1. Onigiri (Balls of rice, with nori seaweed around them, and usually some kind of flavour filling)
Onigiri are fabulous. They are tasty, they are handy, and they are everywhere. My favourite onigiri that I have tried so far is a tuna mayo one. On a school day, I will normally eat at least 2 onigiri. Sometimes I might eat four in one day. They sell them at all of the conbinis, so I will often pick one up from family mart, or the conbini on campus. I've tried making my own onigiri before. They don't turn out too bad, but they're not amazing either. I never tried looking up instructions to make them, though, so maybe I should try that!
2. Melon Pan (sweet bread, in the shape of a melon)
Melon pan, like most melon flavoured things in Japan, does not taste like melons. That being said, unlike the other melon flavoured things in Japan, I don't think Melon pan is supposed to taste like melons. I'm pretty sure it gets it's name from its shape, and there's often a criss-cross kind of pattern drawn onto it. I actually like plain melon pan the best, but I've also tried chocolate chip melon pan, and cookie cream melon pan (which is essentially oreo melon pan - which was interesting, but maybe a bit much). You can find melon pan in all the conbinis, as long as they haven't sold out, and it's a pretty popular snack in Japan.
3. Katsudon (Katsu Pork, on rice, with [probably] raw egg in there somewhere)
I'm not an egg fan, and the thought of raw egg especially makes me a bit scared, but when I ordered this dish, there was only the name of the product and not a description so I didn't really know exactly what it was I was ordering. It was really tasty, though, and I could handle the taste of the egg with the rice. However, when it came towards the end of the meal and there was a pretty high egg to rice ratio, and I'd already eaten more egg than I would have liked, it started to make me feel a bit queasy. It was totally tasty though, and if you like egg than I would recommend it, but I'm not sure if I will be ordering it again!
4. Cup Ramen
Cup Ramen is the Japanese equivalent of pot noodles, and a staple part of my diet here in Japan. Mostly because it's cheap, but also because sometimes I am lazy. Cup ramen usually comes in a little cup, but you can also buy it in little packets (a bit like super noodles). The flavours I usually go for are chicken, and miso. Miso is the cheapest, which is why I often buy it, and the chicken one is also cheap, but its also tasty! I tend to bulk buy the ramen in packets, rather than cups, and make it in a bowl because it is cheaper. You can also find really big bowls of cup ramen, which I haven't tried yet. The pictures on the front of the packets always show it being served with other stuff in the bowl, but I don't think many people take the time to cook and add things to their cup ramen. At least, me and Santana don't.
5. Furikake
Furikake is a crazy rice flavouring that you sprinkle on top of your rice to make it not so plain. Bear in mind that the rice that we eat in Japan is sticky rice, and is different to the rice you tend to get in Britain. I'm not sure if that makes much of a difference, but I can't really imagine sprinkling furikake onto standard long grain rice in Britain. When I first got here I bought a packet of pokémon furikake. It's no different - it just came with a pokemon sticker inside, and marketing things with pokémon on them really gets me. The flavours inside are something like salmon, egg, vegetable, and something else. It's blue. I can't remember what it is, it's probably some kind of fish. I just eat it anyway. It's all pretty good, and its a really cheap way to flavour rice. I think I paid a few hundred yen for the packet I'm still making my way through. When I first got here, before I bought a frying pan, I often just ate rice with furikake, because I had no idea what else to eat.
6. Karaage (chicken. Amazing chicken)
Karaage is some kind of amazing wizardry. It is chicken at its absolute finest. I'm not sure what makes it stand out from other kinds of chicken, but it is so tasty. The meat is normally browner than what I'm used to seeing inside fried chicken, and I'm not 100% sure how its prepared, but I have seen Karaage mix in the supermarket, so you probably fry the chicken after coating it in something. But I can't imagine it's that simple, because I feel like karaage meat is alot tastier than the result I get from frying chicken, for example when I made chicken katsu. If you like chicken, you really have to eat some good karaage at some point. It is wondrous. And that's all I have to say about karaage.
7. Sushi!
I'm not a sushi fan, (yes, I know, okay!). I don't like most seafood, because of its squishy texture, which makes me feel a bit ill. However, during my first week or so, a few of the 国際ハウス lot decided to go to get some sushi, and I wanted to join in, even though I don't like sushi. So we went to a sushi shop where each plate is 100yen. I only ended up taking 3 plates and a dessert, I think, because I didn't fancy spending much money on food that I didn't like. I had salmon sushi, a cooked beef sushi, and some fried sweetcorn (yes. Every kind of yes). Smoked salmon is one of the the kinds of raw fish I can eat in small amounts, because I quite like the flavour, even if the texture doesn't sit so well with me, and since there were only two pieces to a plate, it was pretty good. The beef sushi was great because it was just meat on rice, so that was pretty fab. The fried sweetcorn was amazing. I don't know why we don't have it in England. And if we do, I don't know why I've never had it. It was awesome. It was kind of like in a batter or something, which made all the little bits of sweetcorn stick together. It was amazing.
