Japanese Market in America

I personally love to go to Asian Markets around my hometown. We have many to choose from due to the Asian population in New Orleans. Since New Orleans is a port city it is common to encounter many different people and cultures. New Orleans is truly a "Gumbo City," a city made up of different cultures. The Asian Markets I have encountered so far have a bit a everything from different countries. The differences of the markets are who may own them. If a Chinese man owns a market it will have more Chinese products than anything else. There's another market around the city owned by a Korean family, so they sell more Korean products. My favorite Asian Market to go to is owned by a Japanese man and they sell the most Japanese products. It is truly heaven, walking into that store.

For the sake of being a blog about Japan I will be talking about what you can find at a Japanese Market in America. Now the store I'm referring to will be different from other ones around the country but they will have similarities and you should totally check them out.

Spices and Sauces

There are so many different spices and sauces to choose from. Many people don't think of spices when they think of Japanese food, but they have there own spices that are great for their food. One if the most popular Japanese spices is called Nanami Togarashi. This is a type of chili pepper that is used in a lot of Japanese cooking. As for sauces, they have every sauce you can think of. There's sauces for Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, and Yakisoba. If it's a cooked Japanese food there is most likely a sauce for it.

Fruits and Vegetables

Japan has many fruits and vegetables that are only native to their country.  A Japanese market may have these fruits and vegetables to purchase. Japanese fruit are very interesting. An apple in America is usually small but Japanese apples are huge. Many fruits that are well known in America are either bigger in size or smaller than usual in Japan. The vegetable selection is wide with the usual carrots, cabbage, and potatoes to the Japanese vegetables such as daikon (radish), taro, renkon (lotus root), and goya (bitter melon). These types of vegetables are not common in regular grocery stores but may be food at a Japanese market. Experimenting with Japanese vegetables is a great way to introduce yourself to Japanese food as it is used in many Japanese dishes.

Drinks and Snacks

One of the most popular reasons to go to a Japanese market is for the various flavored drinks and snacks. There are obviously different brands of green tea and other teas such as Jasmine tea. Famous Japanese drinks you can find at a Japanese market are Ramune, Calpis, and Pocari Sweat. There are also Japanese beers and sake to choose from for persons of age. The snacks are the best part of the market. This is the section that gets me the most excited. There's so many different kinds of snacks such as chips, candy, and ice cream. The popular candies are Pocky, Milkita, Hi-Chew, and Koala March. These candies come in popular flavors such as strawberry, chocolate, and green tea. Lately, there have been special flavors out such as chocolate banana and cookies n' cream. Chips are another great snack to purchase. A popular chip snack is Pretz, biscuit sticks that come in various flavors you would find in chips. And then there's the ice cream section. It's so beautiful, all the ice cream that's available. There's mochi ice cream in almost any flavor you can think of, frozen taiyaki, cream puffs, and Japanese ice cream sandwiches.

Tableware and Trinkets

If you're looking for some really nice Japanese tea sets or bowls then you need to visit a Japanese market. Not only is it reasonably priced but there are really nice quality ones along with the more cheaper kinds. Ever wanted a ramen bowl and a soup spoon you always see at Japanese restaurants? Well you can find all of that at the Japanese market. There's also some bento cutters to shape vegetables and nori (seaweed). Need a cool set of chopsticks? They got that. Want to learn oragami? They have paper for that. You can get a bunch of cool stuff at a Japanese market.

I hope this helps many of you venture off to an Asian market. It can be intimidating at first but once you go into the store you'll feel right at home when you see all the items available. Happy shopping!

If you liked this you should check out some of my other posts. I talk about various topics related to Japan such as anime, culture, food, and lifestyle. Enjoy!

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A Taste of Japan: Disney's Epcot

There are many circumstances that can keep people from travel such as health conditions, fear of flying, and just not having the finances. I still find these circumstances sad for those who really want to experience Japan but can't make it over there. It can be hard traveling to other countries, and I understand. That's why I'd like to help those in America (where I'm from). You'd be surprised at how many places in America have areas that resemble Japan. These places obviously aren't going to be exactly like Japan, but it'll give people a good taste of what Japan may be like.

I plan to talk about Disney World's Epcot located in Orlando, Florida in this segment of "A Taste of Japan." Disney World is a great family or friend vacation for all ages. There's literally something for everyone to enjoy. There are several parks to explore, but I'll be talking about Epcot. I will eventually do more blog posts like this as I have the finances and time to travel to places that resemble Japan. So expect this to be a long running series on my blog.

Let's get started! Epcot is a park in Disney World that let's you travel around the world with its World Showcase. As you circle the park you'll arrive in countries such as South Korea, Mexico, China, Ireland, France, Germany, and, of course, Japan. I've been to Epcot three times already and it's always my most look forward to moments when I'm in Disney World. Epcot Japan resembles the real Japan in many ways that can come to many as a surprise. When you first transition from leaving America to entering Japan you can hear taiko drums in the distance, welcoming you to Japan. In the lake that is in the middle of the park, there's a torii, or gate, that is sitting in the water just like you can find in Japan. Once you enter that Japan section of Epcot the scenery changes drastically from the previous America section. The buildings are designed like traditional Japanese architecture. These buildings house shops, an exhibit, and restaurants. Towards the back corner, a Japanese garden and a pond can be seen. There's a pathway you can follow to stroll through the small garden area, leading to a small restaurant and the shopping area.

