I'm Guessing Surprise is Somewhere in the Name“

“This is not ketchup.”

I think it was the instinctual and absolute certainty in my voice as I made this pronouncement that made Stewart and Nobie almost hysterical with laughter.

I was eating what Nobie described to me as fish sausage with vegetables and Stewart offered me some of this red sauce that came in a jelly jar. I asked him what it was and it was his response that prompted such a knee jerk reaction from me. Embarrassed, I immediately apologized and tried the sauce that was indeed ketchup. I kept catching myself looking uncomfortably at the jar for the rest of the meal, though, and to be honest, I still feel a bit itchy thinking about it.

Ketchup does not come in a short, squat glass jar. Ketchup comes in big plastic squeezable containers or small tear-able packets. If I’m at Granite City, it comes in tall glass containers. Ketchup does not come in a short, squat glass jar.

And such is my biggest food dilemma in Japan. The packaging never seems to match the product. Perhaps it is simply an American thing, but I have an expectation of something before I taste it. This expectation is created by the look of it – the color, the texture – and by what I’m told it is. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll try things without knowing what they are, but sometimes I think I know what it is and what to expect and when it doesn’t match my expectations, I’m completely thrown.

Now, apparently this is not something that would occur to a Japanese person. Many foods here are prepared into a paste or ground beyond recognition. In fact, from my limited experience and from what Stewart has told me, even Japanese people often don’t know exactly what are eating or getting ready to eat. He said some of the liveliest conversations he’s witnessed have been prompted by his question of what food they are eating. Frankly, I don’t understand it. I want to know what I’m eating.

One exception from this rule is squid on a stick. We went to the cherry blossom festival at the Kumamoto Castle a few nights ago and like many American festivals, there were a lot of food stands. And one of the popular food items available at these festivals is squid on a stick. Now, I’m up for just about anything and if it looked any different, I wouldn’t have had a problem trying it. But, it looked like squid on a stick. No thanks, I’m good.

But remember, that’s the exception.

Another problem in identifying food is the abundance of fried foods. I was shocked to see this, but it's everywhere. When I questioned Stewart and Nobie about this, they said that that is the mark of the Westernization of food that has occurred in the last twenty or so years. Japanese think they have all kinds of Western food. They even have a word for it: yoshoku. This is not Western food by any of your or my standards, though. They take hamburger, wrap it around cheese, bread it, fry it and call it a hamburger. I say no. Fried pumpkin puree (yum), fried crab soup – looks like a crab cake, is not a crab cake (odd, but yum), fried ham and egg (alright), and fried fish sausage (a little goes a long way) are fairly common items at bento box stores – kind of fast food cafeteria places that are all over Japan. This is not American. It is not Western. It is Japanized Western. It is yoshoku.

Perhaps the main difference I have noticed between a Japanese and an American restaurant is in the drink situation. Where American restaurants serve large 16-20 oz. glasses of water, soda, or tea: and always keep them refilled; Japanese restaurants serve small 10 oz. tumblers and charge for refills. The only drink you can have unlimited refills is tea – usually green tea, which is served in a big pitcher at the table and you refill yourself. Japanese just don’t drink as much when they eat as Americans. Why is that? I don’t know.

I’ve had a lot of good food recently, but I won’t bore you with a detailed report. The highlights have been a chicken, potato, and vegetable curry that Nobi made a few nights ago that was indescribably good, and some yakitori we had at a food stand at the Kumamoto Castle cherry blossom festival. Yakitori is basically grilled meat - usually chicken, pork, or beef - or vegetables on a stick. I cannot begin to tell you how good it was. I’m getting the vapors just thinking about it.

I’ll have some pictures posted on Flickr.com in the next coming days. And coming soon, hundreds of thousands of Japanese and one American enjoy the cherry blossom season in Kumamoto.

- Jenny