What we ate in Japan II

Of course, we had our fair share of sushi. The pink ones in the middle are toro (fatty tuna) nigiri: amazing! And beside those ones: unagi, eel. Even better, and half the price! As Roland Barthes notices in his extraordinary L'empire des signes, his books about Japan, the japanese meal does not follow a narrative like ours: it has no center, no first or second dish, etc. The japanese can have a piece of tempura, then a mican (japanese tangerine) and then some rice, then some soup, and then back to the tempura.

During our bike ride, we had some candy made with sweet beans. Not only it was delicious, it had a very beautiful packaging made with bamboo leaves. The package, the gesture (Barthes again) is very important for the japanese and sometimes it's even more beautiful than what's inside.

These things we didn´t try: shark...

and fugu, the deadly blowfish: each one has enough poison to kill a small army.

What we ate in Japan

For new year's eve we had the traditional nabe (which means "pot") and it's more or less like an argentinian puchero: you boil vegetables, red meat, fish, what have you, in a big pot. Calpis is the most popular soft drink in Japan. It's the exact opposite of the not so popular Coca Cola: it's white and it's supposed to be good for you! So they say.

This is sort of a japanese pancake. It's called Okonomiyaki, which literally means "what you like, grilled". Aside from the dough, you can put whatever you want in it. As toppings they use everything, from tomato sauce to fried noodles. 

We had soup almost everyday. This one had mushrooms and onion. Just what the doctor ordered for a very cold day like this one at mount Fuji!