Dramatic Recovery from 17 Years of Headaches and Poor Health through a 'Fermentation Life'. Positive Changes in Body and Mind, Even Enhancing Performance!
KADOKAWA Corporation released 'Fermentation Life' by Shoken on April 15, 2026. The book highlights the health benefits of traditional Japanese fermented foods and provides practical recipes to improve gut health and immunity.
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- 📰 Published: April 16, 2026 at 01:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 15, 2026 at 16:31
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KADOKAWA Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Takeshi Natsuno) released 'Fermentation Life: Becoming Healthy at the Cellular Level from the Inside Out' (Author: Shoken / Healthy Cuisine Researcher) on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
Regulate your gut environment and boost your immunity with fermented foods. It's okay to just live a life with more Japanese food without pushing yourself too hard.
Today, the benefits of fermented foods are being re-evaluated.
Fermented foods are foods that have been fermented with the help of microorganisms such as koji (mold) and yeast. Seasonings and foods that Japanese people have used since ancient times, such as miso, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sake, natto, and pickles, are fermented foods. In the past, these were valuable items and could not be obtained unless they were all handmade. It can be said that fermented foods were invented by people in the past who racked their brains in order to "preserve food so it wouldn't spoil."
In recent years, various studies have revealed that fermented foods improve the intestinal environment and have health benefits such as boosting immunity. As research on the gut progresses, it has become clear that the health status of the gut is deeply related to various diseases. What determines the health of the gut is 'diet'.
Modern people are experiencing an increase in physical ailments that were not so common among Japanese people in the past, such as many allergic symptoms, lifestyle-related diseases, cancer, poor circulation, and depression. A major factor behind this is the Westernization of the diet and changes in the food environment, which have led to the loss of original traditional Japanese foods and a deterioration of the intestinal environment.
Fermented foods, which have the effect of reducing substances that worsen the intestinal environment and increasing fungi that improve it, are indispensable ingredients for preventing diseases.
Four Important Functions of Fermented Foods:
- Nutrients are broken down, making them easier for the body to absorb.
- Decomposed nutrients create new effects.
- Microorganisms work to create new nutrients.
- The toxicity of the food is reduced.
You don't have to do anything difficult or troublesome. Just by trying to keep a traditional Japanese diet in mind, you can incorporate the power of fermented foods such as miso, soy sauce, sake, mirin, natto, and pickles into your body.
Just by doing that, you should be able to feel your body getting in better shape and becoming healthy at the cellular level.
In this book, in addition to explaining why fermented foods are good for you, we feature many easy recipes where you can turn familiar everyday dishes into fermented meals just by adding a little fermented food.
For those who want to take it more seriously, we also introduce preparation methods for making fermented foods like natto and kimchi.
We deliver all kinds of information related to fermentation, including comments from Dr. Takuji Shirasawa, an authority on health and longevity, and a dialogue between the author and fermentation designer Hiraku Ogura.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Japanese Breakfast and Natto
Breakfast is a treasure trove of fermented foods / Let's make natto / Tamagoyaki with natto / Natto soup
Chapter 2: Meat Side Dishes
Sagohachi fried chicken / Pork ginger cooked with koji / Braised pork belly with brown sugar and tamari / Salt koji chicken breast steak / Chicken chili salt koji soy milk / Chicken stewed in tomatoes / Roast beef marinated in salt koji / Miso gyoza / Homemade sake lees bacon / Beef stroganoff / Fermented hamburger steak / Salt koji pot-au-feu
Chapter 3: Fish Side Dishes
Sardines simmered with plum / Cod and sea lettuce soup / Deep-fried baby horse mackerel marinated in ethnic fermented sauce / Fermented yellowtail radish / Salmon grilled with soy sauce koji yuan / Mackerel grilled with salt koji / Seared bonito / Ethnic steamed sea bream / Scallop carpaccio / Rare tuna cutlet with fermented sauce / Acqua pazza
Chapter 4: Vegetables, Snacks, Soups
Cucumber dill salad / Sauerkraut and anchovy spring rolls / Salt koji mushrooms / Turnip salad / 5 types of fermented dressing / Steamed vegetables in a bamboo steamer / Smashed potato salad with fermented herb sauce / Gazpacho / Natto kimchi soup / Soybeans and lentils double bean and greens soup
Chapter 5: Rice Dishes
Sea bream and mitsuba rice in an earthen pot / Nukazuke fried rice / Yellowtail Japanese-style paella / Mango butter chicken curry / Koji oyakodon / Biryani / Cold soba with grated radish
Chapter 6: Snacks
Amazake-flavored gateau chocolat / Soy sauce koji banana cake / Amazake catalana / Gluten-free carrot cake with ginger / Roasted koji tea
Chapter 7: Preparing Fermented Foods
Miso / Nuka bed / Salt koji / Soy sauce koji / Sagohachi pickling bed / Amazake / Kimchi / Spice sauerkraut / Achar / Enzyme drink
The story of how I regained my health through a fermentation life
Fermented foods invigorate the gut
To avoid failing at making fermented foods
Fermentation Dialogue: Shoken VS Hiraku Ogura
My favorite fermented seasonings
Regulate your gut environment and boost your immunity with fermented foods. It's okay to just live a life with more Japanese food without pushing yourself too hard.
