All u can eat fabulousness.

Who would have guessed the success and abundancy of "all you can eat" restaurants in a country full of nearly anorexic looking people?

Today, my group took me to an All-you-can-eat-and-drink Chinese restaurant in Toyota City for my welcome party. I felt as ease as I let people order dish after dish for me, without me having to struggle with whether I can read the menu or not (a source of major stress!).

Each dish that came out was delicious on it's own, but I think my fav was the simple greens sautéd in some light sauce and IMMERSED in garlic. Unfortunately I ate it up too quickly, and the only photo I have is of these dishes:

The best part? You get charged if you dont eat everything that you ordered! So, a handful of the guys took a little walk to boost their appetite mid-meal, and came back to attempt finishing the food we had.

To pee or not to pee...

Attempt #1: Both stalls occupied.
Attempt #2: Western toilet occupied.

Should I try?? Should I wait??

What would YOU have done if you walked into a stall that looked like this?

Yup, me too. That's why my neighbor here on the train must think I have Tourettes as I'm sitting here, legs crossed and twitching...

But of course, that didn't stop me from taking a lil' break and getting lured by the smells of fresh-made taiyaki at one of the (many!) train changes I have. 

Traditional Japanese fish-shaped cake filled with sweet azuki paste :)

The beginnings of restaurant reviews...

After receiving the FABULOUS news the other day of the upcoming (ok fine, not upcoming, I'm talking Thanksgiving here) visit from K-Jo and the (ex)-roomie, I realized I needed to step up the restaurant investigation.  My goal is to have a top-restaurant list, of both Nagoya and specifically around my area, for them by the time they arrive.  So, here's a few of my first finds:

Din Tai Fung:  I know I shouldn't repeat restaurants with the limited time I have here, but Din Tai Fung is worth being a repeat offender.  We tried this place first during our house hunting trip due to convenience (its located in Nagoya station, where our hotel was), and I couldn't stop talking about it since.  In 1993, the New York Times ranked this Taiwanese restaurant as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world, yes WORLD.  Now granted its been 17 years since then, but good things rarely change...

I've had dreams of their shoronpou (soup dumplings)...

Dekitateno Roll Cake:  I think the hubs may think part of the reason why I chose the house we're living in right now was for the proximity to this place.  A store dedicated to just one single product?  It *must* be good!

We *finally* had the opportunity to make our way to the store the other day to purchase our very first roll cake - Green tea roll cake, to be exact.  As we made our 0.1 mile walk home, I was full of anticipation, and maybe some drooling was involved too.  The roll cake did NOT disappoint.  They got it down perfectly - the fluffy green tea infused cake portion was made to just right in the moistness and sweetness, and the cream was on par - as if it were literally just made :)  I was in heaven!

Kaoru:  A 0.1 mile the other direction from our place is where we found this organic restaurant.  Ok fine, I can't take the credit for finding this gem.  Our coworker had befriended the owner and recommended this place to us.  Its a mixture of traditional Japanese food w/ a home cooked feel.  Since I'm still learning the ways of ordering traditional Japanese food (lots of little dishes, almost like tapas, to begin with), I chickened out and went w/ their "daily special" - grilled mackerel w/ miso, rice, and traditional sides.   All was great, and for those who love sho-chu, they had an amazing selection of homemade sho-chu.  And randomly, a good selection of Belgian beer too, I might add!  I was a little nervous w/ the whole eating situation, so I was only able to get a snapshot of the restaurant name w/ my iPhone, whoopsie:

And today, since it was "leave work early" day, we got home just before 8pm, the earliest yet!  So we decided to venture on over to our neighborhood bar/restaurant, Homare, instead of our usual convenient store pre-packaged dinners.  What.

We started off w/ an order of pieces of just-raw-enough beef w/ a sweet almost teriyaki-like sauce drizzled on top.  With the mixed greenery atop each piece of meat, each bite was a perfect combo of sweet and bitter.  Next, we were served tender, juicy chicken pieces which were covered with daikon and yuzu, two Japanese vege/fruit getting a lot of attention recently in the States, and definitely two of my fav "toppings!"     And finally, we wrapped up our dinner w/ a fried rice dish - w/ bacon and filled w/ vegetables, oh my! 

