Okinawan Food

Everything Japan does is usually full throttle, so I guess I should have expected Okinawan food to be as prevalent as it is.  Okinawa has a lot of claims to fame and they can all be found within arms reach. I've only had a handful thus far, but I've been pretty happy with the selection.  Like the mainland, every different prefecture has something they do different but okinawa does many things, way different.

Goya chanpuru is pretty well known and is in the top middle of the picture above.  The goya is the green bitter melon and it is mixed in stir fry.  I can't really compare it to anything because it doesn't taste like any food I've ever had.  Really bitter is all I can say, but it works really well mixed together with all the other ingredients.

I'm putting Koregusu on everything here!  It is hot peppers mixed with awamori (okinawan alcohol with an acquired taste). You then pour the spicy alcohol on your okinawan soba and taste the magic. I'm not sure how much alcohol is actually in the mixture, but it has quite a spicy kick so have a beer ready. It tastes WAY better than the awamori with the pit viper in it, Habushu. Habushu may be a story for another time but lets just say some places give free samples, it tastes like bitter whiskey, it is supposed to be good for your health (yeah right) and its pretty disturbing how they make it.

The good stuff, Koregusu ( コーレーグース) 

Stay tuned.

お酒

Sake is awesome. Often referred to as Japanese 'wine', If you don’t know too much about sake, this article will change what little you know about drinking and cooking with Sake. I found everything about this article to be good news.  For example:

Cheaper sake is better for cooking – great.
Sake doesn’t age well, so get it fresh and drink it quickly – done.
Sake is more like beer than wine, so I guess that means it’s cool to just drink it from the bottle?
Sake and mirin are also good ways of adding the mysterious umami taste to your food – awesome

 My latest sake du jour

Many people point to umami as the reason Japanese food is so filling and delicious. And interestingly, combining salty/sweet/sour with umami creates a tasty sensation greater than the sum of their individual parts. For you Japanophiles, it’s like a half saiyan/half human being more powerful than both species apart – they compliment each other and make your taste buds go super saiyan…or something lame like that.

I'd like to conclude with what I call, the void.  Not to get too sidetracked but in addition to ‘reverse culture shock’, a return back from Japan leaves a hole in your stomach that cannot be filled with American cuisine. If you go to Japan for any extended period of time, going off of Japanese food cold turkey is a rough time. On my visits to America I found myself eating all day, every day and never EVER getting full. This may have combined with the sadness of leaving Japan and the crying myself to sleep, but it is not just me.  My friends who have visited for mere weeks reported the same thing happening to them.  Just one more reason to never leave Japan.

発泡酒 Where do we go from here?

What started as a ploy to avoid beer tax seems to have gotten out of hand.  The more I shop around for beer and its cheaper substitutes, the more I am surprised by the creativity of avoiding the beer tax.  I get it though, because nobody anywhere wants to pay more than twice the money for a six pack of real beer.  But at some point when they coined the phrase "3rd Beer" (第三のビール), somebody had to raise their hand and ask what the hell was going on...

6-Pack of Real Beer: $14, Happoshu: $8.50...not a difficult decision

Don't get me wrong, I love me some Happoshu, but a "beer like beverage" did not sound good at all when I first heard about it.   I guess I should consider myself lucky that I had Happoshu accidentally before I knew what it was, because I may have been turned off by the idea.   Ever since I've had this delicious hangover juice, I've never looked back!

That's a thing of beauty

おすすめは？

Kirin's Nodogoshi nama (のどごし生) is made with soy beans and is actually not that bad.  Other 3rd beers are made with other forms of protein, but I'm having trouble keeping track.  Lately I've been picking this and other Happoshu brands over other beer just due to curiosity.  Asahi Clear is also good, but as I recall the Asahi Aqua was only maa-maa. 

