shopping
Ginza stroll
Merry Christmas! - well almost. Although there are very few Christians in Japan, christmas has been widely adopted but mostly for the present-giving aspect of it. Especially young people are fond of this new-found tradition. So what better place to go than to Tokyo’s number one shopping area, Ginza. Every self-respecting company that is worth it’s salt must have a shop in Ginza. So needless to say this is also not really where you can find bargain amongst the designer bags and watches. full story ...
Thoughts on food
2007 Nov 09 Filed in: food
Japan is known for its food that much appreciated and
often very expensive abroad. While I am a big fan of
Japanese food, and especially of sushi (wp) and sashimi (wp), I was somewhat
disappointed with meat offerings in Japan. This
is not to say that there is not much variety
here, quite the opposite, but it is more on
quality and price that I thought it was lacking
a bit.
Meat is very expensive, especially the lean parts of the animal that make nice steaks. But there are also many other parts of the animal that are not custom to be eaten in the west to make it on the menu in Japan. If you order assorted chicken skewers in an Izakaya for example, be careful. These usually only include one or two skewers with breast or leg meat, the rest will be other bits such as skin, legs and sometimes even intestines. So better order six chicken breast meat skewers if you want to be sure of what you are going to get.
To much of my surprise I came across this in my local supermarket: 179g of sheep’s wind pipe - yes, you read that correctly, for a mere 227 yen.
In the same supermarket I also came across something that would have the animal welfare protection people up in arms. Late in the evening, this was the last of the king crabs to still be on sale. Already discounted from its 660 yen to half price, this king crab, was indeed alive. Of course all it could move beneath the cling film was its eyes. Endless hours of suffering to ensure your food is fresh.
Meat is very expensive, especially the lean parts of the animal that make nice steaks. But there are also many other parts of the animal that are not custom to be eaten in the west to make it on the menu in Japan. If you order assorted chicken skewers in an Izakaya for example, be careful. These usually only include one or two skewers with breast or leg meat, the rest will be other bits such as skin, legs and sometimes even intestines. So better order six chicken breast meat skewers if you want to be sure of what you are going to get.
To much of my surprise I came across this in my local supermarket: 179g of sheep’s wind pipe - yes, you read that correctly, for a mere 227 yen.
In the same supermarket I also came across something that would have the animal welfare protection people up in arms. Late in the evening, this was the last of the king crabs to still be on sale. Already discounted from its 660 yen to half price, this king crab, was indeed alive. Of course all it could move beneath the cling film was its eyes. Endless hours of suffering to ensure your food is fresh.