Although the above dishes were quite good, my fav was definitely the dessert - house made Japanese pudding (if you havent had Japan's version of pudding before, you're missing out!), topped w/ a scoop of green tea ice cream, then drizzled w/ some black honey.  Come to mama!!

To be continued...

No love for the mobile...

No cell phones with cameras at work? I understand.
No talking on cell phones while driving? Sure.
No talking on cell phones on public transportation? I guess.
No talking on cell phones while WALKING?? Come on now!!

I didn't even consider what I was doing as breaking the rules, so of course it took the security guard yelling "Excuse me!" at least 3 times before he got my attention. And then when he explained what I was doing wrong, I couldn't help but question him.

So, I did what any fine American born-and-raised girl would do - glared at him, mumbled a barely audible "fine," and stormed off.

"Lunch" has a whole new meaning...

Our final half day of orientation ended with a tutorial on how to use the cafeteria, yes cafeteria. I now work for a company who's so efficient, that even the task of getting oneself food is a task in itself. All the dishes have chips on the bottom which tell the checkout computer not only how much, but how many calories you ate. And the checkout process is incredibly assembly-line-esque. Put tray on sensor, swipe badge (automatically amt from paycheck), put away chopsticks, and place tray on conveyor. The end.

The whole process was incredible. Herds and herds of people come into the cafeteria the minute it strikes noon. People dash to get their food, then dash to eat it, the dash to get the f outta there. To do what? Not sure, but I can tell I have never experienced that stressful of a lunch, that's for sure. And that was with the hubs there calming me down. I can't imagine what tomorrow will be like on my own in my area's cafeteria...

You were hoping for a pic? You and me both. Unfortunately, I had to part with my iPhone at the entrance, where I let it sleep in a nice cozy "mobile phone locker" all day. Ah well, let your imagination run wild :)

This is Yuko, signing off from the subway, on my 1hr 45min commute home...

Happy 4th of July!

I decided to celebrate the independence of my home country today by attempting a "long run" this morning. Last time I made it only 4 train stations, so today's goal was simply further than that, depending on how my body would handle the heat/humidity.

Perhaps it was the overcast skies, or simply the fact that I was going uber slow, either way I made it an additional 3 stations, right into downtown - just over 7 miles roundtrip. My first decent run in a looong time, and after standing in front of my A/C unit (that's right, we don't have the oh-so-luxurious central air) for about 15 minutes, it felt gooooood to have taken the first step in getting back into shape :)

After watching the Sapporo International Half Marathon and the Paraguay vs Spain match on tv (I know, since when did I start watching sporting events out of my own free will?  I don't even know myself!), we headed to a local 4th of July BBQ full of brisket and pork shoulder, oh my!

Didn't think I'd get me some brisket this good in Japan!

On top of that, I even got a dose of doggie time too!

Meet Maverick!  He's no Kobi or Gymmy, but he'll do for tonight!

Turning into a...city girl??

A full week (and a full 5 lbs heavier, in case you were wondering!) in Japan and I *finally* ventured out solo today.  I surprised even myself how dependent I had become, in my own motherland too.  I blame it on my lack of sense of direction, and living in a city definitely doesn't help it!

I'd seen all these advertisements for a huge sale this weekend, so my first solo trip was a quick subway ride to Nagoya station's Takashimaya.  I was NOT prepared for the crazy crowds and mass chaos.  But most of all, I was not prepared for what are infamously known as "obachans" - old, extremely pushy ladies.  These creatures would sneak right in front of you out of turn, using their small stature to their advantage.  In a country known for politeness, I think these women should be banned from public shopping and my experience would have been much much better.

So what product, you may wonder, got my lazy bum out of the house and head downtown?  Handkerchiefs, otherwise known as sweat wipes in this country, of course.

Toodles from the land of the hot 'n humid.