Settling in

31 August 2009

It’s been a month since I arrived in Japan, and I’ve settled in pretty well. My sidekick and I have figured out the rubbish and recycling system (a complicated affair that can result in smelly bags of trash being returned to your doorstep, if you put them out on the wrong day), I’ve lost my karaoke virginity (to a Big Echo in Osaka City) and I’m still vegan. Yay!

I discovered a really useful label on food – the letters ‘JAS’ and two interconnected circle thingies – turns out this is the sign for organic. A lengthy inspection of all the supermarkets (‘supaa’) in the neighbourhood yielded organic daikon radish (literally, ‘radish radish’), cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, brinjals, peppers, pasta, potatoes, and, most importantly – tofu! It’s quite a bit more expensive, but totally worth it. Sometimes they even put a picture of the farmers on the packaging.

I also visited a really “rad” vegan restaurant in Hommachi, which is about 40 minutes from my flat, easily accessible on the train lines. It’s called Raku (’Luck’) Café, and it’s what locals call a “hole-in-the-wall” – a tiny place with a counter and seats for at most, 6 people. The owner is vegan and really chilled. I’d read about his restaurant on Vegan Japan. He doesn’t speak much English, but we managed to talk to him with the help of smiles、gestures and a veggie couple sitting nearby. There was no menu, he simply asked us if we were eating (‘tabemasu ka’), we said yes, and an awesome salad, potato dish and pasta dish were served.

On the counter was a set up of glass flasks and tubes, reminiscent of a school chemistry set. This turned out to be the coffee maker! I tried to say how cool I thought this was, and ended up being served coffee … freshly ground and smelling heavenly across the language barrier. Actually, I stopped drinking coffee about a year ago, but this whole experience was too cool to pass up! So I left feeling slightly caffeinated and totally inspired – until then I hadn’t come across any veggie Japanese people.

I’ll definitely be going back to Raku, but one thing I won’t be trying again is something called nattou. If you’ve watched Anime, you’ll probably have heard of it. Nattou is basically fermented (a euphemism for ‘rotted’) soya beans, which are served as a phlegmy topping for breakfast rice. There’s a joke that the final test that stands between foreigners and Japanese citizenship is nattou … and no one can pass it. So of course, I was determined to be the exception. Alas, I failed. Miserably. Nattou stinks like a sweaty fermenting foot and has the texture of stringy snot … it’s very healthy and may be linked to longevity … but I just can’t swallow it. *sigh*

If you can stomach nattou, I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a line and tell me how.

Next episode: beer, edamame, rice balls and more!