In Japan, we do not have a habit of taking home what we could not eat at a restaurant. Except for restaurants that assume take-outs such as fast foods, We are supposed to eat all in the restaurant. I do not know why but I heard from olden days.
Therefore, let’s order as much as you can eat on there.
Soba is also traditional Japanese noodle dish. It is made from buckwheat flour.
Soba has two main types of cooking methods. One is a hot type. It’s put Soba into hot soup, just like udon.
Another one is a cold type. We soak soba noodles in cold soup and eat it.
Soba is also a carbohydrate. However, because there are a lot of protein and dietary fiber which is considered a little healthy food than udon.
As you know, Japan is safe. In many places it is safe to walk alone by a woman at night, and we often see the sight going to school or going out alone for children around 10 years old. Even if you sit down on a train seat and sleep, you are OK in most cases.
Although the incidence of crime is relatively small, violent people, anti-social impulses and propensity are also in Japan. The other day, a young man arrested. He murdered 9 people in a short beriod.
Japan is peaceful, but please be careful not to overrepair even if you come to Japan.
There are many shops in Japan that sell all items at 100 yen (+ consumption tax). 100 yen is about 40 – 50 pesos.
Those shops sell for 100 yen even it is a worth expensive item. Since they suppress purchasing costs by purchasing in bulk. For example, this can opener is also 100 yen. It is cheaper than buying in the Philippines.
Also, packages that are more expensive, such as detergents, are sold at 100 yen by reducing the amount. Therefore most of daily necessities can be purchased at 100 yen shop.
There are inferior goods while it is cheap, but if you make good use of the 100 yen shop, you can suppress your daily expenses.
In addition, the largest store called “Daiso” sells with products of 200 yen or more not only 100 yen item. Therefore the product range is more abundant than the 100 yen uniform shop.
Microwave is called “Denshi Renji” in Japanese. “Denshi” is an electron in Japanese, and “Renji” is maybe a Range of English.
A Japanese who can not speak English does not understand what “microwave” is. Of course they can not understand “heat up” or “warm up”.
So when you buy something at the convinience store and you want warm it up, say “Atatamete kudasai” to the clerk. Or simply say “Chin”. “Chin” is the bell sound when the time up of the microwave. You can order by the short word.
There used to be a US military base in Subic and Clark at Luzon.
There are still many US military bases in Japan. Okinawa’s Kadena, Tokyo’s Yokota, Kanagawa’s Zama, Nagasaki’s Sasebo etc. This is a remnant of occupation after the Pacific War. But it is not necessarily humiliating. Because postwar Japan was able to concentrate on economic activities by outsourcing military power to the United States. By the other hand, The United States was able to continue the alliance relationship between the two countries while deterring Japanese reinforcement strengthening.
However, US soldiers cause serious incidents in Japan occasionally. Especially in Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawa was occupied by the United States until 1972 even after the war. And there are still many US military bases there. In Okinawa, traffic accidents and women violence by US soldiers are repeated. Of course most of the US soldiers are harmless, but the incident that had not happened without a US military base gives a bad impression.
Also, the overhead of Tokyo is under the control of Yokota Base, and the route that Japanese aircraft can fly is largely restricted.
However, if Japan asks for the withdrawal of the US military, Japan will be required to take self defense. Therefore Japan need to promote the SDF to military, and heavily armed them. Of course it costs huge costs. In addition, the conscription system may be inevitable. And when the war broke out they will be dispatched to the battlefield, since they are soldiers.
How to get along with US military bases is a painful issue.
The Japanese Constitution was created by the United States which occupied Japan after the Pacific War. The big feature is abandonment of war. The United States that received great damage in the battle with the Japanese army wanted that Japan had no great military force after the war. Therefore Japan can not invade other countries with force. However, Japan has the Self Defense Force (SDF) to protect the country from attacking by another country.
By the way, SDF of Japan is also required to cooperate for PKO in overseas conflict areas in recent years. However, their activities are restricted to digging wells for local residents, or supplementing supplies to allies, due to constraints of the Constitution.
Therefore, the SDF is not killing any persons in the battlefield as anyone until today.
When we eat Japanese noodles such as udon, soba, ramen, champon and yakisoba, it is normal to make sound ‘Zzzzoo’ while eating. Some foreigners think that it is uncomfortable, but since they are Japanese traditional style, there is no choice but to get used to it. Or avoid there.
When we put the noodles in our mouth, we will have a sharp mouth and breathe in with the air. Then that sound comes out. Actually, this is not exaggerated to eat it. This is a high technique, to relieve the heat of soups and noodles with air to prevent burns in the mouth. Some people make sounds even when they eat cold noodles.
However, it is manners not to make a sound when eating foreign noodles such as spaghetti also in Japan.
In a udon restaurant called “Sanuki Udon”, the method of ordering is different from the other udon restaurants.
In an ordinary udon restaurant, we order udon which is set with favorite ingredients such as tempura udon, kitsune udon etc. However, at the Sanuki Udon restaurant we can choose the ingredients of the topping separately from udon as much as you like.
The Sanuki Udon restaurant has an order counter that also serves as a kitchen. And, corner of ingredients, ordering / receiving section of udon, checkout cash register are made in order.
The order flow is below.
First of all, we take the ingredients we want to eat at the corner of the topping by ourselves.
Next, we order a kind of udon. Variations of udon are warm or cold, put raw egg on, etc.
When we receive udon, we go to the cashier and pay the total price.
We carry it to the vacant seat by ourselves and eat it.
There is a dish called Tsukimi udon. This is the one that puts the egg on the udon. We assume the egg yolks as the moon, and white matter as cloud.
Tsukimi udon is a favorite of Japanese people. But white matter does not harden by the temperature of the soup. If you don not like raw eggs, you may order another kind of udon.