Welcome to the February 2009 Japan Blog Matsuri! This month’s theme was Foreign Food, and we’ve got quite the blog smorgasbord from which to sup. We had a record-breaking total of 26 direct entries for this matsuri. If you add in the recommendations, it comes to a whopping total of 34 entries in all. Because some participants are inside Japan looking out at foreign food, whereas others are elsewhere looking at Japanese food as foreign, I’ve split the entries accordingly. Please make sure you don’t miss any of the entries! I’ve selected my own personal top 3 at the bottom of the post. When you’re done looking through the entire spread, head back here and vote for your own favorites in the poll.

Michael, the Gakuran Man of http://gakuranman.com/, introduces us to traditional fish & chips in English, and counts down the top 10 fish & chips shops in Japanese. Not only can you discover whether you should go for the lemony zing or the mushy stodge, you can find out where to get it!

YouTube legend Ken Tanaka eats Hawaii and breaks his mouth. No, really! That’s the title of his video about sampling Hawaiian food. Watch it to find out which kind of [profanity meaning "animal excrement"] is the best he’s ever eaten! You still think I’m kidding? Go!

David from the ::mdid:: blog discovers exorbitantly priced German Eisbein at a restaurant called Alte Liebe near Shimbashi. Have you ever had eisbein? Would you have paid the price to try it? What would you pay?

James at Japan Probe contributes what has got to be the smallest Italian restaurant I have ever seen! Check out this minute entrepreneurial establishment, and his ironic plans to “expand.” I’d definitely eat there, probably opting for the carpaccio and self-serve beer. How about you?

Ok, time for some shameless self-promotion. My own entry for this matsuri! I examined the selection of available peanut butter-like products in Japan. I did a video review, too. Please feel free to comment. I’d love to know how many people think I’m dead wrong about the conbini sandwiches, and how many people agree with me about the evil that is peanut cream.

Pikko of Adventures in Bentomaking makes a Beef Pasta Bento using Hamburger Helper! You can easily follow this “bentorial” at home. Who says bentos must be constituted solely of Japanese ingredients? Not Pikko, that’s for sure. But she does like things cutesy. Go tell her what you think at her site, and learn a thing or two!

Chris from Nihongo Notes teaches us about how British people craft bentos in an attempt to cause extreme gastronomic discomfort. Or something. Ha ha. You weren’t expecting 2 bento entries in the foreign foods category were you? I suspect Chris’ approach to bentomaking might give Pikko a run for her money. Sure, it may make you ill, but I know I’m tempted nonetheless. What would you add to his monstrosity?

Saitoneko from Life in the Korean Ghetto discovers that American Chili made with shichimi togarashi instead of the traditional spices results in…keema curry? I have to agree that some of the “slop dishes” over rice are excellent. I would probably opt for the traditional cornbread instead of the white rice, but that’s just cause I am a southern boy who misses his southern comfort food.

Jamie at Frugalista Japan laments the availability of foreign ingredients, and accurately notes that foreign food is not a frugal topic at all in Japan. Should you forgo foreign ingredients for the sake of environmentalism? Should you avoid price gouging? I for one vote nay to the former and aye to the latter. What do you think about it? Is buying foreign items at the supermarket worth it all? Go tell Jamie what you think!

Nick from Long Countdown reports on (and makes up some stuff about) baked beans. Shifty guy, that Nick. Come to think of it, this is the second British fellow on the list attempting to give us stomach trouble. What’s the deal? And in any event, do you think that baked beans could really save Japan from a food crisis? Weigh in (ahem) on the post.

Hao at Instant Ramen compares sashimi and ceviche! Mmmm! Have you ever tried ceviche? The Costa Rican version showcased here looks amazing. By the way, if you’re not into raw fish, this might be a great stepping stone dish for you, since it’s not raw technically speaking. Hao also recently won a logo contest for JapanSoc.org. Congrats!

Shichi at The Other East cooked a Baltimore Feast in Yamanashi. I am so jealous! The meal looks delicious. (Don’t miss the pictures at the bottom of the post!) I think it’s summed up by the words, “I noticed that of all of us, her grandmother was eating the most.” When grandma can’t get enough, you know it’s good!

Drew at Alpha Whiskey Hotel searches for authenticity in restaurants around Japan. This theme of this post was one of the reasons I chose the foreign food theme, actually. Have you ever been to a foreign food place in Japan that has a weird atmosphere? Does the “’stick random crap on your walls’ school of restaurant design” bug you, too? Discuss it over at Drew’s!

