外人住宅

It sounds a bit pretentious but sometimes you just feel better (than everyone else) when you eat at a local restaurant versus a chain.  Exceptions include Yoshinoya, Sukiya and Coco Curry because they're freaking delicious, stumbling distance from my new apartment, and open 24 hours.  That combo is, without any hyperbole, more amazing than the birth of your first child.  

Well I just had lunch in an old western style house that was converted into a restaurant, Sans Souchi. Pretty cool idea, no? They are scattered all over Okinawa and called Gaijin Juutaku (Foreigner Housing).  In this restaurant, the living room was a lounge area, where you pay, and where the food is cooked. Most people are seated in one of the bedrooms, which is where we ate.  

This particular restaurant specialized in Udon and Oyako, but had some good looking dessert too.  I got the udon with plum (ume).

Iphone 5S camera is pretty good, no?

Navigating the residential roads to find this place was a challenge, but kind of cool and rewarding.  I'll definitely be going back.  

Yoshinoya!

If I could only have one word to describe Yoshinoya it would be 'dudethisplaceissomoney!".  

I really hated typical fast food in America because it was such an unpleasant experience.  There was no denying it was bad for you, the staff were never paid enough to give a crap, and no matter how good it tasted during it just tasted like regret afterwards.

Yoshinoya is the epitome of what fast food should be.  First and foremost because of speed.  You can order and start eating within 90 seconds - not a joke, I timed it. What makes it more amazing is there are never more than 3 people working, and that is for lunch rush.

There are all the free amenities you'd expect from a Japanese restaurant.  Free tea, shichimi, and ginger and the ones in Okinawa have drive-thru!  You eat out of real bowls, drink from real cups and can you say open 24 hours? 
The only thing that would make them better is if they served beer....oh, they totally serve beer! Yoshinoya can be both the cause of and solution to your hangover! (much like alcohol is the cause of and solution to all of life's problems).

Jeez Jon Evans, what would one have to pay for such an awesome experience?  I'm glad you asked. 

390 yen mofos!  

The metal dealie is for straining your egg in case you only wanted to add the white or yolk to your food.  Pretty thoughful.  Don't forget your free tsuyudaku (more secret sauce).

Japanese Food

Japan and I have always had our disagreements when it comes to food.  It is delicious and healthy, but since its hard to fight thousands of years of tradition (did I say hard, I meant impossible), I have let  my vegetarianism slide a little in Japan for the sake of convenience and my sanity. To give you some idea of what I have to deal with, products still advertise, in bold letters, that they cook with lard.

But once you get passed the fact that meat is in everything, you'll see that it is only in small quantities and Japanese food is very vegetable heavy.  If you order curry or even a steak in Japan, the meat is generally just a small portion of your dinner (an issue many American visitors complain about).  Friendly note; a hanburg steak (ハンバーグステーキ) is not a steak, its a hamburger patty.

Speaking of veggie heavy, the vegetables actually taste like vegetables!  Vegetables in Japan are tasty and satisfying.  The first time I ate a tomato in Japan was a life changing experience.  I think this has to do with Japan using less chemicals to grow food (at least the food they have imported uses less chemicals; Japan only grows about 20% of its own food), but veggies are considerably more expensive as a result.  Japanese cooking is all about bringing out the natural flavor of the food, not covering it in sauce or spices, so it really helps that the ingredients taste like they're supposed to.

Unless I'm doing the dishes, I don't have a problem with home cooked Japanese food.  Since a lot of Japanese food has to do with presentation, a TON of dishes are used, but it looks pretty.  Even when you're not eating at a tapas style restaurant, which is also really popular in Japan, meals still tend to have many plates instead of just one large one.

Now for the gross stuff.  Yakiniku places (korean bbq style restaurants where you cook your own meat) often have Horumon on the menu.  Horumon (ホルモン) are cow and pig entrails and the Japanese word is actually derived from the words 'throw away' and 'thing'.  Other garbage parts of the animals include chicken hearts, which are common at Torikizoku.  For some reason, I'm more okay with these animal parts than with katsuobushi, かつお節.  Katsuobushi is dried bonito fish skin flakes that dance around on your food when your food is hot....and they put this stuff on EVERYTHING... 

