an article about japanese food

so, japanese food is fucking amazing. we all know how delicious stuff like sushi, teriyaki, tempura etc. are, but this is just the surface of amazing japanese food. like the amount of shops and people, there is also an unparalleled number of japanese snacks, all delicate and wrapped up just right.

sumo wrestlers get all their strength from japanese food

beginning with the strucutre of food: restaurants are everywhere. in the 15 floor department stores, the top 5 floors are all restaurants. all restaurants have laquered versions of their food in the window display, so you will know exactly what your food will look like when you get it.

japan loves the owls

then. there are food halls at the bottom of all the department stores (think mall when i say department store). these are 2 floors with the top having totally gourmet tastes, and the bottom all prepared food.

"they tear our hearts out at the top and throw them off the ledge"

gourmet food here is perhaps gourmet because it is rare? i am still figuring this out- there are cantellopes that cost 80 dollars. that sure is alot for a cantellope. certain sea weeds are also pricey. down to the lower level. all food is divided into themed shops. it is like a very clean and polite marketplace. every shop has samples, so you can eat all the food as you wander around doing your shopping. there are the standards: fruit/vegetables, fish, dry goods, but the majority is the previously mentioned fucking amazing japanese food.

creepy japanese congouring of christmastime

to enumerate: bakeries have pasteries, delicious wierd breads, cheesy meaty snacks... things come stuffed with wierd things: sugar coated doughnuts have red bean paste inside. buns with soy beans on the outside have soyish/green tea mush on the inside. then there is the soy bean ham and cheese medley. sushi type shops have sushi and sashimi, but then there are crazy additions in lunch box type structures: sometimes it is a salad of sushi parts on top of rice. sometimes there are roots with the sushi or cooked meat or tempura. but there are totally seperate tempura places too. and skewered meat shops, dumpling shops, side salad type shops- there are actually more than i can tell you about without getting bored.

these trees are as real as me standing in front of them

but talking about the restaurants is not boring. i guess i can speak of the past two nights of restraunteering with my parents. restaurant 1 was shobu shobu. you have a plate with raw vegetables: cabbage, bok choi, sprouts, long skinny mushrooms, carrots, etc. then you have a plate of really thinly sliced meat. there is a boiling pot of broth in front of you and you place your raw foods into the pot at will. there is a sesamae sauce and a vinegar/soy sauce that you then dip your cooked food in.


restaurant 2 was kushiage, which is a very elaborate ritual disguised as eating. you sit at a bar and you get all these little salads (like seaweed and octopus salad with sesamae dressing). one by one, the chef behind the bar cooks you some little skewer of deliciousness and places it on a tray for you to then take at your leisure. the skewers are all different: quail eggs, asparagus wrapped in pork, strange japanese vegetables, strange japanese fish, salmon, roots stuffed with pork, then wrapped in seaweed, tofu, etc. then you have your
miso soup and rice balls stuffed with unknown tasty treats. amazing, right?

so i'm pretty obsessed, if you can't tell.