Kenta Fujimoto

About

Kenta covers Japan west of Tokyo the way locals move — by train line and appetite. Osaka for kushikatsu and standing bars, Kyoto for kissaten and gardens tourists walk straight past, Kobe for the harbour and the beef worth the trip, and out to Okayama for Kōraku-en at opening time, sake breweries that pour for visitors, and Kurashiki's canal quarter — the Japan people say they wish they'd found.

Qualifications & Experience

• •Certified sake sommelier (kikisake-shi)
• •Ten years running a standing bar in Osaka's Tenma izakaya district
• •Writes a Kansai izakaya-and-kissaten guide read by locals, not tourists