

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ingredient