This cookbook is amazing! I love Japanese food, but grilling has been a huge part of my repertoire since I first learned how to cook. And now, finally, I am able to combine these two wonderful things.

The book opens with a brief introduction to the authors and a short history of the grilling arts in Japan. Following this they included a nice long section to the ingredients they deem essential to Japanese grilling, explaining what each item is, how it's made or gathered, and how you, as a person living outside Japan, can get it for your own use. They devote en equal amount of time to suggesting how you set up your grill to resemble the traditional Japanese yakitori grill, and even what kind of charcoal is the best.

But really, the star of any cookbook is the recipe section. And these recipes are so mouthwatering that I immediately started planning my grilling escapades, even though it's only January. The recipes are all quite short, usually only requiring a handful of ingredients, and all offer helpful and practical suggestions about how to arrange the food on the grill to achieve the best results. Suffice to say that I'm going to be trying a lot of these, this summer.

Strongly recommended for anyone who loves grilling, Japanese food, or just looking at mouthwatering pictures and daydreaming. ( )