Frankly, I got a little board of the Bangkok even though the food selection is good. The issue is I’ve seen pretty much everything over the past 30 years so I was thinking about moving onto Koh Chang but it was raining and I didn’t like the idea of going there and renting a motorcycle, riding in the rain. So I decided to move up my trip to Japan a couple weeks and I arrived at Narita. I then just zipped right over to my hotel, I dropped my bag and went for sushi at my neighborhood sushi restaurant
They really cleaned up the local shrine by trimming the trees Having some good food and drink with good friends who used to be my neighborsThe next day I went for some YAKINIKU, which is the Japanese version of Korean food, grilled meat and some other things. You could see the marbling in the beef, which makes it very tender and rich in flavor. Since it is so rich, you don’t really want to eat too much.This sign is almost very true I went out drinking with an old grad school friend and we had a great time. You can see I was so busy yak, yak, yak I forgot to take the photo at the beginning of the meal at the Izakaya (drinkery)The local inexpensive Korean barbecue place, US$13 for as much as you can eat between 1 and 10 PMa lot of people still think Japan is expensive which is an image they got from reality back in the 1980s. Actually now it’s very inexpensive. The Korean barbecue cheapest lunch is less than six US dollars and you can re-order rice at no extra cost at this Izakaya you can drink as much as you want for two hours for less than six US dollarsWith old friends, one is visiting from New ZealandWith Cornell graduates and one member of our alumni group I took a friend to try MONJA, an old Edo (Shitamachi) food which you never had before at a very expensive tourist restaurant. The food was fine, but the description indicated a certain price and it wound up being triple. But we didn’t have time to go look for one of the old shops that don’t cater to touristsin Shinjuku this is one of my favorite Izakaya called SANPEI (三平). this one is downstairs and it’s closer to the train station than the other one. Almost everybody working there is from Myanmar and I know the people who used to work there pretty well.Guess who likes to show off their gangster look at their own bar , K Bar , in Shinjuku Goldengai. I don’t want to mention her age since that would not be polite, but I have known her for 26 years You see the signs from time to time. The one up above is educating mostly people from China and Southeast Asia but it used to be, back in the 1970s, Japanese would also sit on the western style toilet this way because that’s how they knew how to use a publictoilet. Number two is for people from countries that have sewage pipes that are too narrow to carry toilet paper down the line. Japan doesn’t have those narrow pipes so you can throw the toilet paper directly into the toilet.When you think you have seen almost every kind of fast food imitation and idea you can come across something like this. A taco hamburger with avocado. I have had quite a few hamburgers in Japan over the last 50 years and it is definitely one of the last things I ever want to eat again. I don’t know what the hamburger patty is made from but it is definitely a level below McDonald’s, which many people think is the absolute lowest level.a seven US dollar noodle lunch at the local oily and spicy noodle shop. It’s actually very tasty a very popular Japanese style Chinese food restaurant has extremely reasonable prices as you can see below. A little over five US dollars is very reasonable for that lunch, very fillingHere is the second version and the newest one of Hummer There is a new series of holidays strung together, I kind of takeoff on Golden week and it is called Silver week. During this week, my local town had a festival so it was very crowded You can see still some people dress in more traditional clothing, but the tennis shoes kind of don’t fit the styleYou can see how crowded this main street is After that I again forgot to take the photo before eating. It was very tasty at my local neighborhood sushi bar.Near my former home is a very good quality deep fried pork restaurant (TONKATSU)This is their lunch menu. My lunch was eight US dollarsHere is the TO KATSU at the chain restaurant, which is less expensive than my neighborhood restaurant. The price is belowJust less than US six dollarsThe local tricycle shop has Batman’s tricycle This is a traditional way to serve sake with the overflow box under the glass. This is kind of nice and modern with a plexiglass boxYou can also get deep fried chicken in lunch set for US $6.60This is one of my favorite SHOCHU, alcohol made from barley. Traditionally, this kind of alcohol is distilled from potatoes, but it could be from rice or something else
Yesterday I had a nice cold ramen in Kashiwa for $6.80. That seems to be close to the low end of the price range but it was pretty good. Japan Food Varieties will amaze you. You can go from raw to deep fried food in the same restaurant or in speciality restaurants. You can get everything from vegan to almost every kind of meat, even bear. By now you probably know Japan is famous for whale and horse meat. And some of their world famous Italian restaurants are here as well. Every part of Japan has it’s own special foods you should try. Go from Hokkaido for excellent ocean foods to fatty pork in Okinawa to baby bees in Matsumoto. And, heads up, there is no tradition of tipping in Japan so the price you see on the menu is the total you pay except for places that have table charges (OTOSHI) with a small snack or those that don’t include the sales tax in the menu price.
This is a very delicious and unusual gin produced in Okinawa and maybe not available elsewhereIce cream is everywhere and somewhat tasty though not as flavorful as most western countriesDelicious noodles belowUMI NO BUDO Ocean grapes prevalent in OkinawaExpect some TRAD “American food”Okinawa style noodlesThe most flavorful rum I have ever had. It is available only on Ishigaki IslandA Okinawa meal. Fatty pork with rice, noodles, cured seaweed and NIGAORI (goya)Special Japan Food Varieties.; grilled fish in a semi sweet sauce with sashimi including HOTARU IKA (squid from the north.TONKATSU, one of my favorites with sesame above with the stick for grinding it.; Strange Indian and Thai restaurant. You see the lunch menu varies in price from US$7.50 to US$9.50Strange combinationThai food in a Karaoke bar in KashiwaMy neighborhood Sushi/Izakaya. Mr. Kamiya on the left is the same age as me and looks like my Danish adopted sister’s fatherI have many favorite foods in Japan. One is TEMPURA.A good UNAGI restaurant on the Tokaido lineThis is their UNAGI (eel)Country noodleskorean style grillSpecial variety. Above is something on a cured root. Curry style tonkatsuSomewhat spicy noodles with veggies and porkOn Monday you can get noodles for as low as US$3.40Student discounted foodkorean style grilled food for as low as US$6More student discountsWow! To the Unagi in Noboribetsuit was deliciousSapporo fish restaurant. It was very tastyA Sapporo KAITENZUSHIYA (conveyor belt sushi restaurant )Delicious grilled fishIn UENO this ramen restaurant has the best pork ramen I have ever had for US$9.30. These are very tasty big pieces of pork which you never see.A typical IZAKAYA (drinkery) with grilled SHSHAMO fish (eat head frst), stingray fin, grilled chicken skin and liverDelicious gyoza in a Shinjuku chinese restaurant I want to return toWith my former neighbors at our neighborhood sushiyaGriled BURI jowl with sashimiSide dishes of MENMA and ZASAIa live hot dogEDAMAME tofu. First timeYou can see the prices of food at drinkeries in Ishigaki
