"You must immerse yourself in a truly unfamiliar world in order to truly understand your own."
And yes, it was from The Nanny Diaries (she was quoting an Anthropologist). Because I have nothing but time right now and I have been hitting the library's free DVD rentals pretty hard. But I digress. The quote really stood out to me for obvious reasons. I can think of many times that I've been walking around Japan and I think that they pretty much have it all figured out here...which I would have never really known had I not actually gotten the chance to live here. They are friendly, they will bend over backwards to help you, even downtown Tokyo is relatively safe and clean (ok, I saw ONE bum in the 6+ hours we walked around downtown), they are innovative (heated toilet seats! it's amazing). And what I take away most from all of this is that I can truly appreciate what they have and still love where I came from.
Ok, let me switch gears for just a moment. We haven't had much discussion thus far about what I'm sure lots of people are wondering about...how is the food here? I can tell you that even the "fast food" is very good and seems to be healthy, although they definitely have their tempura-fried options just like we do in the states. I am in love with the sushi here, it is freaking fabulous!! Very fresh, of course. Most places we've seen only have picture menus for us English-speakin' folk, so that adds to the fun of the experience since you aren't exactly quite sure what it is you're ordering. You can sorta tell what it is, BUT, I will say that I unknowingly tried a bbq'd eel piece and I was in heaven...I always thought eel would be slimy & gross but it was wonderful! So sometimes having no description or name gives you no choice but to step out of your comfort zone. I have noticed that at the non-sushi restaurants you almost always get some type of pickled vegetable on the side...they love their pickles here but they are nothing like the dill pickles we have. I've seen pickled carrots, radishes and several other root-type veggies I have no name for but most have been delicious. Price-wise it really does depend on where you go. Most sushi places have different colored plates that correspond to different prices...yellow plates are 120 Yen ($1.53 @ current rate) for 2 pieces, pink plates are 240 Yen, etc. And they give you a discount if you stack your plates according to color. It's really fun and a pretty smart way of quickly figuring out how crazy you are going eating sushi. We are really loving the culinary experience here. We are looking forward to sharing it with the kids very soon! And I apologize, I will try to get pics of Japanese food for you avid readers very soon. :)
Our household stuff is in the country...delivery date is the 12th! Woooooo hoooo!! I can stay busy for a couple weeks with all that no doubt. Tomorrow evening I am teaching my first English class here at the house, so thank goodness for loaner furniture! I am going to try and take pictures if the students are comfortable. Stay tuned!
Until I can get proper sushi pictures, please enjoy the pictorial below from our gummy sushi adventure earlier today. I freaking LOVE the Daisos (100 Yen Store)!!!
PS. They were a lil tough but pretty tasty overall. The adorableness factor was off the charts, though!
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