Foods to look forward to in JLand

[hydroflames]

So the other thread seemed to discuss all the foods people were going to miss when they left their home country...but enough negativity!
What are some foods you've read/heard about it and looking forward to trying in Japan? any specialty dishes from a particular region?

Current JETS: anything you reccomend future JETS should try when they arrive? anything you maybe hated?

I cant wait to try some of the special festival foods made/served throughout the year like dango (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango) and the different varieties. not to mention all the different types of sushi! om nom nom nom

[WhiteBear]

So the other thread seemed to discuss all the foods people were going to miss when they left their home country...but enough negativity!
What are some foods you've read/heard about it and looking forward to trying in Japan? any specialty dishes from a particular region?

Current JETS: anything you reccomend future JETS should try when they arrive? anything you maybe hated?

I cant wait to try some of the special festival foods made/served throughout the year like dango (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango) and the different varieties. not to mention all the different types of sushi! om nom nom nom

A topic close to my heart!! (And centered right on my stomach)

Hiroshima Okonomyaki (it's better than Tokyo's and Osaka's )

Sushi and Sashimi!!!!!!

the range of food and drinks at the convenience stores - great for a snack or a super cheap meal

Manju~

Proper Ramen!!

[Jessi_OkayamaPA]

Festival foods!!!
~Meat on a stick, as we lovingly call it. Chunks of any kinda meat roasted on a stick.
~Niku-maki Onigiri. Rice ball wrapped in meat and dipped in sauce. Sometimes involves cheese or other tasties.
~Yaki-curry. Rice covered in curry covered in cheese, baked.
~Crepes! They put cheesecake in crepes o_o
~Shaved ice, especially when you get here.
~**********Taiyaki. Pankcake-like sweet with various fillings, usually red bean paste but sometimes chocolate, custard, caramel, etc!
~Ramune. Not a food. But if you see it, please drink it! If you can push the marble into the bottle, you will impress far too many people

Anywhere:
~Kaiten (Conveyor belt) sushi. Obviously Nice because you can pick by look and choose how much you want to eat.
~I was going to start listening Japanese noodles and stuff but.... just try as many J-foodz as you can (:
~DESSERTS. Japanese parfaits are amazing. Japanese desserts are beautiful (although sometimes small for their price).

I will suggest that you find out what your area is famous for, or what's a local delicacy. I eat a ton of white peach stuff since that's Okayama's thing. And it's delicious. Also, kibi dango. Find out specialties before you travel as well. For example, find meshi soba (fried rice meets yakisoba) when in Kobe

And keep in mind that as the seasons change, so do flavors. During fall, sweet potatoes were everywhere. Winter - strawberry. Spring - plums and cherries. Sweets, candy, snacks. Restaurants have "fairs" for flavors. Pringles change flavors. Starbucks has specials. There was a pancake drink in the vending machine during the winter. Lipton does different teas.

The biggest one is obviously kit-kats. Prefectures/regions/towns have different flavors. They are the real pokemon of Japan. Gotta catch 'em all!

[hydroflames]

The biggest one is obviously kit-kats. Prefectures/regions/towns have different flavors. They are the real pokemon of Japan. Gotta catch 'em all!

Ah! forgot about the different kit kats! im such a sucker for trying different flavoured chocolates/candy, cant wait to see what they have in japan.
makes the wait to see which area of japan we'll be in when it comes to the regional food even harder!

[Namisuke]

Super Mario and Zelda Kinder Surprise-style eggs!

[hydroflames]

Hiroshima Okonomyaki (it's better than Tokyo's and Osaka's )

i cooked okonomiyaki with my students in australia last year since they wanted to do some japanese cooking. they were only 13/14 years old so i told them that the bonito flakes i used to put on top was my skin from a bad sunburn. it was an all girls school and they freaked out when they saw the flakes curl and shrivel up from the heat of the pancake haha.

[Kaesespaetzle]

Can you still get Calorie Mate in Japan?
C-A-L-O-R-I-E! M-A-T-E: KYARORIII-MEITTO!!! <3

[word]

For me, it's mostly about the locally grown and gathered produce. Gigantic, juicy, delicious fruits. Gargantuan, awesome veggies. Mushrooms of every variety and flavor. Befriend a local obasaan and trade some English lessons for cooking lessons.

I ate raw horse; it was mediocre at best, but an interesting experience. I don't recommend trying the horse intestine. It's nice at first, but it has a distinct aftertaste of manure (no, I've never eaten manure, but if you've been around horses, you know what their shoot smells like... now imagine that smell, but in your mouth).