However, Japan has Caesar Salad Doritos and Ham and Cheese flavored Pretz, so all aforementioned problems are forgiven. 

Japan's creativity for eating disgusting parts of animals is only exceeded by their creativity in combining foods, that are individually delicious, into works of food art.

レストラン

If you’ve ever been to Japan, you’ll almost immediately notice hundreds of familiar stores/restaurants from America. Subway, McDonalds, Cold Stone, KFC, Baskin Robins, Burger King, Dennys, Pizza Hut and now Aunt Annie’s Pretzels to name a few. Even Mister Donuts, now considered a staple of Japan, was once a Boston based company. I’m a little confused about AM/PM. The first time I saw them was in Japan but I’ve actually found them in Vegas and DC. Krispy Cream used to be popular in Japan, but those gross donuts finally fizzled out a few years ago.

Despite the name being extremely familiar, the store itself will likely be worlds different. And by ‘different’, I of course mean ‘better’. I know I’ve already mentioned how fantastic conbinis are in Japan, but Subway and cold stone blow America away too.

First of all, Subway in Japan has variety. There are many ‘set’ options, as well as many more types of subs. I particularly appreciate how there is more than one vegetarian sub on the menu (holy crap, did japan just beat America at vegetarianism too?). Avocado shrimp, avocado veggie, egg, herb dog, Cajun chickin are just a few of the sub choices. And you can get freakin French fries with your meal!! Also soup…but freakin French fries, hell yeah!! You can even get different types of seasoning for your fries if you’re feeling frisky. Lets not forget that you can wash this all down with a melon soda…this is making me hungry.

As for cold stone in Japan, the first thing you’ll notice is a lack of morbidly obese kids and their parents who walked a whole 10 feet today so they decided to treat themselves to a 3000 calorie shake. Cold stone in Japan is a bit expensive, but well worth hearing the employees sing in Japanese. The cold stone I found in Roppongi is a bit off the beaten path, but worth a trip, check it out. There are others throughout Tokyo and other big cities in Japan as well.

I know it sounds pretty weak to go to a foreign country only to go to the same restaurants you’d normally go to, but they are most certainly not the same thing. You can get a lot of insight into Japanese culture if you really soak in all the differences.

マクド

Japanese McDonald's are going to start banning smoking. Go ahead and let that sink in for a second. Is it just me or does that sound absolutely retarded? Cause you certainly wouldn't want the mild inconvenience of smoking while your sipping your 4000 calorie milkshake, right??

For some reason, Japan has been moving in the anti-smoking direction recently...and I don't see the point. Japan even recently imposed its largest tax hike on cigarettes. So much for 300 yen per pack (about $3.70). Its now up to about 440 yen per pack (about $5.40).

For the most part, smoking establishments have decent ventilation or even a separate section separated by a glass door. And in case you haven't done your research or even seen an episode of Penn & Teller's Bull Shit, it hasn't been proven that second hand smoke is harmful. Just let this guy give you the short version. Nevertheless, I find it extremely hypocritical that Makudo would start banning smoking. Being only 24, I can vaguely remember a time in America where smoking was still cool to do indoors, but I always thought Japan would stick to its guns.

Speaking of McDonald's, I usually enjoy all the specialized foods the Japanese McDonald's has to offer, but it tends to be lost on the gaijin crowd. Foreigners (basically, Americans) tend to look at the menu items in a mixture of surprise and disgust. I can only respond with two words..."Screw you." Seriously, its hard to talk about how gross a teriyaki or shrimp burger are when you come from a country that eats Chitterlings, Turducken, and Deep Fried Twinkies. And KFC just came out with a damn "sandwich" that's just two pieces of chicken, bacon and cheese! Congratulations on developing a 3000 calorie sandwich without a single friggin vitamin.


I honestly wish McDonalds in America was more like the Makudo in Japan - because then I might actually go...