Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [57]
For some ways to express your dietary preferences to restaurant staff, see Useful Words & Phrases.
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EATING WITH KIDS
Travelling with children in Japan is easy, as long as you come with the right attitudes, equipment and the usual parental patience. There’s such a variety of food on offer that even the most particular eaters can find something to their liking, and if noodles and rice begin to pale there are always Japanese fast-food chains in almost every city, with options including soup, pizza, sandwiches and burgers. At most budget restaurants during the day, you can find ‘okosama-ranchi’ (children’s special), which is often Western style and actually rather good, though its minihamburgers and wiener sausages won’t appeal to non-meat-eaters.
The Useful Words & Phrases section Click here contains a few phrases that will come in handy when dining out with children in tow.
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The Insider’s Guide to Sake (Philip Harper) offers a fine introduction to sake, including information on how to choose a good sake and the history of the drink.
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HABITS & CUSTOMS
Japanese people generally eat breakfast at home, where a few slices of bread and a cup of coffee are quickly taking over from the traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, fish and misoshuri as the breakfast of choice. If they don’t eat at home, a mōningu setto of toast and coffee at a coffee shop is the norm.
Lunch is often eaten at a shokudō or a noodle restaurant, usually in the company of coworkers, but alone if a partner can’t be found.
Evening meals can be a mixed bag in Japan. Many people, of course, eat at home, but the stereotype of the salaryman heading out for drinks and dinner every evening after work with his workmates has some basis in fact.
Weekends are when almost everyone, if they can afford it, heads out for dinner with friends and family, and at this time many eateries are packed with groups of people eating, drinking, conversing and generally having a ball.
Mealtimes are pretty much the same as in many parts of the West: breakfast is eaten between 6am and 8am, lunch is eaten between noon and 2pm, and dinner is eaten between 7pm and 9pm.
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COOKING COURSES
If you enjoy the food in Japan, why not deepen your appreciation of Japanese cuisine by taking a cooking class? There are good cooking courses available in both Tokyo and Kyoto, and these companies can also arrange market tours:
A Taste of Culture (03-5716-5751; www.tasteofculture.com; courses from ¥5500) Offers cooking courses, and can create custom courses. For more, Click here.
Uzuki (www.kyotouzuki.com; 3hr class per person ¥3500) Learn how to cook typical Japanese dishes in a Kyoto home. You can request specific dishes, including Japanese sweets. Reserve via website. For more information, Click here.
WAK Japan (075-212-9993; www.wakjapan.com; 412-506 Iseya-chō, Kamigyō-ku, Kyoto) Offers cooking courses, and can create courses to suit special interests. For more, Click here.
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USEFUL WORDS & PHRASES
Eating Out
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JAPANESE TEA CULTURE Morgan Pitelka, PhD
Tea came to Japan from China as part of a cultural package that included kanji and Buddhism, but the beverage did not become popular until the medieval period. Buddhist monks drank tea for its medicinal and stimulatory properties, a practice that gradually spread to warrior society and then to commoners. By the 16th century, elite urban commoners such as the merchant