7pm in Tokyo - near Yurakucho looking for some dindins and come across
this place that does grilled Motsu or Motsuyaki.
Motsuyaki is grilled organs of animals - things like heart, liver,
stomach and intestines. Many people don't have a custom to each such things, and I am one of them. A plate of the assorted inner organs is for me a little too close to a biology lesson than it is a meal with friends. But that's not to say its not popular!
Wifey loves it but I don't have the stomach for it. Anybody a fan of
grilled organs?
The rainy season is just ending in Japan right now meaning that many house and
shop entrances across Japan are filled up with transparent
umbrellas.
And why transparent umbrellas? Mainly because most of them cost 100
yen and can usually be picked up from a convenience store. Folks
caught out in the rain would go and pick one up for temporary use and
leave it for others to use later.
By Danny Choo
You are in Japan and are trying to
save as much money as possible to spend in Akihabara. You already are saving by
spending only 3,000 yen per night at cheap accommodation but you also need to
save on eating too - what do you do?
Well you can get yourself along to a
super market where you normally come across something called "Shishoku
Corner" (試食コーナー) - its usually a table set up with samples of food for you to try
out. Some of the Shishoku Corners are filled with everything from freshly
cooked sausages (like the ones in this picture) to sushi, sashimi, Gyoza (fried
dumplings) etc. You can seriously go in and walk out with a full stomach.
Back in the UK, I never saw free food at supermarkets - only the free food that people walkout with without paying for..
By Danny Choo
Just got back from dinner and this is
some of what we had. After living in the UK for most of my life, arriving in
Japan to be presented with sea urchin on rice didn't appeal to me.
While the red Ikura (salmon roe)
tastes good, the light brownish goop-on-rice looking stuff (Uni - Sea Urchin)
doesn't really have any taste so I stay away.
Todays topic is not about Sushi
however and is about a subject that we were taking about over dinner. One of
the annoying things that I enjoyed (not) when living in Seattle for 5 months -
tipping.
I don't mind tipping - I just don't
want to spend time to work out the amount to leave. The tip should probably be
included in the bill to save everybody time.
Because of the tipping system, I
found some of the waiters in the US to be creepy. Many waiters would use the
"greet-you-with-hand-on-your-shoulder" technique to try and build a
relationship with you or throw a joke at the beginning. While some of them are
genuinely nice, some would look like a bad actor.
In the UK, if one pound in change was
due back to me after a meal, the restaurant would make sure its 5 x 20pence
instead of a pound coin.
Good thing that there is no tipping
requirement in Japan, nor is tipping expected despite the usually excellent
service. I remember my first trip to Japan in McDonalds - the cute girl at the
till was so nice to me that I got all excited "She likes me!" but
then I looked back to find that she gave the next customer the same warm
friendly treatment... Was my first heart break.
When I relocated to Japan, I tried to
give a taxi driver a tip and he wouldn't accept it. Leaving a tip on the table
at a restaurant would just have a waiter running out after you with your money.
Wondering if there is anywhere else in the world which doesn't have a
tipping requirement?
Kevin Cooney is a long time Tokyo resident. He makes regular appearances on TV as a reporter. He has his own popular internet video series. He performs stand-up comedy regularly in clubs around Tokyo. In his free time he is an avid chef, and hiker.
Claytonian lives in the countryside of Japan. A very different lifestyle to the hustle and hum of urban centers like Tokyo. He takes a look at some of the traditions and settings that make Japan a unique place to live.
Raised in Japan, Anna wears many hats: voice artist, international business consultant, life coach, mother. But the hats are nothing compared to the shoes! See Japan through her eyes, a working mother in Tokyo.
Martin Faynot a.k.a. Marutan is a french illustrator living in Tokyo since 2002. He has published many illustrated books and his passion for Tokyo keeps him always on a quest to discover and observe how the city evolves. Tokyo as seen from behind his sketch pad.
Emily is a young singer, songwriter just breaking onto the Japanese music scene. Mostly self-taught, she became fluent in Japanese and moved to Tokyo at only 18. Following her musical dream, she has already made a name for herself in Japanese entertainment. She shares in this blog her life experiences in Tokyo and a first hand look at someone already becoming "Big in Japan."
Danny registers over two million unique users a month on his very own website and is an expert on his biggest passion: Japanese figurines. In this new Japan themed blog is all the latest from the world of Akiba-culture and society at large.
