Since I feel that a large part of
any trip abroad is inevitably centered on food, it seemed appropriate to spend
a brief amount of time on it. For starters, American restaurant chains or brands
that we saw in Japan: Dr. Pepper in one
vending machine (tasted exquisite!), Mountain Dew in one vending machine (tasted awful), Coca Cola in basically every
large vending machine and restaurant, Subway in one major shopping area, KFC at
two transportation stations, at least one McDonald’s (makudonarudo!) in every
major urban area (usually near the largest local transit station), and probably
2 Starbucks on average under circumstances comparable to McDonald’s. Many of
the American fast food chains had a smaller, ‘Japanese’ version of the menu
with items infused with more local flavors, such as teriyaki hamburgers and
melon cream sodas at McDonald’s (you’ll have to ask Ron what the teriyaki
experience was like), and green tea chocolate frappuccinos at Starbucks. All of
the McDonald’s we saw had a very small ground floor for ordering, and anywhere
from 1-3 additional floors meant solely as dining areas.
As far as Japanese restaurant
chains, there were a few that I noticed, which I think are only found in Japan
(I could be wrong about that – I didn’t look into them further). Asahi seems to
be the dominant beverage company (like Coca Cola everywhere else). Although I’d
always associated it with beer in the States, they also produce a variety of
coffee and tea drinks, as well as soda. Most of the vending machines I saw were
of the Asahi variety. Vie de France is a French pastry, self-serve/cafeteria
style chain, serving cheese and meat buns, croissants, and a wide variety of
other flaky pastries that were presumably not rice-based like many Japanese
sweets. Many train stations had a Manneken, a Belgian waffle franchise with
some pretty delicious waffles, hot or cold. Mr. Donut could also be found at
most major stations/shopping areas – a seemingly typical doughnut shop save for
two things: the doughnuts were often different in density/texture from American
doughnuts, and some flavors were typical Japanese – namely green tea chocolate
(I did not get to try this one – they didn’t have it at the location I went
to).
Beyond these chains that I noted
pretty frequently, all of the other restaurants were pretty clearly locally
owned, small joints akin to diners or dives in the States. Many could seat no
more than 20 or so people at a time (especially in really crowded shopping
areas), making small tour groups much more ideal for mealtime. Ramen-only shops
were probably the most common type of specialty restaurant I noticed. I’m sure
there were other common types that I didn’t take note of, but the majority of
the others I saw offered a small variety of what I assume are typical Japanese
cuisine, including udon, ramen, and soba dishes, as well as fried (tempura)
ones. An impressive assortment of crustaceans, fish, and octopus (I’d say
mollusks, but I didn’t see much besides octopus) was offered at most
establishments, which was a bit unfortunate for a few of my friends and myself,
since we aren’t particular fans of seafood. Of the typical livestock animals,
eggs were probably the most commonly available protein, followed by pork.
Chicken was a bit scarce, and usually a mixture of white and dark meat (again,
a problem for me, as I only like white meat). Non-Kobe beef was available at
some places, though the cuts were usually more fatty and sinewy than I would
eat. Don’t let this discourage you on your tasting adventures though, should
you ever visit – I just happen to be an extraordinarily picky eater!
Nonetheless, I did try several new
dishes, including okonomiyaki, tako (octopus), and ikura (salmon roe sushi).
Several of the dishes were pretty similar to ones that I’d been raised on,
being from a Japanese American family – miso soup and kitsune udon were my
fallback meals on this trip, available at many places for a pretty low price,
as they’re considered pretty common dishes there (yay for me!). Overall, there’s
nothing that I regretted trying, and many things that I would eat again at the
earliest opportunity. There are also many things I don’t mind that I avoided –
namely additional forms of tako and other assorted bone-in and scale-on fish
dishes. Eventually, I’ll add a full album of every meal I had while in Japan,
including airplane flights!
One final note – it is traditional
to say ‘itadakimasu’ before meals, and ‘gochisou-sama deshita’ after meals (see
my expectations/final impressions post for more on this!). These phrases are
just the polite way of starting and ending a meal, if you can remember to say
them!
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