No lie, the sole purpose of all my companions and myself during our trip to Japan was to shop. And eat. But mostly to shop. Tokyo is the mecca of fashion, electronics, comestics, basically any material good you can name. Plus, the Japanese know food. If only they could teach me their skills through osmosis!
First, our 3 bedroom furnished apartment I managed to snag for us for the week at Oakwood Shinjuku.
Yes, Japanese people like to watch Hilary Clinton too
full kitchen. it even came with a rice cooker
the infamous bidet. i dare you to try it
the master. and yes, we like spongebob square pants!
And now, onto the good stuff
FOOD.
Vending machine fooding is quite popular in Japan. One can have many meals without even speaking to anyone at a restaurant, like a waiter. This worked well for me as A. I speak no Japanese, and B. no tipping needed (but this is really a moot point as there is literally zero tipping allowed in Japan). I have to say though, thank goodness for being able to write a bit of Chinese. It’s so much easier to match up the characters from the pictures to the characters on the machine.
Below is our first real meal in Tokyo. We had breakfast at a small local noodle joint about two blocks from where we were staying. Although, this may not be the best food in Japan, the soba [not pictured] I had beats any other I’ve had in the States. This goes to show how authenticity can go a long way. BTW, Asia = no egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast.
veggie tempura with a very orange [read: fresh] egg
The quality of food in Japan just astounds me. I learned to fall in love with fast food there in the form of Mos Burger, but more on that later. They have much stricter regulations with their productions of food and meat that causes everything tastes so much better, even something as simple as an egg. American food producers seriously have a thing or two they can learn about not cutting corners. I demand quality!!
One thing that’s really been bugging a lot of people lately is the whole imported fast food craze. The Japanese are getting fatter because they keep eating our Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s. Can someone tell me why the Japanese McDonald’s is exactly like McDonald’s in America? McDonald’s in China, Hong Kong, Korea, and India to name a few are all different, and from my experience [via China & HK] have menu items that tastes muchhh better. I’ve been told that their flavors were changed to appease the Asian palate. Why isn’t this the case in Japan? Sometimes, authenticity is not a valued trait. If things continue this way, the Japanese will no longer be the healthiest people. Let’s not even get started on their ridiculous new weight-loss plans and weight regulations for the country. Talk about trying to create an anorexic society. What happened to preaching about moderation?
Anyways, take a look at the Krispy Kreme line. Yes, people actually wait outside the store for these heart clogging goodies.
One food fad that I’m totally into is … crepes! There are a ton of crepe shops in Harajuku, the epi-center of teen fashion and Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku-girls. We chose the place that had the longest line and ended going back there another day when it was really warm out to get ice cream crepes.
waiting in the rain. crepe selection in back.
crepe making requires a santa hat during all times of the year & heavy concentration
the end product. it was all thanks to the santa hat
strawberries, dense whipped cream, and fudge all wrapped up for my enjoyment
Back to real Japanese food. Conveyor belt sushi!
We stumbled upon a pretty wallet friendly place for sushi for lunch one day while shopping around Shinjuku and were really excited. We managed to taste a couple of things that I haven’t really seen in typical sushi places in NY. Some of the highlights were: the baby shrimp, baby octopus, sea urchin and fresh water eel. I also experienced some new flavors in terms of sauces and fish here, but I can’t place them into words. You’ll all just have to go explore for yourselves.
Next to come: Tokyo’s Japan.
What a great snag! Nice weekly! The crepe looks delish!!!