Hakko Shisho — Tomonori Tanaka | Tools, Places, Fermentation

Fermentation is a device for eating time. In Japan, for almost a thousand years, umeboshi, miso, and natto have been quietly fermenting time in the corners of our kitchens—long before the world fell in love with kombucha and kimchi. We have always made flavor by waiting.

In an age that accelerates everything, fermentation runs the belt the other way. In a single bite, you can feel a faint trace of yesterday, or of a century ago.

As Hakko Shisho, I arrange those layers of time on a very small stage: the breakfast table. My work is to use fermentation as a time machine and design the beginning of the day.

Here, "eating time with fermentation (Hakko)" becomes three movements you can actually feel: EAT BREAKFAST, MAKE BY HAND, and WARM YOUR BODY.

A bowl of rice with pickles, vegetables changing quietly in a jar, and a hot cup after the sauna—each is the same Time, tasted from a different angle.

Think of the three actions below as paths. Start with the one that feels closest to you right now, and see how fermentation changes your sense of Time.

The Hakko Loop - EAT BREAKFAST, MAKE BY HAND, WARM YOUR BODY

Think of this as a loop walk with three trailheads. Start wherever your day feels most open—at a breakfast you want to wake up for, at something you press into a jar before bed, or at the warmth that brings you back into your body. The paths overlap. What you made by hand at night becomes the breakfast you look forward to; breakfast leads to ginger steam and heat; heat quiets cravings and sharpens your choices, so you want to make again. In a world built on shortcuts, this gentle, self-connecting routine can be the rarest luxury. Start with the trailhead that feels closest today, and let it loop you into the others.

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EAT BREAKFAST — TASTE TIME

Is your life a little scattered? Chips after midnight taste incredible. I get it. I do it too. But when breakfast is 0 and night is 100, your body gets left behind. When you actually look forward to breakfast, late-night over-drinking and snack spirals calm down. That tilt eases back toward level—less guilt, more quiet judgment.

EAT BREAKFAST. A slow start resets the day's speed and your appetite's center of gravity.

That's "TASTE TIME".

MAKE BY HAND — TRUST YOUR TASTE

Lately, have you been opening something, eating it, and calling it done? Leaving your choosing—and your palate—to someone else? When you're busy, it happens. I do it too. So move your hands once.

Salt, slice, layer, set a weight. Make a few days of preserved vegetables—a standing side dish. In the jar, time goes to work and the aroma changes. It's a "time deposit" that rescues you a few days from now.

That's "TRUST YOUR TASTE".

WARM YOUR BODY — HEAT & RESET

Even with the heater on, are your hands and feet still cold? It might be cold sensitivity—what Japan casually calls hiesho, that everyday persistent coldness.

Body temperature is the hand of an inner clock. Stay cold while you sprint through life, and thinking tightens and taste goes flat. So warm up first: steam, spice, ginger, sauna heat. Even a fermentation barrel is warm when you reach in—proof that time has its own heat.

WARM YOUR BODY. Warmth deepens breath, loosens rhythm, and softens the world's edges. Heating isn't luxury; it's tuning. Warmth is a small investment you hand to tomorrow-you.

That's "HEAT & RESET".