JAPANESE SNAPSHOTS – #22 – DINING OUT

The Japanese are industrious folk and always on the move.  They tend to grab their meals on the run.  And they have lots of places to pick from.  There are 160,000 restaurants in Tokyo, compared to 40,000 in the culinary capital of Paris.  Most are tiny, mom and pop, hole-in-the-wall joints that serve exceptional and inexpensive delights.

I never had a bad meal in Japan.  And half the time I never knew what the hell I was eating.  It didn’t matter because it was always delicious.  And from a practical standpoint, when you’re eating sashimi (raw fish) most of the time, or grilled fish on a stick, you can’t go wrong.  It gets a bit trickier with my favorite dish, dumplings, because they could be filled with almost anything.   But that was half the fun.  I got to the point where I would order just about anything on the indecipherable menus and know that whatever came would be absolutely scrumptious.

The Japanese eat healthy.  And they love to eat large quantities, usually big bowls of noodles and rice mixed with fish, meat, and steamed veggies.  Like the Italians, they relish the act of eating.   They jam their chopsticks into their meals and slurp it down with with great joy.  They are always smiling while they eat.  They reminded me of the way jazz musicians look at one another when they are jamming together, just having a ball.

But most Japanese buy their dinners at convenience stores.  You will find a 7-Eleven, Lawson, Family Mart, or a Mini Stop, on every corner and they are totally awesome.  They operate 24/7 and sell Japanese versions of the usual convenience store crap, including lots and lots of beer. wine, and hard liquor.  But they also serve some really yummy hot foods, like meat and vegetable dumplings.  There’s nothing like dumplings and a cold beer.

I think part of the reason for this — I mean, other than the fact that the food is cheap, convenient, and out of this world — has to do with Japanese housing.  The average Tokyo apartment is about 1,300 square feet.  That’s pretty small.  And most do not have full kitchens — or at least what an American would call a kitchen.  They have a table where they eat, a sink, small fridge, some cupboards, and a microwave.  They don’t do the granite counter top, dishwasher, and stove dance.  Consequently, it makes more sense to eat food that has already been prepared.

The selection of delicacies at Japanese convenience stores is mind-boggling.   And because the turnover is so steady, the food items are fresh — many items were probably cooked and packaged only a few hours before purchase.

Another thing that caught my attention was the hot items at the counter.  In America, it might be a leathery hot dog or a crinkled slice of pizza.  In Japan, it’s fresh pastries, dumplings, and meat kebobs.  My breakfast almost every morning was a warm Danish and meat on a stick.  Yum!  Yum!

The most amazing thing about my dining experiences in Japan was the fact that I fed my face almost constantly because I was walking and biking all the time and it was so good I could never get enough, and when I returned home and stood on the scale I couldn’t believe my eyes.  After a month of eating like a king, I had lost five pounds!  And that was after downing a six pack of tall-boy beers each day.  If I hadn’t had so many beers I probably would have lost ten!

And that’s perhaps why the Japanese have the longest life spans on the earth.  They eat good healthy foods, mixed with lots of carbs like rice, noodles, breads and deserts out the yin-yang.  And yet I never saw a fat person, other than a couple sumo wrestlers who wear the traditional kimono and wooden sandals when they are out and about.

The Japanese exercise regularly; walking and biking are a daily part of their lives.  But they drink and they smoke like fiends.  They live life to the fullest.

So, what’s their secret?  Well, I don’t think it’s any one thing, but a combination of factors that ultimately boil down to this one key ingredient.  The Japanese are the happiest people on earth.  And when you’re happy, the whole world smiles on you.