In the middle of the Japan section of Epcot.

The pond in the small Japanese garden. Those are some big koi fish.

There are two dinning restaurants to enjoy Japanese food like sushi and tempura. Then there is a casual restaurant, perfect for lunch, that serves items such as curry, garlic shrimp, and chicken teriyaki. The last time I went to the casual restaurant they had okonomiyaki (cabbage pancakes) on the menu that was delicious, but I guess it was too foreign to visitors so they exchanged that item for curry. I got the chicken katsu curry for lunch. It tasted just like the ones I got in real Japan. The workers were super friendly. They had no problem starting a conversation with my husband and I about his Kokoichiban (a curry house franchise in Japan) t-shirt. We enjoyed the small talk and got to know the workers a bit. Every worker, even in the other countries of Epcot, had a name tag on that would give where they were from. So the cashier at the casual restaurant was from Tokyo, Japan. I loved looking at all the name tags to see where the Japanese workers were from.

The exhibit room, featuring Kawaii Culture.

The next thing I saw was the exhibit. These exhibits are long-term, about 4 to 5 years. In 2012, the exhibit was about Japanese folklore. I really loved that one because they had a life size statue of a tengu (crow/man) that was so cool. This year they had an exhibit on Japan's kawaii (cute) culture. The room had glass cases filled with cute plushies, accessories, and other little trinkets. As you look at the exhibit you can hear Kyary Pamyu Pamyu playing in the background. It's a fun little exhibit that always introduces an interesting part of Japanese culture.

One of the glass cases explaining how cute culture can be present at work and for play..

Once you exit the exhibit there's an entrance to the Mitsukoshi department store. The store is nicely organized, sectioning off parts of the store for different things. There was a section for sake, snacks and candy, food, kitchen, kimono, hobbies, clothing, beauty products, stationary, Miyazaki items, Japanese learning books, Pokemon, Hello Kitty, and anime.  All of these great things in one store. It was hard not to buy everything in sight. My very first time in the store I went crazy, buying a purse, stickers, Pokemon plushies, a kimono, and candy. This time I only bought mochi candy and an umbrella.

The hobby section of the Mitsukoshi department store.

So as you can see Epcot Japan is in the comfort of American soil but lets you experience tiny parts of Japan. You'll get to eat real Japanese food, learn about Japanese traditions, and learn about the Japanese culture. All of this without the worry of speaking Japanese, yet if you'd like you can practice your Japanese with the workers and they'll be thrilled to talk with you. Not only will going to Disney's Epcot be a vacation, but an opportunity to learn about Japan in a relaxed setting. I won't be fully immersed into the culture. You will get little taste of Japan from Disney's Epcot, but enough to understand the country better.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I'm looking forward to doing more like this in the future. Thank you for reading and giving me support. I have so much fun writing about Japan and sharing it with everyone.

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Speak English?!? You Try Speaking a Difficult Language!

Hi everyone!

This post is going to be very controversial. I'm sorry if this makes some of you uncomfortable but it needs to be addressed. Now this is obviously my opinion on the situation and you have every right to think differently, but here it goes.

Let's start off with a story.

I work at a car dealership. Nothing I say has any reflection on the business itself or the professionalism of the workers, it's all their personal feelings I'll be telling. Anyway, we get a lot of different customers coming through our doors. Some are young, some are old, some are White, and some are Hispanic. They can be coming into the dealership to buy a car or to service their car. Well, a lot of my coworkers who deal with customers are older than me and are not as cultured as me. I'm not saying older people can't be cultured, but these coworkers of mine are into their own lives and definitely not interested in other cultures. They even find it weird and surprising when I talk about Japan. They just never had the desire to learn more than what they need to know. To get to the story, one day a customer came into the dealership. He supposedly had a really thick accent. My coworker claimed he was Chinese due to his name and passed the customer onto someone else because she couldn't understand him. Then I heard a comment from the spectators in the office that people should speak English if they come to America. What?!?!?! This guy was clearly speaking English, he just had a Chinese accent still which is normal.

Now let's get down to my opinion and morals of this story.

Why should anyone coming to America have to speak English? I thought America was a free country, and welcoming to all types of people. We even have Americans who speak different kinds of English like slang, or just not proper English at all. These foreigners coming to America are here for the opportunities and some even learned English so they could fit in. I rather these people living in America than the lazy people who just sit at home all day wondering why their life is so miserable and not doing anything to fix it themselves.

My Japanese notebook, plus some doodles.

It really bothers me when someone says something stupid like "they should speak English." Obviously the people who say this have never truly learned a language so they can't possibly understand. It's hard to learn a language! People always ask me if I can speak Japanese and it's the hardest thing to answer. I can't say no because I do know some Japanese. Yet if I say yes everyone thinks I know it fluently which is not true. I end up saying yes to their question but add that I know enough to get around. They are still impressed with me but then they turn around and say stupid stuff like speak English! Well then, since you are so adamant about people speaking English you should try speaking another language. See how that works out for you. You'll never be able to compare your speaking skills with others who are learning English because English is the hardest language to learn and you've grown up with it since birth. 

I'm studying Japanese.

So I dare those of you who've ever said that foreigners should speak English to actually learn a different language first before saying something that stupid. You just sound ignorant when you say it.

That's my life lesson I'm sharing with all of you. I hope it didn't get too intense for you but this is a serious subject that happens more often than you may think.

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