Hey all こんばんわー(konbanwa-)(good evening)!
I’ve been thinking all the time about what to write about a language course. What did I do today? New grammar and vocab. What else? Memorizing new grammar and vocab. 面白くない*!
So I decided to start from why I chose Japanese. Usually, besides interest, why would you learn a new language? I have to admit that I want to order food comfortably the time I go to Japan. Well food is a really important part (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧ So…yah.
Generally, there are two types of food in Japan: traditional Japanese food (washoku) and “western” food. Either one is delicately made, but washoku is stricter with its rules. A typical washoku meal is usually like this:
5-6 small bowls and plates putting in a large rectangle plate; a main course; a bowl of rice must be put on the left and a bowl of miso soup on the right; a small plate of vegetable and another plate of appetizer on each side. The last one is usually a small plate of Japan tofu (probably not, but I had tofu every time). It seems that there is only a little food in each plate, but they are really a lot! Probably it’s because every washoku meal is just like a feast—it contains a little bit of everything.
Even washoku breakfast is a feast. There are at least 5 elements: appetizer, rice (sometimes congee), miso soup, food that contains protein (fish, tofu, egg, etc., yet I think roast fish is the most typical one), and tea. There will be more if you go to an expensive restaurant.
(Oh this picture is too good to be called “breakfast”…)
Oh I have to talk about the convenient stores in Japan. They are not stores! They are restaurants! Can’t imagine that sometimes food in 7-11 is better than a fancy restaurant! Pictures would be better than words here.
Oh you should go have a meal at a convenient store!
And here are some great food I have had in Japan. My favorite food ever is Unagiton (come on you have so much favorite food)!! Grilled eel served with rice. The restaurant I had is called Nodaiwa (the kanji are 野田岩). In the past it was a place to eat eel only and it has a history of more than 160 years! So it’s really delicious. It’s just near the Tokyo Tower but not easy to find because it is hidden in a corner of an old street. Go try it next time you travel to Tokyo!
This is okonomi-yaki, a very typical Osaka food (well don’t ask me why I ate Osaka food in Tokyo lol). I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, I’m pretty sure it’s in Odaiba. Waiting for this meal was quite torturing— the food is cooked in front of the customers. In the middle of the table there is this large teppan, and the cook will bring materials and cook on that. We watched and waited at the same time, which means “can’t wait.”
That’s it for today!
*Japanese vocab note: 面白くない(omoshirokunai) means “not interesting.” Character 面 means face, and 白 is white. “A white face” is just like a circus clown—it stands for interesting. And くない(kunai) is a casual negative expression. Thus, 面白くない is “it’s not fun.”
*Pictures from google.com, zhihu.com, qyer.com and myself.
Boxin