Jordan submits a pretty lame photo and pretends it’s an entry, but he knows that every bit helps. After all, as his site’s title proclaims, 塵も積もれば山となる. See his about page for an explanation. Luckily for Jordan, I am a gigantic fan of both donuts and Star Wars, so his entry is here. (I kid, I kid!) Would you wait in line like those in the picture?

Kirk at Jamaipanese declares his love for chicken foot soup. You may have guessed that chicken feet are in the soup. If you’re curious about the rest of the ingredients, or about how best to feed your pet Gundam, head over to Kirk’s and drop a comment! Sounds so yummy, and it seems to be a home remedy for just about everything – perfect.

Egmont at Katamari Democracy decided to start a mutiny. Instead of following the rules about no spam entries, here comes a whole entry about does Japan-style Hawaiian food. The insolence! There’s even a spam-related Monty Python reference! (Now if that’s not enough to entice you over there, I don’t know what is – so get going!)

Carlie from GoddesCarlie.com tried takoyaki for the first time during her visit to Japan last November. Did she love it? Did she hate it? It’s always about drama with Carlie. Find out what she thought, and tell her what you think!

Sanjo-chan of CEN.TAKU.ME delivers a refreshingly honest beginner’s approach to sushi. Not everyone is ready to leap willy-nilly into the world of raw fish. The adventure starts at a local grocery store and winds up experimenting at home with more familiar ingredients. What should be next on the menu? I recommended unagi.

Shane at the Nihon Sun shows off Japan’s very own “superbowl” (of Ramen) at Ippudo, a superb restaurant chain. Since you can order a custom bowl of excellent ramen at Ippudo (which I frequented on Waseda-doori in Tokyo), I’d always get the katamen (al dente) noodles in a bowl of akamaru kasane-aji. Shane prefers the shiromaru moto-aji. What would you order?

Tony of The Soul of Japan wrote about Yonezawa Steaks. Learn how to distinguish between actual, factual Yonezawa beef and the fake kind. (Who knew there was a fake kind?) Tony also discusses the history of marbled meat in Japan.

Shaun from Nippon the Bus reminds us to “remember the melon bread.” A wise sentiment indeed. What does it mean? Well, it’s an admonition to try new things – because sometimes you’ll find them pleasantly surprising. I, for the record, am a fan of melon bread, but not Calpis. But at least I tried it!

Ryan at the Ghost Letters discovers that 33-Spice Curry Lunch Packs are addictive munchies for your daily commute. Other than 33 spices, what could possibly be in these things that makes them a compulsive habit? By the way, next month’s matsuri is being hosted by Ryan. Cheers!

The one and only Japanator tells us what it’s like to eat with a Japanese family. Sure enough, three square meals a day are covered. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bakery fresh bread, curry rice, and yakiniku, baby. Delicious. And it’s not just made up – it’s actually based on a homestay experience. If you’ve got any questions, head over to Japanator and ask away.

Brett at the Rainbowhill Language Lab leads us through 3 ways to enjoy Japanese-style curry and rice, as if we needed help enjoying it! Seriously, though, the difficulty levels are covered well, here. Are you the type of person who wants to make it from scratch? How about from a curry roux? Need instant gratification at a curry house? I’m usually the roux guy, but I switch it up a bit. Tell Brett what your approach is.

David, aka “Shack,” of Shack in Japan gives a mouth-watering description of wining and dining at a Japanese steakhouse. He has included the menu, so you can see what your choices might be. What a wallop on your wallet, though! Shack said, “I love Japanese and fusion cuisine, but sometimes you just want western food done right, and this was the real deal.” Be sure to visit his post!

Harvey at Japan Newbie eats pond scum shows us the intriguing process of dining on yuba – the film that forms on top of slowly heated nigari and soymilk. That’s right – it’s basically the skin of an early tofu. Harvey says you eat it with a bit of soy sauce and some yuzu gratings. If you’re having trouble imagining this, you should go check out the photos! Would you try it? (I would. Remember the melon bread, guys!)

Deas’s Top 3 Picks: Hao’s post about sashimi and ceviche, Sanjo-chan’s candid post about trying sushi, and Harvey’s post about yuba. But hey, that’s just me. What did you think? Please vote for up to 3 posts in the poll below, so we can crown a reader’s choice royal court!

