When it comes to iconic dishes in Japan, many celebrate local fruits of the sea. No other cuisine celebrates seafood quite like the Japanese – from seaweed to urchins to grilled, dried, poached or even raw fish, seafood is a staple in this elegantly simple cuisine. Sushi is a work of art in itself and celebrates the natural flavour of seafood like no other. Traditionally consisting of nori seaweed sheets, sticky rice, and seafood, meat or veg in the centre then rolled in a bamboo mat to create a cylinder shape, many incarnations of this iconic dish have been created throughout the centuries. A derivative of sushi is also sashimi – pods of sticky rice topped with strips of raw fish and dipped delicately into soy and wasabi. Sushi is eaten every day and as a celebratory feast in the form of a Kaiseki. A Kaiseki is a banquet of seasonal dishes that accompanies saki and starts with miso soup, sashimi and sushi, and is followed by grilled chicken or fish, salad and rice.