When we think of Italy or Spain, we think of olive oil. When we think of India, we think of ghee.
If I was trying to make something that tasted Japanese at home, I wouldn't use olive oil, because if I start with olive oil, that will permeate the whole dish, and it will never taste properly Japanese.
So to make the thing taste of the place, start with the fat of the place.
— Samin Nosrat "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat"
I felt like this was a potentially ill-informed and naive take, since as far as I know, Japanese cooking doesn't really have a characteristic oil or fat. Modern Japanese recipes often use サラダ油, literally "salad oil", which is typically a refined, tasteless canola.
Sesame oil is used in particular dishes, such as 和え物 (dressed dishes), but it is certainly not ubiquitous like it is in Korean cuisine.
Apart from these, particularly in modern dishes, オリーブオイル (olive oil) is indeed used in Japanese recipes, possibly as a response to modern health trends. Also, naturally chicken fat and beef fat have their place, but generally only to complement dishes that highlight chicken meat and beef respectively.
But these are the only cooking oils I generally ever see in Japanese-language recipes.
In the culinary history of Japan, before the availability of neutral, refined oils, what was commonly used as a cooking medium? Is there an oil that would be considered typical of the Japanese flavour profile?