Here are some recommended entries, all but one of which were selfishly chosen by me. Hopefully the authors of these posts will participate in the next matsuri. Blue Lotus has some awesome food posts. I particularly like the dulce de leche from a can of Japanese condensed milk, the recent Valentine’s Day breakfast, and the awesome looking panko-crusted rack of lamb. Mmmmm. Claytonian failed to enter something this time around, but he’s got a video series about eating odd foods in Japan – I recommend starting with the grasshoppers. What a trooper. It’s like Fear Factor! I’d also like to recommend a few posts from a Japanese mom who recently commented on this blog. Her name’s Naoko, and she posts about food in English on her blog. You probably wouldn’t randomly come across her blog, so I thought I’d send some visitors to her. Try her entry about wakame seaweed, eating out in Japan, or getting a package from the US. Last, but not least, Ken Tanaka thinks you should check out his buddy Sku’s post on Jewish American Food. Doesn’t get much more foreign to Japanese folks than that, I’d wager. Looks like some great grub. If you’ve got more recommended reads that didn’t make the cut, leave them in the comments for us to enjoy.

Remember to check the newsroom and widget for information about the next matsuri, hosted at The Ghost Letters. Many thanks to Rising Sun of Nihon for hosting the last matsuri. The Japan Blog Matsuri was started by Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks, and currently resides at the JapanSoc Community Blog.

Well, folks, it’s February – time for another Japan Blog Matsuri. If you missed it, go check out January’s edition of the Matsuri, hosted by Bill Belew at the Rising Sun of Nihon, where 11 bloggers chimed in to answer the prompt “How will you resolve to make the most of your stay in Japan?” Hats off to Bill for doing a great job.

This month I am hosting the Japan Blog Matsuri. I announced the topic yesterday at the first online J-Bloggers Conference. (If you’re interested in joining the next conference, watch this space for details.) So, let it be known, the topic for the February Matsuri is: FOREIGN FOOD!

Anything related to FOREIGN FOOD is acceptable. We obviously prefer fresh entries over stale entries, but even old entries are ok. The theme is open to a bit of interpretation – and remember that you don’t have to be in Japan to participate! Anyone can participate. In fact, I want us to expand this time. I am hoping to have collected 20 or more entries for this edition. To encourage this, I am making an offer. Encourage your friends to participate, or submit entries from their blogs yourself, and I will leave a hat tip link to your own blog alongside that entry. If you submit your own entry and one other person’s entry (or persuade them to participate), you’ll have (up to) 2 links on the matsuri. It’s not much, but it’s something!

If you write a post and submit it to me by midnight of Sunday, February 22nd, I will include your entry in the compilation that will go up on the 24th. You can either email me directly (deas-at-rocking-in-hakata-dot-com) or submit your entry using the widget after the break.

Ok, go get writing! Go get your friends involved! Let’s build this thing!

The Japan Blog Matsuri was originated by Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks, and has been revived by Nick Ramsay at the JapanSoc Blog.

Also – I discovered this really cool tool cleverly called Keiken [Japanese] via Bryan at A Walk in Hachioji. (Curiously, the specific post I found it in is no longer on his page…but it existed in the RSS feed earlier…hmmm.) Here’s a map of my experience of Japan so far. It includes shenanigans from my time studying abroad all the way to present day. And while I’m sad that I’ve still not been to Okinawa, I think it’s sadder still that I’ve not been to Tokushima… Ha ha ha. I’m not sure if the Javascript is actually working, so I’ll try to replace it with a self-hosted image later. In the meantime, the link does work. How many points do you have? I’m currently at 107! Wahoo!

1) First up, a bit of shameful shameless self promotion. I wrote a piece on Virtual Tourism. In it, I talk about technologies that make it possible for us to take trips through the internet in lieu of real world travel. It’s really cool to see the possibilities that are just around the corner. Take a look to see what I mean.

2) What Japan Thinks has some interesting tourism-related poll results. What is it that homeward bound Japanese folks harbor hankerings for? He lists the foods that they want to eat the most after returning from an overseas trip. I learn so many things from this site. As a brief aside, I noticed one thing that did not make the chart.

3) Next up is Japanprobe, which also featured some culinary curiousities related to travel – only these were Shinzo Abe Omiyage. That’s right, folks, there is a market for omiyage bearing the likeness of Shinzo Abe, the new Prime Minister of Japan. Is it weird? Yes. Would you not buy some just to prove that it exists? I would. It probably tastes the same as all other omiyage, but the novelty is worth it. Find out where to get your hands on some.

4) Alex over at Victory Manual has written a post about the lines between Tourists, Hosts, Overstaying Your Welcome. It’s similar to a classic “dating” and “after the honeymoon” pattern. Are you a long term or short term visitor to Japan?

5) He said I could, so I am including this vlog entry from Clay(tonian) – our friendly neighborhood Hopeless Romantic. In it he goes over his Golden Week shenanigans (like encountering a ginormous statue at a temple) and translates part of a theme song for our enjoyment. It’s worth a watch – if you like it, check out his other vlog entries – I hear his YouTube subscriber count continues to climb.

6) Around the corner at Q-Taro, Roy talks touring car dealerships for free stuff. Learn about how to make car salesmen seem like Santa Claus thanks to Golden Week.

