Japanese Travellers vs Gaijin Travellers
One thing I learnt quickly was that my Japanese students weren’t interested in the same things in their country that I was. I’d like to see castles! Forests! People! Animals! World Heritage locations! Samurai! Geisha! Festivals!
My students though, seem to be interested in something else entirely when they travel around Japan.
“I’ll be travelling to Hiroshima soon. What do you recommend I do?”
“Ah! You must try their okonimiyaki! It’s like our okonomiyaki but it also has yakisoba noodles!” (okonomiyaki is a cabbage-based pancake that is a lot more delicious than it sounds)
“Ah, great, but how about the Peace Museum? And is there anything else famous to see there?”
“There is lots of good food from Hiroshima!”
“Great, ok, so I’ll have that for dinner. But what do I do before dinner?”
Food. The Japanese are obsessed with it. It seems every prefecture or city has a specialty that they’re famous for, and you can easily buy them at the train station or airport as omiyage (souvenirs) before you leave. There are many manga, anime and TV shows that focus on the specialty foods around Japan. Everyone has a favourite prefecture based on food, and will be very willing to tell you their home prefecture’s specialty.
So, feel free to ask for travel advice from the Japanese, but be prepared to get a lot of information about food. Their knowledge on actual touristy locations may not be that strong.
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July 8th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
I’d say that the same for me and probably most Asians. The fact is Americans do not care what about the taste of what they eat. This is not just a generalization, but goes down from “genetic engineered food” to the eating culture. Japan is probably the best place in the world for the freshest, most “wholesome” ingredients, not necessarily the greatest culinary practices. But if you can eat almost everything raw, that tells you something. Any good cook will tell you: ingredient, sauce, then the chef.
July 8th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
I should point out in my defence that I am an Australian, and we grow some of the best food in the world :)
To be honest, I’m having a hard time with the food here. I don’t like eating offal like cartilige, liver and meat that for some reason, has the fat marbled into it. I’ve been hankering for a good, thick slab of cleanly cut steak marinated with minced garlic for ages.
Put it down to cultural differnecs, I suppose. But living off okonomiyaki (the only Japanese food I love), the odd ramen and Pepper Lunch (a beef hot plate chain restaurant) is getting boring.
July 9th, 2006 at 8:09 am
There’s probably some genetics involved. “umami” does not really mean anything other than “MSG” to non-east Asians, but it’s the “king of taste” to Asians, pretty synonymous with “freshness” of the ingredient. Western cusines usually are “heavy” to the other 4 basic tastes to Asians.
I agree there’s some good food(ingredient) in Australia (beef, lamb, lobster, abalone).
BTW: marbled fat in beef is highly value because it gives the beef it’s tenderness. This is also how USDA(in the US) grades beef. With the most marbled fat rated “prime” reserved for top restaurants.