Food!

I need to leave school pretty soon, but I thought I would write a quick update since it's been awhile and otherwise I won't be able to post until next Monday. Anyway, things are still good here, and it was really rainy this week but it was sunny today, and to cap it off my friends and I went to an all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant in Osaka. And on the way we were approached by some guy who introduced himself by saying "I am not a terrorist," (always know you're in for fun when you hear that) and he went on to talk for like 10 minutes about how Japan does not support Japanese-Americans enough and thus the country itself is weakened. He would not stop talking. I thought we might never get away but eventually we did.

Anyway, I was going to write a post where I summed up my daily activities since I have not actually really talked about that here, but I think I might save it for later. Instead, perhaps I will talk about some of the interesting new foods I have eaten since coming here.



My MOS Burger

First of all, there is MOS Burger. It is a pretty widespread Japanese burger chain, and in addition to having regular hamburgers like you might find in America, they also have their own Japan-ified varieties, such as what I got, which consisted of a kakiage patty (fried...stuff, which I believe included some kinds of seafood and vegetables) and a rice bun. I think the rice bun was the best part. It was nicely crisped on the outside, and it complemented the patty and teriyaki sauce they put on it. You can also get the rice bun on a limited amount of other kinds of patty, including regular hamburger patties.



Taiyaki

Next, taiyaki. These are usually sold for 150 yen at any kind of outdoor fair or market, as well as also at small shops around town. They are basically a fish-shaped pastry type thing that is cooked inside of a heated metal mold, and they are usually filled with red bean paste, although other kinds of fillings are also common, such as green tea and vanilla or chocolate custard. I usually see them with pancake-like batter on the outside, although in this example, which I bought across the street from Kansai Gaidai's main gate, I think the outside was some kind of green tea flavored mochi (pounded sweet rice). They are really good.



Cafeteria food; the one above is the Hina Matsuri (doll festival) special.

Then there is the cafeteria food. Perhaps that is not something new for me, but they serve pretty different food than what I am used to. My lunches usually range between 300 and 550 yen per day, and they have a decent selection of foods to choose from. Usually I go for the donburi (rice with egg cooked with other things on top), although they change the availability of other things every day and sometimes they have pretty interesting things. For example, on March 3rd, it was Hina Matsuri, or the doll festival, so for 500 yen they had a special meal in its honor. It consisted of a bowl of udon noodles, a plate of [I don't know what it's called, but it has sushi rice on the bottom with scrambled egg and something pink and bits of fried tofu and fish eggs and other things on top], and a sweet jelly. One thing that I have come to love in the cafeteria, although I do not have a picture of it, is their black sesame ice cream. At first glance that may seem weird, but then I don't think it's any weirder than peanut butter ice cream. (I want peanut butter ice cream now.) It is dark gray and tastes like, well, sesame. But it's really good. I thought it was weird the first time that I had it but now I can't stop eating it.



Hot Lemon

Finally, I present you with perhaps one of Japan's greatest inventions, Hot Lemon. It's dispensed from vending machines pretty much everywhere, and it is SO GOOD. Sometimes it is also marketed as Vitamin Lemon because supposedly it has a lot of Vitamin C. Whatever. It is the best. Pretty much it's heated lemonade (they dispense hot drinks from vending machines here!), but then it is so much more than that. You just have to try it.


There are a lot of other foods but I don't have pictures of them...perhaps this will have to be continued later.

This weekend I'm going to Hiroshima with some friends, and it is part of a field trip led by a professor to the A-bomb museum. After seeing the museum we'll hear a talk from a survivor of the bombing, and then we'll be done by 2:30 so we will have time to look around the city. Post is sure to follow...

Happy weekend!