About Mountain Plums

Mountain Plums is a site developed for people who want to experience Japanese culture through cuisine. We believe that creating a perfect dish involves blending elements so that all ingredients act in harmony to create a unique flavor, a unique beauty, and a unique aroma that brings people joy and contentment.

Japanese cooking is an art, and as with every form of art, you can express your freedom and explore your creative side. Recipes are a starting point, but you can express your artistic freedom by carefully selecting and blending ingredients, adjusting quantities to achieve balance, and changes in preparation time that impact the dish’s look and texture.

Mountain Plums is an artist’s toolkit where you are the artist, the tools are brushes, the ingredients are paints, and the kitchen is your canvas. Our recipes will help you get started on a journey, but it will be you that creates the masterpieces.

The Author

My name is Jay and I am the founder of Mountain Plums. I have been working for most of my adult life at a large company as an engineer, a project leader, and a manager. Through my job I been fortunate to spend much of my career traveling to different locations where I could pursue both of my passions, cooking and the people and cultures of Asia. I currently live in Japan and have come to the point in my life where I want to pursue my passion for cooking full time in the environment that I have grown to love and appreciate. I want to share that passion with people who are interested in learning more about Japanese culture through cooking.

I am married to a lovely Japanese woman named Miki, and we have a beautiful teenage daughter named Lisa. My wife shares my love for cooking, and we are working together on several projects to help us achieve the independence we need to pursue our passion full time.