Tsukuba-Dooba-Doo

Some of the most frequently asked questions about living in Japan involve food.  What do you eat, how much does it cost, do they have forks, ect, ect.  Since I've been here for over two weeks now, I feel like I can finally begin to address some of these questions with confidence.  Lets start with eating etiquette.

Eat the doggy's mess
In Japan, people are very keen on giving thanks.  Before Japanese people start eating, they put their hands together, bow down, and say "Itadaki-masu" (phonetically sounds kinda like "eat the doggy's mess") which basically means I humbly receive this meal.  This is somewhat a loose practice.  I've truly only seen a handful of people do it on a day to day basis.  They also give thanks after they finish eating.  This phrase is "Goshisou-sama" and means thank you for the meal.

And yes, chopsticks are still the weapon of choice when it comes to bridging the gap between plate and mouth.  I've found that the only exception to this rule is when you order Japanese curry (so far).  However, when eating in a cafeteria type establishment, spoons, forks, and knives are readily available.  I've had a decent amount of practice when it comes to the twin sticks because Katie loves sushi.  In fact, one of the ladies in my office complemented by chopstick skills the other day. Ha!

Another thing I found interesting is that you usually don't have paper napkins.  Rather, you are given a warm wet cloth towel at the beginning of the meal to wipe your hands.  I suppose Japanese people aren't as messy as Americans.   

A feast for the eyes
The Japanese are extremely visual people in case you haven't noticed yet (Anime', bright advertisements, everything in cartoon form).  Food is no exception.  Virtually every menu in every eatery has pictures of most of their food items.  Even if their menu has to be 10 pages, they will have pictures.  Another way that restaurants try to lure you into their establishment is to have a fake food display in front.  Luckily, many restaurants have a window display with food displays and prices so we know what we are getting ourselves into.  Matt made an excellent comment the other day after walking past a food court "Geez, I bet making fake food is a huge industry over here."  I wholeheartedly agree.  I grabbed a photo off the internet as an example.


"What part of the chicken is that?"
I was going to try to lead into this with some sort of clever analogy, but I'm just going to say it.  The Japanese eat everything.  It seems like almost any plant that isn't poisonous is consumed in one way or another.  Animals are no exception.

For example, Matt and I went to a restaurant called Torikichi.  Here they deep fry or grill about 90% of their menu items so pictures weren't helping.  We printed off a menu so that our boss, Iki-san, could tell us what everything was.  About half way through the broken English descriptions, I wasn't sure I wanted to go.  Its been a couple days, but this is what I remember from the description:

"lksdjfhlkajsdhflakjsdfh chicken head oiwurpqfn,mvnljghdfghlskdjfghlsdkfjg liver jkasdfhaisudfhjwefnbmn I think maybe cartilage. Many people like. zmxncvbkfhlsdfjhaisdufwer neck of chicken s;ldkfj;asldkfja;lskdfjvnjghlkguheir skin ;lksdfjasd;."

Anyway, you get the point.  Matt and I stood there and waited in vain for the words "chicken breast."  Alas, those words never came....however, some details of the food got lost in translation and there was some chicken breast on the menu after all.  We ended up going anyway and ordered some beef, grilled peppers, chicken mash balls, chicken neck, and some chicken breast.  The food was actually really good.  The neck tastes like chicken breast except every once in a while you will get some gristle.  Not awesome.       

I suppose that living on a series of mountainous islands for thousands of years would force your people to eat everything that doesn't kill you.  By the way, I tried some grilled chicken cartilage as well.  It has a surprisingly good taste, but the texture is a deal breaker.

-Seth