A Geek in Japan: Discovering the Land of Manga, Anime, Zen, and the Tea Ceremony by Hector Garcia

Author:Hector Garcia [Garcia, Hector]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781462906291
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Published: 2012-04-16T04:00:00+00:00

THE DELIGHTS OF JAPANESE CUISINE

The Japanese are authentic gourmets. They are very demanding about food, and when they travel they always think more about tasting some local dish than visiting monuments or museums. Japanese travel guides look more like a catalog of restaurants than anything else.

On Japanese television, there are lots of programs that just show people eating while they talk about how good or bad everything is. In other words, these are food shows about eating food, not preparing it. Even on programs that have nothing to do with food, the characters may suddenly go into a restaurant and sit down to eat. And when a restaurant appears on a television show, it garners a great deal of prestige. There are also many books, guides, and magazines on food and dining. Some books go into such detail, they only focus on a small district in some large Japanese city, analyzing each and every one of its restaurants.

Around the world, sushi is Japan’s most famous dish. But, as with all things “typical,” people tend to think that’s the only thing Japanese eat, just as they think Spanish people eat paella every day. If you travel to Japan, try sampling a bit of every sort of food and don’t be too intimidated to go into any restaurant you come across. The less well promoted are usually the best, but we travelers, not being in the know, tend to be timid and opt for safe bets.

Tokyo is the city with the biggest accumulation of Michelin stars, and it’s widely considered the city with the best restaurants in the world. Japan also has the most restaurants per capita in the world.

In Japan, people eat out a lot, and dining out is rather inexpensive. In America as in Europe, shopping at a supermarket and preparing dinner at home can be much more economical than dining at a decent restaurant with average prices, whereas in Japan there isn’t such a big difference. Products in supermarkets are slightly more expensive than in other countries, but the food in restaurants is cheaper. As a consequence, many people, especially in large cities, almost always end up eating out. So too, restaurants work well, and their numbers keeps increasing. However, the profit margins in this kind of business tend to be a lot smaller than in other countries.

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