Soy sauce is made from soy beans, wheat and salt. Soy sauce is used a lot in Japanese dishes.
Sweet sake for seasoning (mirin) is a sweet yellow liquid composed of about 40–50% sugar and about 14% alcohol. It is used for cooking meat, fish or vegetables in broth.
Rice vinegar is used in preparing rice for sushi and in other vinegared dishes.
The best katakuriko is made from dogtooth violet starch. However, because so little is produced this way and it is very expensive, katakuriko is almost always made from potato starch now.
Soup stock powder (dashi-no-moto) is generally a bonito flavor. It is used for miso soup. It is easier to use than bonito flakes.
Wasabi (Japanese horseradish) is one of the representative spices of Japan. It has a very strong taste. It is eaten with sashimi, sushi and soba. Wasabi paste, which comes in a tube, is very easy to use, so it is almost always used for dishes at home. Grated fresh wasabi is more expensive and usually found only in upscale markets and served in expensive restaurants.
Shichimi (seven-spice seasoning) is one of the representative spices of Japan. It is a blend of seven ingredients which include red pepper, sesame, ginger, etc. It is sprinkled over the recipes and typical meals listed below:
Sanshou (Japanese pepper) is one of the representative spices of Japan. It comes from the sanshou plant which grows in spring season. It can be eaten in either leaf form or powder form. Sanshou leaves are used in Chirashi Zushi, Broiled Tofu, etc. Sanshou powder is made from dried sanshou berries and is sprinkled over Broiled Tofu, Unagi-no-Kabayaki, etc.