日本の食べ物

I've accumulated quite a few pictures of food I've eaten in Japan, so instead of breaking them up in days (...that I no longer remember well), I thought I'd just post them all at once. So here, my proof that I'm eating! Since I usually just go buy meals at the コンビニ, the meal pictured above was a bit fancier than I usually eat. It was udon and tuna sashimi with rice. Despite it being a pretty big meal, it was really affordable!



In general, Japanese restaurants are a bit different than ones in the US, and the main difference is this: There is almost always free water, and nothing else. They don't really ask what drink you want, everyone just drinks the water provided (and sometimes tea).

This meal here is one I can get at a restaurant really close to the school, and it is just about everything I need in a meal: ramen, gyoza, and fried rice. All for 550 yen! It's delicious, and I've gotten it more than once. I started eating the ramen before taking this picture because I was too excited.

This meal I got at a place where instead of ordering normally to a waiter or something, you put your money into a machine and get a ticket. Then you give the ticket to an employee and they bring you the food rather quickly. This kind of food is usually the cheapest in terms of restaurants--my friend calls it the equivalent of Japanese fast food. It's good and fills you up for a great price!

 There are drink vending machines just about everywhere in Japan. I don't use them too often since they're a little more expensive than what you could get at the コンビニ, but they're very cool! These are ones that are nearby my school.

I have tried both Pepsi and Coke in Japan. As you may or may not know, I drink soda at every possible instant, so I've been contemplating the comparisons between American soda and Japanese soda. In terms of Coke, the bottles here in Japan literally explode when you open them. It makes a really loud sound, and the carbonation is always extremely intense. As far as taste goes, it's the same. In Japan, all Pepsi I've seen is called "Pepsi Strong". I think it's just Pepsi with more sugar or flavor--it kind of tastes like the Pepsi with Real Sugar they sometimes sell. It's much more sugary than the Pepsi back home, I think. One of my friends (who also drinks a lot of soda) tried a type of Pepsi Strong that was also an energy drink, and I can't say it was very tasty. But there are a lot of variations of Pepsi Strong here. I'm kind of wary of them, considering how the energy drink version tasted... I think I'll stick with Coke for now.

And now for the fast food... I have tried McDonalds and Burger King in Japan. McDonalds seems to be largely the same, except I had a special in which it was a cheeseburger, but also included egg and bacon. It was pretty tasty! I think they should bring it to the US, I would eat it. At Burger King, I ordered the mysterious Kuro burger ("black" burger), which looks like this:

Aptly named, don't you think? Basically the bun and cheese are pitch black. I was informed that it was the result of squid ink being added, but it didn't taste much different from a regular burger to me. The one I had had cheese, a burger patty, and hasbrowns in it. It was really tasty... even if it looks like something Spongebob and Mr. Krabs used to kill a health inspector.

Another note: In both those pictures, I got a medium sized drink. That is not a medium sized drink.

...And this is definitely not a large.

But all in all, the food here is delicious! Although I'm starting to miss the variety that home offers... I love Japanese food, but as you would expect, that's just about all you'll find here.