I haven't eaten whale, dolphin, or fugu. If I'm offered whale or dolphin at school lunch, I'll probably eat it, but I won't go out looking for it. I'd like to try fugu. An obasaan friend told me that fugu is just average-tasting and overpriced. People eat it for the experience.

Sakura rice is good, especially if it's home-made by the aforementioned obasaan.

Mochi is pretty good, especially if it's home-made.

Sushi? Meh. I've had much better sushi back home. Sashimi is a bit better here, though.

Okonomiyaki is fantastic, but nothing that you couldn't make back home.

Ramen is good, but also kinda meh. A good ramen kitchen can make some phenomenal ramen, but some of the best ramen I've ever had was made by my students, using the veggies from the school garden.

Festival food is great, although, somewhere around your 63rd festival, you realize it's all basically the same. Still delicious, but it's usually being pushed by the Japanese equivalent of a carnie (literally). Shaved ice? You'll get far more variety and deliciousness back in the 'States. I've seriously considered seeing if I could open a shaved-ice tent at local festivals, because I could put these guys out of business.

The parfaits that you get here are freakin' phenomenal. They're beautiful, mind-numbingly delicious, and probably about 5,000 calories apiece. There's a local place that does a chocolate blueberry cheesecake parfait that is straight up worth dying for.

Pizza is disgusting unless you love mayo and corn, or unless you can find an American- or Italian-style pizza place.

[Cytrix]

Sashimi by the bucketloads

And takoyaki

Andddd I am determined to try fugu!

[Kyaillya]

I love food!! This page is making me salivate (even though I've just had lunch).

I literally am the worse person to take to a restaurant as I will want to try EVERYTHING!!! Best option for me is buffet or shared tapas-style things.

I'm gonna have to work out extra hard before August to counteract the calorie piling that will commence with the start of my contract.

[Cytrix]

I've already started on counteracting the expected calorie intake!

Seriously, I've learned the hard way not to go to sushi trains...you have to roll me out of the damn places

[Threz_]

Okayama peaches.
Tonkatsu.
Good ramen (the kind you find in hole-in-the-wall restaurant, or Ippudo).
All the delicious range of flavours of soft cream (like soba, goma or wasabi).

Also what most of the other have said above. The pizza is definitely different, but you have to try it. You'll never find another pizza with chicken nuggets, tempura shrimp, corn, mayo and mashed potatoes all in one.

[Jax]

Some of my favorite things here are things that you'd think I can get at home, but can't (like my favorite spaghetti sauce).... or things that I could probably get at home, but it's more convenient here (like my local Korean restaurant with its deliciousness).

I am maybe living in the wrong country to dislike seafood, but I don't like sushi or sashimi.... or takoyaki or anything with squid or octopus. I hate the last two so much that I can't even eat pick those out of food and eat what's left. I feel like it's still there. I can't handle festival foods in the summer either. All the fishy smells, usually of the fried squid and octopus varieties, make me feel kinda sick. XD

Anyway, favorite things from Japanland....
- Being able to go anywhere and find a soft creme stand with awesome flavors.
- Regional specialty foods. You can get some pretty odd tasting stuff, like olive gelato... it can be a one-of-a-kind experience!
- SAKURA FRAPPUCCINO!!!!!
- Peach Fanta
- Kobe Chinatown's Ryosyoki dumplings <<<<<<<<3
- YAKI IMO!!
- mikan
- taikyaki
- Mister Donut
- dango
- Pretty much everything at the local candy store.... I get these big sugar covered hard candy balls in all kinds of flavors!!
- Indian food
- The occasional new McFlurry flavor at McDonald's. They had an awesome chestnut cake flavor one year.
- Baby Star chicken ramen snacks
- curry popcorn at the movie theater
- etc etc etc.... that's all I've got for now.

I swear I don't have a sweet tooth. Overall I prefer savory things!

I live near Kobe and have never tried meshi soba, I think... or maybe I have. I'm not even entirely sure what it is yet.

[abeaumon]

~Takoyaki. Pankcake-like sweet with various fillings, usually red bean paste but sometimes chocolate, custard, caramel, etc!

I'm pretty sure takoyaki is octopus dumplings and not the thing with sweet fillings? At least it was where I was living taiyaki would be the name of the pancake-like sweet things (usually shaped like a fish).

I miss those so much!! Festival food~

[Blasko]

You guys suck at this. No one mentioned:
1. Gyoza
2. Udon
3. Cola-flavored mentos