Contents:
Brazilians in Japan. Brits in Japan. Bulgarians in Japan. Canadians in Japan. Chinese in Japan. Colombians in Japan.
Czechs in Japan. Danes in Japan. Dutch in Japan. Filipinos in Japan. Finns in Japan. French in Japan. Germans in Japan. Greeks in Japan.
Hungarians in Japan. Indians in Japan. Iranians in Japan.
Irish in Japan. Israelis in Japan. Italians in Japan. Lebanese in Japan. Malaysians in Japan. Mexicans in Japan.
New Zealanders in Japan. Norwegians in Japan. Peruvians in Japan. Poles in Japan. Portuguese in Japan. Romanians in Japan. Russians in Japan. Saudis in Japan. Serbs in Japan. South Africans in Japan. The dish's ingredients can include meat or seafood, hearty vegetables like cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots, as well as items like fish cakes, konjac, or tofu. When cooking nabe at home, many households use a portable gas stove to keep it warm at the table, where people typically share the dish straight from the pot.
Some popular nabemono include sukiyaki, which is made with thinly sliced beef and ingredients like vegetables and tofu that are cooked together in a lightly sweetened soup made of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin sweet rice cooking wine. The ingredients are then dipped in a dipping sauce made of beaten eggs before eating.
Shabu-shabu is another popular dish that involves quickly cooking paper thin slices of meat in a hot pot, then eating with a dipping sauce like ponzu citrus and soy sauce or sesame sauce.
Yakiimo: Baked sweet potato. Where I live, the sound of the sweet potato truck signals the official start of the cold season for me. Just like ice cream trucks in other parts of the world, street vendors in Japan play a distinctive song from their trucks as they drive around neighborhoods selling hot, stone-baked sweet potatoes called ishi yakiimo. These sweet potatoes are a little different to the orange-fleshed variety you often see in other parts of the world.
With a purple skin and golden, slightly creamy flesh, the texture of Japanese yakiimo is sweet and delicious on its own without any additional toppings. You'll often spot these trucks parked around sightseeing spots around Japan, so keep your eye and ears peeled for them. They're a nutritious snack, and when served in a paper bag, they have the added bonus of warming up your hands as well. You can also buy them pre-cooked at many supermarkets: look for them cooking on stones in ovens or grills in the produce section.
Oden is a quintessential winter dish in Japan. This type of stewed dish is made by slow-cooking ingredients like eggs, daikon radish, tofu, and fishcakes a broth made with soy sauce and dashi stock.
People fortunate enough to find a longer-term position at a university can find the strict hierarchy stifling and difficult to climb. At self-service stands you either pay before refueling your car or after you have finished. American magazine Fast Company claims that if asked, almost no one will confess using them. Resident card. For a classic bar, with no frills, that has been a favorite of a number of famous Japanese writers and artists over the years, checkout Paris. Like many other Japanese dating apps, Omiai works with your Facebook account, making signing up safer and easier and to reduce scamming.
A Japanese type of mustard called karashi is often served with oden: the spiciness of this condiment really pairs well with the mellow flavor lent by the broth. Oden is typically considered a winter food, but you'll find it year round at certain izakaya pubs, food carts, and restaurants. If you've ever come to Japan in the cooler months, you'll also likely spot self-serve trays of oden for sale at the counter of most convenience stores, too.
Mochi is a type of rice cake that has a special place in Japanese culture during the New Year period, where it has been a part of New Years celebrations since at least the Heian period - It is traditionally made by pounding steamed rice with wooden mallets in a large mortar called an usu, which can be up to a meter high and often made from a hollowed tree trunk or stone.
Teams of two or more use this usu and mallet to pound and knead the rice until it forms a shiny, elastic texture. Mochi itself is delicious simply grilled and eaten with soy sauce, but other uses include savory dishes like the traditional New Year's soup called zoni, or filled with red bean paste to create a sweet called daifuku. Mochi is also commonly used as a Shinto New Year's decoration called kagami mochi, which is usually displayed through the holiday season and eaten on the second weekend of January 11th.
In my home country of Australia, we tend to associate seafood like oysters with the warmer months, but Pacific oysters are in season in the winter in Japan. In Japan, oysters can be eaten raw with vinegar or other acidic condiments, as well as added to winter hot pots, steamed, or made into a mixed rice dish called takikomi gohan.
Breaded and deep-fried oyster dish called oyster fry is also very popular as a winter dish all throughout Japan. If you're visiting an oyster-catching region of Japan like Hiroshima or Fukuoka, consider visiting a kakigoya, or "oyster hut". In the winter oyster season, you can buy freshly caught oysters by the kilo, often directly from local fishers, then grill them in-shell yourself over a barbeque. While you may need to get a little off the beaten track to find these seaside huts, oyster lovers should definitely try seeking the experience out.
While Christmas in Japan is not as important a holiday as it is in the West, there's still plenty of festive atmosphere here. One essential part of Christmas in Japan is Christmas cake. Japanese-style Christmas cake is typically a sponge cake made with cream and strawberries, a style that was said to have been first popularized by the Japanese confectioner Fujiya in Today, these cakes are so ubiquitous here, I've had Japanese friends who were shocked to hear these aren't also traditional in the West.
Other flavors and styles of Christmas cakes are available, but they're without fail festive and gorgeous to look at. In fact, I think there are plenty of people in the West who would happily substitute these for the more traditional fruit cake. Families in Japan often reserve a Christmas cake in advance, but if you're in Japan and want to try it for yourself, you can usually find slices or smaller cakes in bakeries and convenience stores around the holidays.
Another holiday food tradition that's easy to enjoy while you're traveling is New Years soba. These buckwheat noodles are commonly eaten on New Years Eve, and are traditionally associated with fresh starts and good luck for the coming year. Soba noodles can be eaten hot or cold, but in the winter, I highly recommend a warm bowl to ring in the new year! Seasonal Fruits.
The Japanese government is encouraging redevelopment of Yokohama and foreign companies are establishing head offices here. Historically, foreigners occupied a district of the city called Kannai. For its part, Kannai nowadays is more famous for its beautiful Yamashita Park, European-style architecture, up-market hotels and restaurants and world-class shopping.
This city exists in contrast to Tokyo, with cobblestone streets, tree-lined boulevards, and many parks. The pace of life is less hectic than in Tokyo, rents are lower, and the city is quite international in outlook. What is special or unique about your city? Yokohama was one of the five earliest ports opened to the West in , and retains an historical port city atmosphere with summer jazz and circus street performance festivals, new shopping malls and a large China town. While the central port area is compact, the municipal area is large, extending north and west.
What are a newcomer's first impressions of your city? Newcomers remark on how green and spacious Yokohama is, but they also comment on the convenience in the central area, including the public transportation. Politeness and friendliness of the people is also noted. Language issues especially in written communication can be a challenge for an expat in Yokohama. Are these impressions likely to change?