8. Nikuman (Steamed meat buns)
Nikuman is a steamed bread-like bun with a meaty filling. The first time I ate nikuman was actually with my friend Larni when we were in London together, in Chinatown near the purikura machine there. I was a bit hesitant to try it, because it looked really weird, but it tasted good. Remembering that, since coming to Japan, I have bought nikuman from the Family Mart across the road more often than I would like to admit... and I have introduced my friends into doing the same (to the point where Santana had a bit of a drunken rant in the general direction of a Family Mart employee because the last remaining nikuman she had intended to buy had mysteriously disappeared from the shelf, despite the only other person in the shop being the Family Mart employee. I later saw him the next day at an event at my uni, where he asked me if I remembered him, and at my confused face, just said 'Nikuman', where I promptly sumimasenned profusely). There are other varieties of Nikuman, like Pizzaman and premium nikuman, which I have yet to try. I fear for my purse and for my waistline.
9. KFC
So the KFC chicken in Japan is completely different. I don't tend to like eating chicken off the bone very much, and if given a choice, will always pick boneless. KFC Japan's boneless chicken is very crispy. It's in a batter rather than coated like British KFC is. The only thing I could liken it to is Sweet and Sour chicken balls from the chinese, but without the sauce, and the batter is a lot crispier. It's good chicken, but I really miss the KFC from home. A couple of my friends have had the chicken on the bone, which looks a lot more like British KFC, but they've said it tasted different. I might try it next time I'm in KFC just to see what it tastes like. A fun fact for you: In Japan, it's traditional to eat KFC on Christmas Day. Christmas isn't really as big here as it is in England, I don't think, and is more aimed towards couples than families (which is greaaaat. I guess it doesn't matter because I have neither here in Japan!). Anyway, instead of your great big roast turkey, you eat a bucket of chicken at KFC. Odd.
10. Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki is a bit like a pancake, but it's got meat and vegetables and all sorts of crazy stuff in and on it. I don't really know how to describe it, and it's definitely got that 'Japanese food' taste to it -a savoury taste I can't really describe, but it often crops up in Japanese food. I'm not 100% sure if its a good thing or not, but I LOVE Okonomiyaki. when you go to an okonomiyaki restaurant, the food is cooked on a hot plate in front of you, then you kind of attack it with a spatula thingy and put it in your bowl, and eat it. It's fabulous. It was a really fun experience, and it's also really tasty. If you go to Japan, do not leave without having had okonomiyaki. It really is brill.
11. Spaghetti
This is not Japanese food, of course, but it's one of the things I make here pretty regularly, because pasta is actually kinda expensive, but the cheapest of the pasta seems to be spaghetti. I think that's because it's the most popular, because Japanese tend to like long, stringy, noodley type things. When I used to talk to my friend Yoshiki on Skype back when I lived in England, he said he didn't like pasta shapes and he only liked 'Real Pasta', by which he meant spaghetti. Everybody knows that real pasta is the little twizzley ones. Anyway. I make Spaghetti bolognese for me and Santana about once a week, because it's tasty, it's not too expensive, and it reminds me of home. So I thought it deserved a mention. I'm also pretty sure it was one of the first meals I actually cooked here.
12. Takoyaki
Takoyaki is a bit like Okonomiyaki - in the sense that it is made from a battery type thing that reminds me a bit like pancakes. We made Takoyaki here in kokusai house, on a little takoyaki machine thing. Essentially, you pour the batter, which I think we made from a premade powder, some water and eggs, into semi-spherical holes and then added little squid bits to each of the holes. We then added puffed rice, and maybe some other crazy colourful things, and waited for it to cook a little, before flipping them over, making the Takoyaki into cute little balls. We served them on a plate, coated with cheese, mayo and what was probably soy sauce. Despite having a little squiddy bit in each of the balls (which was a funny reddish-purpley colour and you could see the tentacles!!), Takoyaki was super tasty!
13. Ham and cheese donut.
Yes, this is exactly what this sounds like. One of the weirdest things about coming to Japan, is seeing all of the products that the Japanese have tried to import and then make their own. Most of the time this results in products that bewilder me. One of these products was a ham and cheese donut. I bought this from the conbini on campus, because I wanted something savoury, and saw something bread-looking with Ham and Cheese in it. I didn't go for normal sandwiches because they are normally filled with either the most random mix of jazz (such as fruit), or egg, which I'm not the biggest fan of. So, after Santana and I had made our purchase, we open our little plastic packages and say to each other 'this looks like a donut', which confused us, because nobody in their right mind would insert cheese and ham into a donut. Of course, Japan is full of fun, adventurous people who may or may not be in their right mind, because lo and behold, it looked and felt exactly like a donut. It had the texture of a donut, too. The only thing that was missing is that there wasn't any sugar in the donut, so technically it was still savoury. The ham was kind of wrapped around the cheese, in the middle of the donut (somehow, do not ask me how they made it because I haven't even begun to thing about working that out), and the cheese was a soft cheese, rather than anything else. It was very weird. Santana didn't finish hers. I'm still unsure as to how I felt about mine.
