Japanese Cuisine About

As in most countries, Japanese Cuisine can be broken up into regional and national dishes. Although many dishes have been around for centuries, the growing influence of western society has had some impact on the foods now found in many homes and restaurants in Japan.

Typical Japanese Cuisine features ingredients such as noodles, eggs, soy products (including tofu), various fish, (the Japanese use a lot of fish), short or medium grain white rice, mochi rice, fruits (some of which people in the west have probably never even heard of), and meat and poultry. In Japanese Cuisine it is not unusual to see horse meat on a menu. For example, raw horse meat in a meal served in thin slices dipped in soy sauce, and with onions and ginger is called basashi. This dish is favored in the regions of Nagano and Tohoku. Barbecued horse meat – bagushi – is also eaten in many parts of Japan.

Japan is also heavily involved in whaling, which remains controversial. Just like the eating of horse meat, eating whales or dolphins in a number of countries is a taboo. Japanese claims that their killing whales to conduct scientific studies tends to land on deaf ears among anti-whaling groups, who see Japan’s whaling industry as a major threat to the future of some kinds of whale. The continuing argument serves to illustrate the gap between cultures in our modern societies.

When eating out, you will find that restaurants often focus on just one type of Japanese cuisine. Among the more popular are Sushi-ya, and the Kaiten-zushi, both of which as the name implies serve sushi-style dishes.

Soba-ya specialize in noodle based dishes; Tonkatsu-ya serve deep fried breaded pork cutlets; Yakitori-ya specialize in yakitori, grilled chicken skewers; and Ramen-ya specialize in ramen dishes, which consist of Chinese style noodles served in a soup with various toppings. Ramen is a very popular street food, and can usually be found anywhere you go in Japan.

There are of course restaurants which cater to most tastes. “Family restaurants” offer a variety of Japanese Cuisine and western style dishes. And if you think you can get away from McDonalds, think again, you’ll find them in most of the major cities in Japan.