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Japanese food (Page 29)

Must try before you die: Fugu and shiokara from Japan make bizarre food “bucket list”

Rona Moon
Sep 19, 2013
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When you’re hovering on the verge of leaving this world, the last thing you want to feel is lingering regret about those unique foods you never had the chance to try and all those unimaginable flavours and textures you missed out on, or never knew existed. To avoid such a terrible fate, a list of 20 strange bucket-list foods has recently been compiled by a British news site and has been widely commented on in Japan, as it features two home-grown favourites: fugu and shiokara. Fugu is the poisonous pufferfish of Simpsons fame, while shiokara is a relatively harmless dish composed of shreds of meat from a sea creature (commonly squid) in a slimy paste of its heavily salted, fermented raw guts. I mean, viscera.

So my taste buds won’t spend an eternity regretting the tragic circumstances that left their fugu and shiokara cherry unpopped, I aim to get to the bottom of these Japanese dishes! Er, okay, maybe not right to the bottom. I’ll have a few cautious bites and see how it goes.

Japan
(fugu • Japanese food • shiokara)

Tokyo Station’s top 5 breakfast spots

Cara Clegg
Jul 29, 2013

As one of Japan’s largest train stations, Tokyo Station is the central hub for many of the JR lines as well as the Shinkansen (bullet train). You can expect some standard grub in most stations, but Tokyo Station has plenty of food places that go beyond the basics. Before setting out on a trip, why not arrive a bit early and enjoy a delicious breakfast before boarding your train? It’s the perfect start to your adventure. Here we introduce five of the best breakfast spots within the station itself.

Japan
(breakfast • food • Japanese food • shinkansen • Tokyo Station)

Make Your Own Yoshinoya Beef Bowl at Home, Even Better Than the Original 【Recipe】

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Apr 15, 2013

Yoshinoya has been serving “tasty, low-priced and quick” gyudon (beef bowls) in Japan for over a century. In recent years, the chain’s bright orange signs can also be found at around 600 locations throughout Southeast Asia and the United States. It seems the world has fallen in love with the original Japanese fast food.

Now anyone can enjoy the beefy goodness of gyudon from the comfort of their own home thanks to this easy recipe. It’s the closest you’ll get to an authentic Yoshinoya beef bowl without having to put on pants.

Japan
(beef bowl • cooking • fast food • gyudon • Japanese food • recipe • Yoshinoya)

Organic Christmas Lights? No, it’s Persimmon Season in Japan 【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Dec 16, 2012

You, Me, And a Tanuki is a weekly featured blog run by Michelle, a Californian who is currently one of only two foreigners living in Chibu, a tiny fishing village on one of the Oki islands in Japan. Check back every Saturday for a new post or read more on her website here!

Starting around the beginning of October, houses and trees throughout the neighborhood are dotted with orange orbs. It’s kaki season; time to eat some persimmons. The little fruits almost look like Christmas lights in the daytime, lining the rafters of the houses. They sway back and forth in the strong sea breeze and are susceptible to being stolen by the crows that lie in wait for an easy meal.

Japan
(hoshigaki • Japanese food • kaki • persimmon • You Me and a Tanuki)

School Lunch in Japan 【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Oct 7, 2012

Ah, school lunch in Japan. I’ve had some of the best meals served to me on those plastic lunch trays. I’ve also had some of the worst. You might remember my post from last week that talked about the worst school lunch in the world. But for the most part, school lunch in Japan is surprisingly delicious and enjoyable.

Japan
(Japan School Lunch • Japanese food • Kyuushoku • You Me and a Tanuki)

Japanese School Lunch Fail【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Sep 29, 2012

When I first got to Japan, I made a goal to try any food that was offered to me. Sea snails (freshly cracked out of their shells and still alive), check. Sea cucumber, check. Shiokara (fermented salty squid), check. I’ve encountered some of the grossest edible things I’ve ever seen, but stuck to my goal, tried not to think about the slimy mess in front of me, and ate the new food.

To up the ante on my food challenge, I told myself that I would eat every dish that was served in kyuushoku (school lunch). The main reason I took this challenge is that I think it sets a good example for the kids, who are made to sit at the lunch table until they finish every bite of their food. Usually, completing my goal isn’t a chore at all. I’ve had some of the most delicious meals I’ve ever encountered in Japan served to me in the lunchroom at school. But it hasn’t all been easy. I’m not a fan of shishamo (pregnant smelt fish) which are eaten with head, eyes, tail, bones…everything, intact. As unappealing as shishamo is to me, I still manage to eat all of them when they are served in the school lunch.

Unfortunately, my undefeated school lunch record has come to an end.

Japan
(boiled squid • food • food challenge • Japan School Lunch • Japanese food • Kyuushoku • weird food • You Me and a Tanuki)

20 Guilt Free Snacks With Only A Hundred Calories

Karen Bremer Masuda
Aug 14, 2012

Imagine, if you will, a conversation in your Pilattes studio or gym locker room, or even on the train in any city in Japan, between two slender women, whom nobody would ever guess to be worried about their weight. These women could be any age, married, single, with or without children, the point being that they are slender.

“I’m getting fat! I really have to watch what I eat!”

“Me too! My weakness is snacks I can’t help eating snacks!”

“Oh, guess what? I found an article on RocketNews 24 about ‘diet snack food’! It introduces 20 of them, I’m pretty sure it says they are no more than 100 calories each!”

Two heads meet in the center to gaze over an i-phone. Read More

Japan
(dietary • healthy snacks • Japanese food • snacks • weight conscious)

Popular Japanese Anime enters the food world in soft green form – No, it’s not Jello-O but it still tastes good

Kay
Apr 5, 2012

The anime “Mobile Suit Gundam”, or Kido Senshi Gundam as it is know in Japanese, has been a hugely popular series for over 30 years with many spin-offs and affiliated products being produced during that time. The anime has been so popular, that the word “mobile suit”, the name of the large humanoid fighting machines that feature in the series, has become an accepted part of the Japanese language. Now the anime has become a part of Japanese cuisine as well, courtesy of a new food product from Sagamiya Foods Inc. Believe or not, they have made the “Zaku” mobile suit model into Tofu! Read More

Japan
(entertainment • food • Gundam • Japanese food • tofu)

New Shop in Tokyo Offers 16 Kinds of Whale Meat and Hopes You Don’t Attack Them For It

Master Blaster
Mar 5, 2012

The Ameyoko block of Tokyo is a comprised of a busy market street lined with quaint little shops selling various foods, cosmetics and knick-knacks like clocks. You can expect to find just about anything in Ameyoko, which makes it the perfect location for Geinanhonbo, a whale-meat specialty shop, to open its newest branch.

At Geinanhonbo you can choose from 16 different cuts of whale meat from a giant fridge that takes up most of the shop space. Red meat cuts are relatively cheap, costing 380 yen per 100g (US$1.32/oz), but more expensive parts like the tail or jaw can run up to 2,800 yen per 100g ($9.84/oz). The store offers “almost every edible part of the whale” including the heart, which costs about as much as the red meat.