Dining in Japan

I pretty much had two objectives while I was in Japan. One was to spend time with friends and family, and the other was to eat as much food as possible. There are so many Japanese dishes that I like that 2.5 weeks here wasn't enough time to eat everything I wanted. (I have been putting in a lot of effort though.) Here are some of the foods, if made Japanese style, that I enjoy eating and recommend to anyone visiting Japan: sukiyaki, shabu shabu, yakiniku, yakitori, curry rice, sushi, ramen, udon, soba, okonomiyaki, onigiri, dango, satsuma imo, strawberry shortcake, purin (custard pudding), taiyaki, croquette, bread, an-pan, melon pan. Drinks in Japan are also great. None of their drinks are overly sweet or sugary. I don't drink tea, coffee, wine, beer, and most types of alcohol or soda so I love the fact that Japan has so many varieties of soft drink: calpis, pocari sweat, lemon water, etc. A lot of them are also sold in vending machines all over the place.

Dining in Japan is also more than just good food and drinks. You can't beat the service you get here. If you walk into a restaurant, you are greeted immediately with a cheerful irashaimase (welcome) by the staff. Of course, water is free and generally brought to you as soon as you are seated, without even having to ask for it. The attitudes of the restaurant staffs from start to end are one of how they could possibly serve you better. In one restaurant, a waiter apologized profusely when they over cooked a set of gyozas and had to remake them, thus delaying its serving time by - woah - a whole 5 minutes. We were like, hey, don't worry - it's no big deal. In another restaurant, they were quick to replace a cup of mayonnaise that was starting to run low, even though we were nearing the end of our meal. As you leave after your meal, you are once greated with a loud arigatogozaimasu (thank you). When you dine in Japan, you really feel like your patronage is valued and that they are truly happy to serve you. What makes this even more surprising is that there is no tipping in Japan. It is not even normal practice to leave change. Even in the U.S. where a 15-20% tip is expected, you won't get service as good as in Japan. In the Netherlands, and most of Europe, you can pretty much scratch the word service out of your vocabulary. It doesn't exist.

Great dining isn't found just in restaurants or cafes. Many department stores will have basements (depachika) that are food halls. In addition to grocery, fresh meals and side dishes are prepared and packaged for easy consumptions. Food prices in Japan are reasonable, too. Last night, we went to an all-you-can-eat shabu shabu place (aka Mo- Mo- Paradise) -> 1,700 JPY per person. 1 USD = 120 JPYand 1 EUR = 157 JPY, roughly. You can add all-you-can-drink (alcohol included), for about another 1,500 JPY. Lunch menus can range from 800 to 1500 JPY for an average meal. A take-out meal is about the same, and depachika food prices can't be beat. If you're a busy person, there really is no point in cooking here. It just isn't worth the hassle and the left overs. Good food, good prices, good service... I'm going to miss it all.