Eating EVERYTHING But The Cats

Hi friends,

We arrived in Japan on a red-eye and got straight to our favorite part of being in this delightful country- eating. We’ve been to Japan several times now and sometimes still feel uncertain about the ways of doing almost everything – right down to occasionally ordering restaurant ramen using a vending machine, which still makes no sense. Japan is one of our favorite places to spend time because it’s both challenging and surreal.  Speaking of surreal, we’re celebrating drinking the tap water, after 8 weeks of this being a bad idea!  Back to Japan…

One of the things that makes Japan sparkle and function so well is that details are very important here. As a society, people are revered for doing one thing very, very well. As a culture, the Japanese seem to realize that small details add up to creating a great society. So, you can focus on and do only one thing well- whether that’s grilling eel or making matcha desserts or putting together wacky art displays- and you are celebrated. This attention to detail, this intentionality and reverence to specialization has created a place where people are very specialized, which enables people to deep dive into their fields, seeking perfection.  To us it shows most clearly in the food – sushi masters, ramen experts, entire department store floors of sweets that are works of art…

Luna was very excited to get to Tokyo and explore the bizarre and wacky world that awaits anyone willing to dive in – and she’s willing. We’ve seen animal cafés where you pay to visit with animals up close (on this and other trips we’ve been to cat, owl and hedgehog cafés), ridden on trains based on Pokemon characters, washed our hands on wet towels before every meal, seen bizarre art displays and late night arcades with teenage picture booths that include dress up clothing, lit mirrors and salon equipment to do your hair before climbing in a photo booth for a tiny string of printed photos. Luna’s old enough now to understand just how different things are here and fully delight in them.

As previously mentioned- here are some ways we’re seeing intentionality in action within Japan: Japan is a super clean country- yet there are virtually no trash cans, anywhere. When you do find one it is very well hidden. We bring a daypack with us to carry around trash (empty water bottles, tissues), knowing it is rare to find receptacles.

Japan wins the worldwide toilet challenge. We’ve seen them all on this trip from squatty potties, dirt holes in the floor, regular toilets we use in the US, but Japan has invented the best toilets ever. The toilets here, from hotels to airports, restaurants and yes, even port-a-potties (I used one and can attest to this) have Toto toilets. These toilets are mechanized with heated seats, bidets, musical selections or the sounds of bubbling stream so you can cover up any unpleasant sounds you make while in the stall. It’s pretty amazing.

The Japanese have some strange concepts when it comes to desserts. When I first came here in 2008, I threw my bean covered ice cream in the trash with an “ew, where is the chocolate here?” Now, I dream of adzuki beans atop my ice cream when I’m home. Texture is an important part of food in Japan in all meals but particularly in desserts not for flavor, but for mouthfeel. So, there are balls of tasteless rice flour that are squishy and buoyant, which when coupled with something else, makes a bite really interesting. Luna is my matcha buddy so we are basically willing to eat any green dessert in search of pleasure. I’ve eaten strange things such as matcha jello, matcha (green tea) ice cream with cornflakes, matcha cake, matcha parfait and jelly which the Japanese eat as its own dessert. We’ve eaten rice flour cakes with bean paste (mochi) and mountains of icy snow cones with beans & tea syrup (yum) which have helped keep us cool in the hot temperatures here. Desserts are so revered here that people go on their own to sit and enjoy a mid-day treat all by themselves. The Japanese are very good at taking care of themselves in that way and I really admire that within the culture. It’s rare for me to see anyone eating ice cream on their own in the states- but it’s very common here to see people out and someone just relaxing into eating their matcha parfait, all by themselves and enjoying every bite.

Sushi originated in Japan as a way to eat on the go, and “onigiri “(rice triangles with fish in them) actually translates to “kill the demon”- basically slaying hangry. We liked that and have been doing our best to slay the beast of hunger. Sushi delights here and we’ve eaten still twitching shrimp, eel bones, lots and lots of little fish, bigger fish, fish heads, fish roe. If it’s got anything to do with a fish, we’ve eaten it.

One more thing that feels so bizarre in Japan is the fact that it’s a normal thing to see very expensive fruit. It seems like most things can be looped back to the specialization and intentionality, so someone created the best fruit ever- and you pay for it. There are fruit tasting cafés, where you dish out oodles of yen for a bowl of fruit. Here you will see $80 bunches grapes, $50 mangoes, square shaped watermelons and $40 peaches. It’s outrageous- but we’ve had a few bites here and there and they are the best fruits I’ve ever had.

So, back to Tokyo. We jammed in as much as we could during our two days in the city on the front end of our Japanese journey- this is what we did: ate sushi, rode a train, ate Japanese breakfast, went to Meiji shrine and wrote prayers on wooden placards called ema alongside people from all walks of life. We went to a cat café where the cats all ignored us until Josh was smart enough to buy frozen fish pops and then the cats thought we were nominally cool. We walked the bizarre fashion districts and perused cat kawaii (cute illustration) shops. We went to an art aquarium where goldfish in all varieties were showcased and celebrated. We went to an arcade (Josh crushed our three person sit down Mario Kart challenge), enjoyed the world’s busiest pedestrian intersection at Shibuya crossing and enjoyed all the matcha sweets we could eat. I’d type more but it’s time to go get Japanese breakfast…

Yay for Japan.

with love,

The Kears