Today, the benefits of fermented foods are being re-evaluated.
Fermented foods are foods that have been fermented with the help of microorganisms such as koji (mold) and yeast. Seasonings and foods that Japanese people have used since ancient times, such as miso, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sake, natto, and pickles, are fermented foods. In the past, these were valuable items and could not be obtained unless they were all handmade. It can be said that fermented foods were invented by people in the past who racked their brains in order to "preserve food so it wouldn't spoil."
In recent years, various studies have revealed that fermented foods improve the intestinal environment and have health benefits such as boosting immunity. As research on the gut progresses, it has become clear that the health status of the gut is deeply related to various diseases. What determines the health of the gut is 'diet'.
Modern people are experiencing an increase in physical ailments that were not so common among Japanese people in the past, such as many allergic symptoms, lifestyle-related diseases, cancer, poor circulation, and depression. A major factor behind this is the Westernization of the diet and changes in the food environment, which have led to the loss of original traditional Japanese foods and a deterioration of the intestinal environment.
Fermented foods, which have the effect of reducing substances that worsen the intestinal environment and increasing fungi that improve it, are indispensable ingredients for preventing diseases.
Four Important Functions of Fermented Foods:
- Nutrients are broken down, making them easier for the body to absorb.
- Decomposed nutrients create new effects.
- Microorganisms work to create new nutrients.
- The toxicity of the food is reduced.
You don't have to do anything difficult or troublesome. Just by trying to keep a traditional Japanese diet in mind, you can incorporate the power of fermented foods such as miso, soy sauce, sake, mirin, natto, and pickles into your body.
Just by doing that, you should be able to feel your body getting in better shape and becoming healthy at the cellular level.
In this book, in addition to explaining why fermented foods are good for you, we feature many easy recipes where you can turn familiar everyday dishes into fermented meals just by adding a little fermented food.
For those who want to take it more seriously, we also introduce preparation methods for making fermented foods like natto and kimchi.
We deliver all kinds of information related to fermentation, including comments from Dr. Takuji Shirasawa, an authority on health and longevity, and a dialogue between the author and fermentation designer Hiraku Ogura.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Japanese Breakfast and Natto
Breakfast is a treasure trove of fermented foods / Let's make natto / Tamagoyaki with natto / Natto soup
Chapter 2: Meat Side Dishes
Sagohachi fried chicken / Pork ginger cooked with koji / Braised pork belly with brown sugar and tamari / Salt koji chicken breast steak / Chicken chili salt koji soy milk / Chicken stewed in tomatoes / Roast beef marinated in salt koji / Miso gyoza / Homemade sake lees bacon / Beef stroganoff / Fermented hamburger steak / Salt koji pot-au-feu
Chapter 3: Fish Side Dishes
Sardines simmered with plum / Cod and sea lettuce soup / Deep-fried baby horse mackerel marinated in ethnic fermented sauce / Fermented yellowtail radish / Salmon grilled with soy sauce koji yuan / Mackerel grilled with salt koji / Seared bonito / Ethnic steamed sea bream / Scallop carpaccio / Rare tuna cutlet with fermented sauce / Acqua pazza
Chapter 4: Vegetables, Snacks, Soups
Cucumber dill salad / Sauerkraut and anchovy spring rolls / Salt koji mushrooms / Turnip salad / 5 types of fermented dressing / Steamed vegetables in a bamboo steamer / Smashed potato salad with fermented herb sauce / Gazpacho / Natto kimchi soup / Soybeans and lentils double bean and greens soup
Chapter 5: Rice Dishes
Sea bream and mitsuba rice in an earthen pot / Nukazuke fried rice / Yellowtail Japanese-style paella / Mango butter chicken curry / Koji oyakodon / Biryani / Cold soba with grated radish
Chapter 6: Snacks
Amazake-flavored gateau chocolat / Soy sauce koji banana cake / Amazake catalana / Gluten-free carrot cake with ginger / Roasted koji tea
Chapter 7: Preparing Fermented Foods
Miso / Nuka bed / Salt koji / Soy sauce koji / Sagohachi pickling bed / Amazake / Kimchi / Spice sauerkraut / Achar / Enzyme drink
The story of how I regained my health through a fermentation life
Fermented foods invigorate the gut
To avoid failing at making fermented foods
Fermentation Dialogue: Shoken VS Hiraku Ogura
My favorite fermented seasonings