'Hmm, what to eat, what to eat? Lets see, there's some octopus,
some whole
dead fish, sea pineapple, maybe some of those mysterious
little fried things...'
Okay, you really do have a lot of options when it comes to feeding
yourself.
all you have to do is find them, which may be difficult at
first. Trying to find
Western food here is really only going to make you
fat, so don't be afraid to
take some risks in the kitchen. (with food, of
course, don't go juggling knives
or anything, please.) If your hopeless in
the kitchen, I'm afraid you'll have to
starve. Or, you could try....
Convenience stores - Open 24 hours, some are better than others, they stock
a
plethora of daily prepared meals. You can get anything from a sushi bento
to a hamburger steak. The cooked foods are gross and greasy, but if your
stomach can stand to eat them, go for it. They also have onigiri, fresh
salads
and sandwiches which are good for lunch. Tuna, or shi-chikin,
onigiri are the
best. The curry burritos are pretty good too. In the
winter, they stock
delicious Chinese style dumplings with meat or pizza filling,
as well as hot
canned coffee. 7-11 seems to have the most consistent
quality, Family Marts
are good, too. I've gotten some questionable rice
balls at the other places. If
you don't go for rice balls or hamburger,
you can still get some good soup
mixes, rice dishes or pasta in the dried
goods. They also carry regular bread,
milk, eggs, pizza sauce and liquor,
which is great in a pinch. Plus, conveni's are
located everywhere.
Bento stores - Japanese style fast food, they sell fresh cooked meals to
go.
They are Japanese style, but that includes hamburger and fried
chicken. It
comes with rice and a little salad or vegetable. They're
really pretty cheap
and you can get some healthy stuff. Plus, they have
picture menus, so there's
no reason not to try one. You can recognize them
by the single take-out
counter and food pictures all over.
Fast Food -
McDonald's, Mos burger and KFC's abound. Mos Burgers are
really good and they also sell things like sea-katsu burgers, in addition to the
normal stuff. KFC's are as rancid and even greasier than back home.
During
the day time, McDonald's has super cheap burgers. Otherwise they
are all
expensive. The sizes are also the equivalent of America's circa
1985.
Japanese Restaurants - There are lots of reasonably priced little restaurants
hiding all over. They sell set meals which can often be cheaper than
cooking.
There are soba/tempura restaurants, Yakisoba and okonomiyaki
places, and
one's with a variety. Most keep food displays in the window so
you can figure
out what you want before going in. They often have daily
lunch sets that you
can get by saying 'seto A' or 'seto B'. The yakisoba places have grills where
you can watch them cook or make your own. These
places are really cheap but
there are no pictures. If you learn some basic
food kanji and kana you
shouldn't have any problems ordering. They have
great atmosphere, so don't
be afraid to try it on your own. If you have
one close to home its a great
place to become a regular and make some friends.
There are also Japanese style pubs called Izakayas.
These places are open
till the wee hours of the morning and often charge a sitting fee for
individuals.
The food comes in individual dishes sized for two or three people, so
parties
can order a bunch and sample everything. These places are cheap if
there are
a couple people or more. These are the places where you'll be going
for your
welcome parties, so you'll get a feel for them pretty quick.
Ramen shops are also open after hours for the business men
and ALTs stumbling home
from 'meetings'. They have giant servings of ramen which are pretty tasty.
The curtains hanging outside the doors of these places mean they're open.
Western restaurants - Big Boy's has a several restaurant chains here.
Good for an occasional steak and fry fix. Not expensive for Japan, but
that
doesn't say much. There are also a disproportionate amount of Italian
restaurants here.
Lastly, you can cook for yourself. There are large chain grocery stores
in
medium and larger sized towns, which actually have a pretty good variety and
reasonable prices. They also sell bento style food, or just certain prepared
dishes, so you can piece a meal together. There are small
convenience store
style markets, they are usually expensive. There are
also the local farmer's
market type places, these are probably cheaper and
better for buying
produce. I have noticed that some fruit stands are muy
expensive, so compare
prices before shelling out 500yen for an apple.
Most grocery stores mark prices down after 7:00 p.m. Every couple of
days
they'll clear stuff out at half price or less. This is a good time to
stock up,
just remember the produce won't last as long.
Most cities also have foreign food
stores. I don't
shop there often, when I
do I usually end up spending way too much on food that doesn't last. I do
go
there for Oatmeal or cereals sometimes. Lately my grocery store has
been
stocking more and more imports, so there's not much I can't find.
But the
grocery stores in smaller towns probably aren't so cosmopolitan as to
stock
Frosted Flakes or Oatmeal. You might have to settle for Adzuki bean
Flakes.
The foreign food stores stock foreign food from all over, so its a good
place
to get real Thai or Indian foods and spices. And the packaging is
foreign, so
the serving sizes are much larger.
There
is one more option for getting food, plus making friends and learning at
the same time, this would be....
Mooching!
- I get a home cooked meal
every Friday in exchange for tutoring
some kids. (Of course I don't get money! That would be wrong.)
Technically,
JETs aren't allowed to receive money for such services, but you'll be
asked a
lot to help tutor or teach English conversation. Many people trade
English for
Japanese lessons, but to be honest, most the people I know who do this
don't
get much out of it. Either the other person never speaks Japanese,
or they
just aren't able to teach at the right level. Get your conversation
practice
when you go out drinking, there will plenty of opportunities. If
someone asks
for conversation lessons, consider getting meals or cooking lessons in
return.
If there is a small group of people interested in lessons, make it a
conversation club. You could easily do it at someone's house each
time, with
pot luck style dinners. This will also give them the opportunity to
teach you
about other Japanese things that they are interested in, plus, they'd
probably
love to learn some 'Western' style cooking, or other meal related
customs. An
informal setting is also more likely to get English and Japanese
conversation
flowing naturally.
Its
probably a good idea to get a map of your town and have someone show
you where some different eating places are, and also mark good ones you
find.
There are some great little restaurants hidden in back allies or in
inconspicuous buildings.