14. Obento
Since before coming to Japan, I always said I wanted to learn how to make bento boxes. Bento boxes are little boxes of cooked food that you take into work, or school, to eat for your lunch. You eat them cold. They are quite wonderful, and way better and less boring than sandwiches. The best part is (because this is Japan), most of the time they are made up to be very cute, pretty, or artistic. Most of the time cute. Some people are even skilled enough to make character themed bento (kyaraben) which is what I hope to move on to eventually, but it really isn't the easiest of things to do. In the last two weeks or so, I've been starting off simply, and gradually trying different things to put into my bento. Most of it is actually quite simple to do, because there are lots of molds and cutters available to help make your bento as cute as possible, which is why when I get good enough I'd like to make Kyaraben for a bit of a challenge. I actually feel quite proud of myself when I make a cute bento, and I don't often feel proud of myself here in Japan, whilst learning Japanese for elementary schoolers, and generally feeling like a bit of an idiot.
15. Udon Noodles
Udon noodles are a thick kind of noodles, that are kinda soft. I think they are really tasty, but Santana thinks they feel like worms. The first time I ate Udon Noodles was when I went camping for a night with OEC (essentially a club for Japanese and exchange students to interact). It was served with some kind of miso-ey water, which was pretty tasty, but I have since tried to recreate it and found that I can't. At all. It wasn't very tasty. I'm going to have to ask for some help, because cooking in Japan is actually really difficult.
16. Katsu Curry
Katsu curry is another food that I had eaten long before I ever stepped foot into Japan. Japanese curry is different to Indian curry in that it is normally a lot sweeter. I love it. And I made some myself, which makes me really happy. I even katsued the chicken. Crazy. I have no idea how to cook in England, so even though it's not exactly difficult to make the curry here, I'm still super proud of myself. Essentially, it's very easy because you can buy curry cubes, which are sort of just like stock cubes, in boxes from the supermarket, and once you have boiled your vegetables, you just throw a couple of cubes in, and you get a curry. Unless you forget to turn the heat down, like I did the third time I was making curry, and my potatoes just kind of disintegrated into the water. It still tasted ok. Just a bit of a culinary failure!
17. Shirako
Last week, Saara, Santana and I were sat in the kitchen. I had just prepared myself katsu curry for the first time and was feeling very proud of myself, and was starting to eat it, when we were approached by one of the Chinese girls that lives here. She held out some of the most appalling dosushi from a pre-bought carton of sushi to us, and said "どうぞ", which is essentially "Please take some". We didn't want to be rude, despite the sushi looking something akin to a brain. Bearing in mind that Santana and I do not like sushi in the first place, we agreed to just eat it all at once to that it would be over quickly. All three of us put a piece of sushi in our mouth, as the girl left to cook or something on the other side of the kitchen. It was absolutely dreadful. I'm not a fan of things with a squishy texture, and this was squishy in the most horrific sense of the word. The taste was also not something I would ever go for again. Even Saara, who likes sushi, did not like this sushi. We had no idea what we had just eaten, but when Saara had asked the girl what it was, she replied with the word 白子 (Shirako). Saara promptly did a search on shirako, and proceeded to essentially piss herself laughing. Santana and I had guessed at something gross, like fish brain, but it was so much worse than that. What we had consumed was, in fact, fish sperm. The culinary term for it in English is 'Milt' or "Soft Roe", which Wikipedia describes as "The male genitalia of fish when they contain sperm used as food". It was one of the most horrifying experiences I have had with food, but I could probably add that it could have been partly due to not expecting somebody I did not even know to offer me such an outlandish kind of sushi. And of course there are some people who do actually like to eat shirako. Whilst talking to some of my Japanese friends here, the general consensus was that they hadn't tried, or didn't like Shirako (especially Shota, who emphasised just how much he "大嫌い"s it), however Ryu told me on facebook that he likes it. He is the only person I have met so far who has admitted that, though.
18. Tempura Ice 天ぷらアイス
This weekend was our University's festival - in Japan, schools and universities often hold an annual cultural festival, where there are lots of food stalls, and many of the clubs and societies put on events and things like that. Although I tried a lot of food at the event (such as melon candyfloss), the one that I really want to talk about is Tempura Ice. The OEC's food stall was selling Tempura Ice, and because they had already done this at the Seta campus' festival a week beforehand, I had been thinking about buying some. I didn't really understand what exactly 天ぷらアイス was, because although I could understand that people were saying Tempura Ice, I was still very confused about it. Tempura is essentially a way of frying things, and it is most popularly associated with shrimps. Pairing this with the fact that Japanese English is not always what it seems, the use of the word アイス(Pronounced Aisu- literally Ice), made me a little dubious. However, upon arriving at the festival, and heading for OEC's stand I found out that Tempura ice is, in fact, fried Ice Cream. What? Yes. It is amazing, and it is possible, and I have eaten it, and it is wondrous. It is as magical as you would expect fried ice cream to be.
