In Search of Pokemon: Kym, Keagan, and Seamus in Japan

I'm picky. Very picky. You know the criticism of "The Great American White Diet"? Yeah, that's me. If I didn't adore dark and milk chocolate there'd be no other colors in my diet.

So, I'll share some of my personal picks and pans. And some foods that could inspire a hunger strike.

This is a specialty of Olaf's. They mix eggs and (gak) cabbage, toss on a piece of pork, some barbecue-ish sauce, and top it with dried tuna flakes. And as the flakes absorb the steam from the rest of the dish, the tuna basically flops around as though the tuna returned as a zombie. Seamus and Keagan loved it! Amy scrambled some eggs for me. Plain. Bless her!

Shinkansen cookie (bullet train). Tasted like flour with a peanut butter-ish center.

Grocery store. Fish product of some sort.

Squid.

I think we caught these at Burnt Island in 2008. And released them.

Fish heads fish heads roly poly fish heads...

Are these elvers from Maine? The Japanese can have them. Great export for us. We don't need to eat THAT.

There is a big French influence in Japan. They have far more crepe places than the US. And they're delicious.

FYI: Seamus doesn't smile for pictures right now. It's his thing.

Strawberry and custard crepe. If I was Rachel Ray I'd say delish. I'd also talk about EVOO. But I'm not. So I'll say every crepe I ate was deliCIOUS.

I love crepes so much that I might marry one.

Here is a lunch we are after the Pokemon Center. We had a challenge understanding the menu. We had split up because some really wanted curry, while others wanted noodles.

This is Bryn's. Salmon rice. She said it was ok until it was determined to be salmon. The soba noodles were cold. We were hoping for yakisoba.

We got her to try wasabi. That was amusing.

Mine. Cold noodles with seaweed and ??? on top. I picked the top stuff off, but cold noodles must be an acquired taste. The fluid on the side smelled sketchy.

Seamus' ramen. He pulled out the seaweed and skipped on the daikon, but was fine otherwise.

Olaf's. He seemed to enjoy the tempura veggies over rice. However, there was a rather large clump of fish skeleton in his soup.

Havi's was similar. She passed on fish carcass soup. I don't remember what was on the small plate.

A variety of rice balls and the like at a convenience store.

Ready to eat meals at a convenience store.

Cold Stone Creamery after Skytree. Seamus ordered an ice chocolate. It was literally ice, water, and Hershey's syrup. We went back and got him a real ice cream.

Bryn: Kym, what is this?

Me: I have no idea whatsoever.

Kai: It's a frozen hard boiled egg.

(No one bought it.)

7-11 is everywhere in Japan. And they sell lots of sushi. "I'll have deodorant, cat food, socks, and sushi, please"

Vending machines are everywhere. On the streets, in public buildings, etc. Vending machines are much more common that trash and recycling cans. You're always just 150 yen from a cold drink.

Ice cream vending machines make up about 20% of vending machines. So it is very plentiful.

Pocky is the equivalent of our Oreos. Bit it comes in even more flavors. It's like a very thin biscuit stick.

There were two convenience stores near the house. It was fun for us to go with Havi and Kai later at night and have them translate what various items were. It became an evening activity for the kids to try different foods, especially candy.

This is a green tea bread with soybeans.

Yakisoba "dog".

Chocolate bread. Many of the Japanese sweets are lacking in sugar, tending toward the floury tasting side.

Hash brown chips. Sorta. Seamus tried a lot of potato product and found it to be too salty. If you think Americans have a lot of excess salt in their diets you should see the Japanese. I didn't see and "we use no MSG" signs.

But then again the signs might have been there. I can't read kanji (Japanese character writing).

Bubble gum with Pikachu!

Random proteins on a stick. Mostly in the seafood category.

Seamus' favorite chocolate candy.

This must be more hyper-salted potato product. Seamus rejected it.

More salty French fry chips sort of thing.

Ice cream cones are sold in freezer cases everywhere.

This is the container they come in.

They also had ice cream called "Coolish". It came in a square collapsible package that you squeezed out like toothpaste.

This is fairly common. You pick out your meal by number and get a ticket. Is it all written in Japanese? You betcha. That's why Kai is helping Seamus.

They have examples of the food almost everywhere, either in a plastic reproduction (gak), or photos with the number, like the meals atMcDonald's.

Then you take the ticket to the counter and you get your meal.

I'm sure it's great if you're fluent in both Japanese kanji (characters) and culture so you know what in the world you're eating.

I was hoping for warm but not ramen noodles. I have a texture preference for NOT soup. I ate around the green glob and wasabi paste to have rice. I pulled out the green stuff (seaweed and more unidentifable glop) and drained some broth off from the noodles.

Keagan loves curry and is more confident than me in eating chicken.

Seamus likes his ramen with a big hash brown on top.

We're all pretty adept with chopsticks now.

Two more things about eating in Japan.

They don't use napkins, but they might give you a hot, wet washcloth, a packages wet nap that's larger, wetter, and less chemical-y than a wet nap, or there will be a small sink to wash with.

However, you are expected to always carry a dry washcloth or finger towel. The bathrooms don't typically have paper towels, but a few have blow hand dryers.

Also, food is served as it is ready. You are expected to eat as your food arrives, not wait for everyone to have their food before beginning to eat. These small social mores make it awkward when you feel obligated to observe both cultures because you're eating WITH Americans in Japan.

On our last night, we ate at one of the Ellers' favorite restaurants.

Look what's "in season"!