If you know anything about Asia, then you know that the food can be quite interesting here. However, I must say that after eating in China, the food in Japan is tame! We want to share with you a few of our favorite Japanese dishes. 
Japanese love fish!! In fact, fish is not even considered a meat here. But, there is a special place in their hearts for raw fish or "sashimi" or sushi! There are several different "quality" of sushi and you usually get what you pay for. A fun way to eat sushi is at a Kaiten Sushi Bar. Basically it's all you can eat sushi that passes you buy on a conveyor belt. You choose the dish you want and as the dishes stack up so does your bill! It's a fun experience if you like a little adventure. I on the other hand am a little more picky about raw fish. Nick goes fishing quite often here and each time we have a fish fry with friends and have very fresh sushi just hours after it was caught! The fresher the fish is...then the less "fishy" it tastes. The most recent raw fish experience we had was squid. The restaurant has a tank of live squid that they take out....and serve with the legs still moving, of course it's dead! It is a little creepy to watch for the first time. YES....Nick and I BOTH tried it! You just eat the top outer part, just in case you were wondering!
Along with our raw squid, we had something called Nabe. The word Nabe actually refers to a special kind of pot that you cook all kinds of things in. It's kind of like stew. Except that you add all the ingredients and cook it right in front of you! As you can see, the plate on the left is stacked high with mostly vegetables and a lot of cabbage!! There is some tofu also. Japanese love tofu! Nabe is mostly eaten in the cold months so that everyone can gather around it and stay warm while they eat. Most homes in Japan don't have central heating!
We ate this Nabe meal with our friends Marla, Rocky, and Hana (above from right to left)
In fact most of the Japanese meals that we eat are with friends and at a restaurant. Nope, I don't cook a lot of Japanese food at home. The meal above is called Yakiniku. Basically you have different plates of vegetables, raw chicken, pork, or beef. In the picture you can see a small medal grill in the middle of the table. You use your chopsticks and place all your food on the grill and cook away. Dipping it in the different sauces is the best part! Japan has the best sauces!! We're eating this meal with Nick's parents and our friends Riz ,Anne and Junko.
There's no doubt that you've had this dish before. It's actually Chinese....but we like to eat it Japanese style! In Japanese it's called Gyoza! In English it's called fried dumplings. We've learned how to make this one at home! Our friend Junko Fukuda likes to have Gyoza parties. She gets the meat mixture together and then the rest of us stuff the mixture into the doughy skin. Then, we put all of them into a big skillet..add a little water...put the lid on for a few minutes and let it cook by steam. Again, it tastes best dipped in the sauce! We made this dish for the first time when Nick's parents were here visiting. We learned that we need a little more practice. I hope that we can have a Gyoza party with you in the states. I think the max we've made at a Gyoza party is 300! And the Japanese say that Americans can eat more than them. We beg to differ!!!
Another dish we've learned to make at home is called Kawarasoba. It's one of our favorites and easiest to make. You precook the eggs and meat and then add it too an already warmed skillet with green tea noodles! Add some onions and sauce and then you're ready to eat! It looks a little different in Japanese restaurant. The word Kawara means a roof tile. So, they serve this same dish cooking on top of a roof tile. 
I know you're asking yourself, "where's all the rice?" Of course there is rice served with every meal in Japan. Most of the time you get plain sticky white rice or fried rice. However, occasionally there are surprises added to the rice and it's like a rice salad w/ lettuce, shrimp, sea weed, egg....ect...
If you think lettuce in your rice is a little strange, then try having it on your pizza. Japan is the first place that I've ever had corn, lettuce, a soft egg, or mayonnaise as a pizza topping! Pizza here is definitely not like getting a pizza in the states. Because ALL Japanese food is so different from western style food, the restaurants always make sure that you know what you will be getting. Almost all restaurants have a plastic sample of all their food items on display outside to entice you. These pizzas are actually plastic!
One of our last, but not least favorites is called Tonkatsu. Basically this is fried pork served with shredded cabbage and rice. The best part is grinding the sesame seeds in a bowl and adding sauce to it! Here, we're once again eating with Nick's parents and our friends Morrio and Yukiko.
There are many more foods where these came from! I hope that we're able to cook a few of them for you in the states. We will miss Japanese food!
Here we are getting dressed in our Kimonos. Kimonos are the traditional dress of Japanese women. They still where them today for special occasions. However, Kimonos are very expensive costing thousands of dollars or yen! Many Kimonos are passed down within the family from one generation to the next. It's difficult to dress in Kimono yourself. Chiaki's mother is a trained Kimono dresser. She is in her nineties and has a lot of energy!! 
These dresses are gorgeous with many layers of fabric. They're actually quite hot!! The Japanese make seasonal Kimonos. The one we're wearing is for the winter time and is made of silk. The summer one is made of cotton and there are virtually no layers, these are called Yukata. We had a great time playing dress up with our friend Chiaki in the picture above.
After dressing we were then led into a traditional style tatami mat room. We quickly learned that the tea ceremony is not only about the tea...but the ceramic bowls that it is served in as well!
There is a lot of order and sequence that goes into this ceremony. You must look carefully at the empty ceramic bowl turning it in your hands many times.
Then you must examine the small paper napkin that is placed in front of the bowl and fold it in a certain way!
Now, it's time for the tea! The tea is a special green tea called Matcha. You add water and the powder and stir it carefully with a bamboo whisk. We even got to stir it. Which, I don't think is technically allowed! During the tea ceremony the hostess does all of the work. After the tea, each person examines the bowl carefully, eats their small sweet, and takes a drink. The reason for the sweet is because the tea is very bitter. Chiaki said the tea they made for us was actually a mild taste. I can't imagine it being more bitter!
Our private tea ceremony only lasted about 30-45 minutes. However, a traditional ceremony can last up to two hours or more. I can't imagine sitting on our knees for two hours repeating the same thing over and over again. 
We had a great time! If you want to see some cool pictures of a traditional tea ceremony and learn more about it check out this website! Make sure you look at the woodblock print story. Have fun! 