7) Japanprobe proves that Cool Tourism is easy to come by in Japan. The bulleted list on the post says it all. It includes an earthquake simulator, an onsen for man’s best four-legged friends (dogs, people, sheesh), and a capsule hotel.

Japundit wrote about Travel During GW, and linked us to the Kyodo News Agency’s coverage.

9) Japanprobe pulls off a hat trick this month thanks to a video about Otaku Tourism, a quickly growing industry in urban Japan. Lately this “subculture tourism” has been attracting more and more foreign tourists. ‘Tis a fire that Japan intends to feed.

10) Lastly, Jon at Life is Random has put together a nice entry serving the dual purposes of recording his own personal Golden Week escapades as well as providing some cool random facts about his Golden Week to the reader. He took his free time as an opportunity to play pachinko, for instance.

There you have it folks, a few stretches there, but I wanted to include a couple of buddies. (If you host you’re allowed to do that. I’m pretty sure.) I hope that this month’s was as good as last month’s – I’ve got to say that Bill did a nice job, even though his oyaji gag made me wince. For those who missed them, here are links to the first, second, and third Japan Blog Matsuris. That ought to do it for this month.

It was not what I expected, but I want to offer my thanks to those that I drafted as well as the few who actually submitted your entries. There is no word yet on a volunteer for next month. If you’re stoked about hosting the matsuri and you have an idea for a theme floating about in your head, please contact Ken Y-N and volunteer. If we can get more people to participate, we’ll have greater quality in the articles, and a tighter Japan-blogging community. I’ll retire from the soapbox now, and let you read in peace. Thanks for stopping by my site. Feel free to leave me links back to your sites in the comments. I’m always looking for new online haunts. That’s what this whole thing is about, after all.

お疲れ様でした！

April Japan Blog Matsuri

Theme: Tourism

Deadline: Monday, May 7th (due to Golden Week holidays)

Submissions:

Official Page

Widget @ WJT

Email to deas (at) rocking in hakata (dot) com

Remember, tangentially related things are fine. Creative angles are encouraged! Multiple entries are ok for this one, but don’t submit blogspam. It will be weeded out. Tell your Japan-related blogging friends about it and try to get everyone involved. The more the merrier, guys.

Let it be known that I am the designated host for the April edition of the Japan Blog Matsuri. Last month’s matsuri, hosted by Rising Sun of Nihon, was a great success, and is a really tough act to follow. I’ll do my best. Kudos to Bill Belew for the job he did. If you’re new to the concept, or just to this particular “blog carnival,” please refer to the matsuri’s explanation page at What Japan Thinks for rules, regulations, and general information.

The theme for this matsuri is … drum roll please … “Tourism!” Japan and tourism go together like Forrest Gump and Jenny (ok, ok, peas and carrots for you purists). I think it’s broad enough to leave you all kinds of wiggle room. I’d like to keep personal trip memories out of it unless there is some kind of commentary or content within such a post that makes it something a stranger would want to read. I hope that is understandable. I’m not trying to be mean, but we don’t want to have a list of “what I did over break” entries. There is plenty to talk about, so get writing about tourism and Japan if you’re game.

Due to Golden Week, I am extending the normal deadline. Please submit any tourism related articles and posts that you’d like to be considered by midnight on Monday, May 7th, 2007.　繰り返して、２００７年５月７日２３時５９分５９秒までに記事とポストなどを出して下さい。Everybody got that? Good. It is best if the articles and posts were written during the month of April in principle and spirit, however. We don’t want to steal from the next matsuri, now do we?

Please submit all articles and posts to me through the official submission page or the widget at What Japan Thinks. Alternatively, you can send them to me by email: deas (at) rocking in hakata (dot) com.

Encourage all of your friends to participate! Link them to this call for submissions, as well as to older examples for reference. It’s a great way to connect, discover new blogs, and interact with the greater English speaking Japan blogging community. Have fun, be safe, clean your room, and be home by 11.

This time around, the matsuri is being hosted by Rising Sun of Nihon. The theme chosen by the host is “Uniquely Japanese.” I urge all of you who are interested to put something together – write an article or pick a recent one you’ve written, and submit it. If more people participate, then the matsuri will grow.

-Quick Reference-
Theme: “Uniquely Japanese” (link to host’s matsuri page)
Host: Rising Sun of Nihon (link to host’s main page)
Deadline: March 31st, midnight JST (don’t miss this date)
Date of matsuri: April 10th (date for reposting of all submissions)
Submit stories via this link, the widget located here, or by emailing the host (bill at panasianbiz dot com).

Get writing! And linking!