Of the ones above only the Nodogoshi Nama is 3rd beer.  3rd Beer goes beyond the limits of Happoshu and skips the use of malt entirely and you would think this would sacrifice taste, but its growing on me and I bet it will grow on you too.  3rd Beers like スリムス are even using the lower calories of 3rd beer as a selling point.  That's not a huge selling point for me, but since beer is a HUGE part of Japanese drinking culture, it likely pays to go with a lower calorie beverage.  All you have to do is ignore the fact that it is not beer, and just enjoy these drinks for what they are; a cheap and hopefully tasty beverage to start off a good evening.


If you've ever had a reasonably priced beer in Japan, you've probably had Happoshu or possibly 3rd Beer and didn't even notice, because reasonable priced beer is hard to come by. This goes without saying but despite Happoshu/3rd Beer being dirt cheap, it still beats every Bud and Miller product I've ever tasted.  

Now to put all this information to good use.  Go out and get a bit tipsy!  べろべろになろう！

あなたと居酒屋ファミリーマート

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but Family Mart is one of the best Bars/Izakaya in town.

In the past, I've always used convenience stores as a cheap means of getting my evening started. Its cheaper, and drinking on the street is legal, so why not? Even a tall boy of strong chu-hai, around 8 or 9%, is just over 200yen. Not a bad price considering even the cheapest of izakaya (Torikizoku?) is 280 yen for a weak chu-hai or fake beer.

On one particular evening in Osaka, a buddy and I hit up the local Family Mart in Umeda. It started as just a way to kill some time and rest up after hiking up 20 floors of a new mall but after our second tall boy of chu-hai, it occurred to us that we had everything we need right there in the Family Mart.  Air Conditioning, seating, beer, and snacks all in one convenient location.  The only thing you're really missing is service, but if you're too drunk to get up and get your own drink you've probably had enough anyway....or you just need to kindly ask someone to get it for you.  It's Japan, they can't say no!

Okay, maybe getting drunk in the Family Mart isn't 'classy' enough for you.  Okay Mr Money Bags, head two blocks down the street to the Rikimaru.  Everything there is 300 yen.  Its also about the closest you'll get to a 'hibachi' restaurant in Japan.  The chef won't do any knife or egg flipping nonsense, but he will cook your food right in front of you (upstairs private seating also available).  All you have to do is just shout at him and tell him what you want.  Its a pretty sweet place and its ALWAYS crowded.  And don't forget the pièce de résistance: The Ramune Chuhai.  

I didn't mean to start plugging every restaurant in Osaka, I just thought I'd share a few trade secrets to the cheap folks out there.  I know PLENTY of places to drink that are expensive, but why spend 30,000 yen for an evening when you can have ten 3000 yen evenings.  Think about it.

日本 Stuff

Name 3 things that are Japanese....GO!

...odds are, you mentioned Sake (お酒). You probably also mentioned kimchi and Jackie Chan, you freakin' racist!

Like other wine, there are TONS of different types of sake. The kind of sake varies depending on type of rice used, how it is milled, weather conditions, and hundreds of other factors. I am just now learning the names of a few types that I like.

Also like other wine, there are many different pairing options depending on your dish. A recent article describes a new trend of pairing sake with all kinds of food, including western cuisine. Unfortunately, if you have ordered Sake at a Japanese restaurant in America, they likely brought you some generic warm bottle of decent sake. This is often misleading though because you have many choices of sake.

Or you can just take what's in the vending machine!

If you are unfamiliar with Sake, or only had it in a Japanese steakhouse, allow me to recommend Nigorizake. Nigori (濁り) type sake is the easiest to spot because it is cloudy. It is also quite sweet and easy to drink. I prefer this type cold, not hot. If you don't like this type, sake is probably not for you. If you love this stuff, branch out and try the more dry or fruitier types to see what works best for you. There are so many types that it would be near impossible to dislike them all.

The sake to the left is Daiginjo, not Nigori, but still very very tasty. When I first started taking sake drinking seriously (for reasons other than just getting hammered) I bought these convenient little bottles so I didn't have to commit to something that I might not like.