A new future for Japanese ingredients, inspired by primitive cooking methods

Restaurant 367 (365+2) has gained a strong profile as a place where diners can enjoy local gastronomy rooted in the region’s climate, culture, and history. 367 (365+2) is situated inside the Matsumoto Jujo hotel, located centrally in the Asama Onsen hot spring area, which boasts a 1300-year history in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. In the center of the open kitchen stands a large open fireplace that is lit even during summer, and occasional crackles of burning firewood create a pleasing sound. In front of the wood fire, the restaurant's grand chef, American Christopher (Chris) Horton, waves his fan rapidly, his brow sweating with the intense heat.

The restaurant’s name 367 (365+2) is intended not only to express the Japanese climate, which changes every day—365 days a year—but to also offer a sense of history and culture (+2). It also signifies the 367 kilometers in total length of the Chikuma and Shinano rivers, which both flow through the local Shinshu region and are among Japan’s largest rivers. In addition to foods from the Shinshu region, so abundant in produce, the kitchen incorporates a number of ingredients from mountain, river, and sea that subtly change following the course of these long rivers, taking diners on a magnificent journey from the headwaters of Yatsugatake and the Northern Alps to the Sea of Japan as far as Sado Island. Such variation tells a tale of Japan's unique topography, presenting a microcosm of Japan's rich abundance of food.

“What astonished me when I started cooking in Japan was the umami punch of fermented seasonings such as miso, soy sauce, and vinegar. Despite being made entirely from grains, their flavor and strength are amazing. Of course, Japan’s ingredients are delicious when they’re fresh too, but fermentation creates a new stage of flavor, and the vegetables we’re thinking about are wonderfully linked to our main dishes, heightening the presence of the ingredients. At Inua, we aimed to combine the culture of preserved foods unique to Scandinavia with Japan’s own culture of fermentation. Sauces created by fermentation and the scent of charcoal are familiar to Japanese people, but the flavors created by Chris, who emphasizes multi-layered umami, offer a mellow yet innovative surprise.
“Rhubarb from Shinshu, which produces high yields, tastes best fermented with 4% salt at an ambient temperature of 20 degrees for one week. The optimum fermentation time for gooseberries was 4 days. We’re recording the fermentation process for each ingredient as data, and in the future we hope to install a warm, humid fermentation station in the kitchen.”
In the old-fashioned on-site storehouse with its plastered walls, production of cider has just been launched this summer after year-round studies of the humidity and temperature of each room. Made by squeezing the juice from apples that have been matured by exposing them to the outside air and then fermenting with yeast, cider is light and refreshing on the palate and pairs well with Japanese vegetable dishes.

"Japanese people are passionate about food, and they are very particular about it. For example, in the United States, people tend to pay attention to quantity—how much is piled on each plate—but in Japan, the emphasis is on how much quality is packed into each small portion. I really experienced this in the amount of salt I used when I first came to Japan as a chef. It’s completely different from how much I use now. In the past, I did my utmost to create stronger, more intense flavors, but now I try to rein it in and pare it back for more delicate flavor.”
Chris has lived in Japan for 17 years. He is surprised how greatly the ways in which he spends his free time have changed—previously, he’d usually book a table at a great restaurant on a day off, but now, on free days in Matsumoto, he has begun to visit fields and valleys where clear streams flow.

"Before I came to Matsumoto Jujo, four chefs who worked together at Inua traveled together all over Japan for a month. Starting from Kyoto, we visited Oita, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kochi, Kagawa ... We wanted to visit Japanese producers to find out where the ingredients we were using came from. That trip was my starting point for understanding the excellence of Japanese ingredients, along with listening to the voices of producers. I really felt that the delicate sensibilities of the Japanese people came alive in the diverse vegetables produced with care in Japan to create such deep sweetness, as well as the delicious meat created through meticulously undertaken research. I want to take all these ingredients I’ve encountered, and reshape them into even better forms. Originally, people cooked in order to eat and survive, but I like to think that delicious flavor first emerged from the mistakes we made, over and over again. Because one person’s mistake is someone else’s delicious discovery.”
The difference between making mistakes and making new discoveries is razor-thin. That’s why he is unafraid of making mistakes, confronting new ingredients, and undertaking constant research. Chris is dedicated to searching for delicious flavors never tasted before, seeking out the richness and primitive cooking methods unique to Japanese ingredients.