Living in Japan Series - The Food

Ok on to the food of Japan, sorry I am just heading straight into this topic, sorry for the lack of greeting. When people think of Japan, sushi comes to mind. And yes Japan has a plethora of sushi restaurants. Quick tip to note to, Japan does not have stinky smelly fish. Why? Because it is all fresh and fish that is not fresh is stinky and smelly. Keep that in mind the next time you buy fish, the smellier it is, the farther number of days it has spent away from the ocean. Where does Japan get it fish? In Tokyo, the biggest and most well-known fish market is called Tsujiki and it is no laughing matter. The fish comes in fresh, the market opens up at 4am, even earlier than the first train, and it is just as busy as New York City is on Times Square during New Years Eve. People are driving around in small trailers, others are getting orders on the phone from restaurants throughout Tokyo and the entire country itself, still others are at the tuna auction which is serious business. Whenever my family would have visitors in the U.S., the day after they arrived we would take them to the fish market, and one main reason was because of jet lag at 5am Japan time, it would be about 3pm in the U.S. So they were wide awake and ready to start touring. Here are a few photos from Tsujiki. 

This is an aerial shot of Tsujiki, and right next to a river very convenient for boats to come in and unload their catch

This is the tuna auction, wholesalers bid on a fish

They are moved by cart

To be cut by huge bandsaw because they are frozen solid

When they have melted then they are cut into smaller pieces for restaurants and sushi bars

Overview of a section of the market

The small trucks driven around Tsujiki, do not get in their way!

The last time my dad went to Tokyo, he tried to go to Tsujiki but found out that you can only visit the fish market by a tour guide now and those start well often Tsujiki has sold out for the day.

Japan does have quiet of a wide variety of foods. From sushi to ramen, a noodle soup that can vary from region to region. In fact, Japan across the country, food will vary from region to region, just like we do in the United States. In Japan, each region will use the foods that are most common in that particular part of the country. In the northern most island of Japan, called Sapporo, that region is popular with crab, other seafood, dairy products (typically dairy is not a common food group in Japan), produce especially melon, and of course beer you know Sapporo beer!

Some of my favorite foods of Japanese is a dish called katsu-don, which is basically a breaded pork cutlet that is fried then cooked in a fish broth with onions and eggs until the eggs are cooked and then dished out over a bowl of rice. There was one restaurant that I craved their katsu-don and I would eat there myself sometimes just because I loved it so much. When you see the words don at a restaurant in Japan, it means a rice bowl and the word in front of don describe what is on it, katsu is the word for pork cutlet.

Here is a photo of my favorite dish!

YUM!

Some of my other favorite dishes in Japan are tempura, deep-fried vegetables, fish or shrimp,

ramen and yakitori.

Tempura

Ramen, which varies region to region

Yakitori, which is grilled pieces of meat of chicken or beef and then grilled vegetable

For today's recipe instead of Tuesday Treats, I want to provide you with a easy, at home teriyaki sauce which is used in Japan. I don't like to buy teriyaki sauce from the store because usually it is high in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. This recipe is really really easy and you can feel better at serving this to your family because it is loaded up with sugar.

To make homemade teriyaki sauce you need 1/2 cup sake, which is Japanese rice wine, 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 1/2 cup of mirin, which is a sweet rice wine and can be found in the Asian section of a grocery store, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. In a pot, combine all the ingredients and simmer until greatly reduced, which should be thick enough to brush on chicken or vegetables and enjoy!

As you know most of my Tuesdays are filed with lovely baked goods known as Tuesday Treats. I can't leave you without some of Japanese desserts! Japan is not known for having many sweet treats like cakes or pies. What Japan has for desserts is called wagashi or confectionary that are often served with cake. Usually wagashi consists of mochi which is rice pounded together until it is sticky, and red beans called azuki in the center. These are what the beans look like and they are cooked and mashed until it is the consistency of refried beans.

Then taking a piece of mochi, the pounded rice it is pressed into all types of shapes and sizes and decorated very pretty. Some are decorated to look like different fruits, vegetables, animals or other items found in nature in Japan.
Here are a few samples of the wagashi!

Pressed into a lantern shape

Here is a flower, a permission, an apple and a rabbit

The azuki beans are quite popular as a sweet and the most common item found in any Japanese desserts. Thank you all for letting me share with you my experiences growing up in Japan, your sweet comments mean a lot to me and I will definitely be doing a post to answer the questions asked so far, please if any questions do pop into your head, ask away!