In Japan, cozy pubs welcome co-workers and friends after work. (Getty Images)
By Michael Morain
Japan has a standard 40-hour workweek, but its workers are famous for putting in longer hours.
“In Japanese business culture, people say that real business takes place after 5,” said Yoko Tanaka, the executive director of the Japan American Society of Iowa (JASI). “You go have a meal together, relax, and then honest conversation can take place.”
Often, that honest talk happens at an izakaya, a cozy pub on a quiet side street or alley. They’re often found in clusters, where each place serves sake (rice wine) and various local specialties — usually unpretentious comfort foods that change with the seasons.
JASI plans to re-create an izakaya next Friday at the River Center in downtown Des Moines. Ticketed guests can mingle among several stations that serve authentic dishes, including yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), tamago yaki (savory-sweet omelets) and dango (chewy rice flour dumplings). Visitors can also enjoy a soy-marinated pork dish, courtesy of the team from the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival, and a special JASI sushi roll, custom-designed for the occasion.
The event will also feature an origami station, taiko drummers and bon folk dancers from Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. (Tanaka said they’ve been practicing on Zoom.)
JASI was founded 35 years ago to promote Japanese culture here in Iowa, and the izakaya is the group’s third annual sake event. The first two, in 2022 and 2023, celebrated the drink’s century-old traditions and educated Iowans who didn’t know much about it.
“People would tell me, ‘Oh, I’ve had sake’ ” and then describe a sake bomb served with beer, Tanaka said. “That’s one way to consume sake, but it’s not ideal. In Japanese culture, sake isn’t just another drink to indulge in. There are spiritual and cultural aspects, too.” She said that many Japanese believe it cleanses the spirit, brings people together and brings good fortune, especially at weddings, New Year’s Day and other celebrations.
For the JASI event in 2022, leaders from Yamanashi, Iowa’s sister state, sent a case of sake that was used for a special toast with the Japanese consul general who drove in from Chicago. The 2023 event featured sake pairings with a three-course menu of Western dishes, catered by Allora at the Krause Gateway Center. “Sake is like white wine,” Tanaka said. “It can go with all kinds of different foods.”
Tickets are still available for the 2024 Sake Event: Night at Izakaya on Nov. 8. A VIP reception starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by the main event from 6 to 9 p.m.
