Japanese dishes and ingredients are having a culinary moment right now in the U.S., with chefs and home cooks drawing from the Japanese pantry, and incorporating dashi and koji in their sauces. And it’s a new rite of passage for chefs to travel to Japan to eat their way through the noodle restaurants (ramen, soba, udon), izakayas and kaiseki restaurants. But without an understanding of the language and culture, a food lover needs an insider to share their knowledge of the culinary heritage of Japan.  While I am Japanese-American, there is still so much I want to learn about making Japanese food and I met Sonoko Sakai, who is the…