Stories From Japan- Those are not Onion Rings?!?!

For those of you who don't follow my blog, I participated in a short-term study abroad program. It was a lot of fun exploring Japan but I couldn't forget about my studies. I was taking two classes at a college in Japan. In order to "graduate" from the program you couldn't have anything lower than a C and you couldn't miss more than two days of class. I thankfully had no problems with these conditions. I missed only one day of class due to being terribly sick and I got a B in both of my classes. I remember on a few papers I wrote for class the teacher wrote, "You could do better." She was probably right, but I was in Japan. I was fine with earning a B.

Japanese Food You Should Try

I'm going to mention Japanese food that's good, bad, and even weird that I think you should try. Japanese food is so unique and different from any other kind of food. It's worth trying even if you may not like it or it doesn't look appealing to you. There are tons of Japanese foods I'm proud to say I've tried, even if they weren't good to me.

Let's start with the good!

Teriyaki Burger

One of my favorite things to eat in Japan. My favorite places to get a teriyaki burger at is Mos Burger (a Japanese fast food chain) and McDonald's. They are sweet and delicious.

Ramen

Ramen can be described as a noodle soup. It's most common broth flavors are pork and chicken. This dish is especially good on a cold night. This soup can be slurped for two reasons. The first is that when you slurp the noodles you are cooling them off as they go into your mouth. The second reason is to show you are enjoying the ramen.

Okonomiyaki

This picture shows the raw ingredients that is in okonomiyaki. It contains cabbage, egg, and pork (in this version it's pork but it can be replaced by shrimp or squid). This food is very famous and can be obtained easily in Osaka, Japan, the food capital of Japan. I have nicknamed it "cabbage pancakes."

Now for the bad, sadly.

Squid

I'm not a big squid fan. I don't like the rubber texture it has. You can grill it, fry it, dry it out, or eat it raw. I've tried the fried squid before in Japan and wasn't a big fan of it. I've tried squid once and that's good enough for me.

Takoyaki

Looks good right? I thought so too, at first. I've seen this dish in anime and dramas. I always imagined it like a crab cake, soft texture in the middle. When I finally got the chance to taste it in Osaka I was surprised. I took a bite to find that there's a piece of the octopus inside the fried batter, not soft like a crab cake at all. I was disturbed by how difficult it was to chew. It wasn't pleasant.

Finally, the weird!

Udon

Udon is another noodle soup but it's different in one way from Ramen. Udon is a thicker noodle that has a slimy consistency. I felt like I was eating worms. I wasn't a big fan of the texture of this noodle, so I kind of avoid udon when possible. It's just a weird food.

There's definitely more food to talk about but these are the ones I brought up for now. I hope you all get to try these one day. I have no regrets with any of these foods because it's all about the experience.

Until next time!

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