Japan Food Diary

Olive and Fuji Apple

One of the highlights of our trip to Japan in 2011 was the food experiences. Actually our love of international food and especially Japanese food was one of the main reasons we chose to go there.

We had a wonderful culinary experience. Start reading the Japan Food Diary from the First Day.

General Stuff

Drinks

• There are drink vending machines on every street corner, containing anything from water, soft drinks, iced green tea, coffee black or white in a can, even beer and cigarettes. The most unusual is the beer served in vending machines. There was one at each of the hostels we stayed at.
• Normal liquid milk is fairly easy to find in shops, although there is no English on it, just different coloured boxes, so it is a guess as to what you are buying, low fat, full cream?
• You can also buy 'milk tea' in a carton like iced coffee. Normal tea drinking is Japanese green tea with no milk, often served cold in warmer weather.
• As is usual the custom, a serving of Japanese tea is often provided with meals.
• Different types of sugar for sweetening hot drinks, rock sugar which melted quite quickly, liquid glucose in a tub sachet, and normal stick packet sugar granules.
• At one place the water came with a lemon squeeze in a packet.

Foods

• Everything is packaged in small portions from kiosks to mini-marts, even in supermarkets. Restaurants also usually have small serves, unless indicated on the menu.
• Finding cereal was no easy task, there is not much available. We managed to find a few over the two weeks, but the most popular was Kellogs Frosties, or cheaper alternatives. They love their sweet stuff here. Other options included chocolate loops, nutrigrain type with Pooh bear character mini biscuits. The most interesting was a rice puff cluster cereal with dried fruit.
• Yoghurt is readily available, some great flavours like fig, as well as the standards of strawberry and other berry. Again not sure if it is low fat or not, but some tasted artificially flavoured.
• Minimal vegetables with meals, either small amounts (onion/cabbage) or none
• Plastic food models are popular for display

Supermarket food

• Lots of seafood –fresh, dried, smoked, other
  
• Heaps of prepackaged foods, or cooked ready to warm up or uncooked ready to prepare at home.
  
• Meat offal and innards often the same price or more expensive than the meat itself
  
• So many varieties of noodles, fresh and dried, soy sauce
  
• Mini TV screens with advertising
  
• "milk tea " in 500ml milk carton package.
  
• Massive apples and pineapples.
• Lots of different types of rice crackers

Related Pages

• Our Japan Travel Diary
• More Food Diaries
• Read more of our Travel Diaries