Yes, there are tons of traditional Japanese food, which you can not eat outside of Japan. If I say "Sushi", probably everyone knows about it, well I am not sure if you are imagining REAL Sushi though since what you can eat somewhere out there are mostly using instant wasabi or "unique" menus, which we do not have in Japan. Anyway I cut Sushi out this time.
What I wanna tell you here is basically my best Japanese traditional food. Some people might be vegetarians. Unfortunately most of Japanese traditional cuisines include at least seafood but don't worry, I will write about vegetarian cuisines on another time:).
So let's start with Ramen(ラーメン), one of my favorite Japanese food!
-Ramen(ラーメン or 拉麺)
Ramen....it sounds so good to me! I could eat everyday....even thought probably that is too often. Yes, this is my favorite Japanese food indeed! Ramen has tons of different types everywhere, therefore you can pretty much find "local Ramen" in each city.
Generally its soups are made of Shio(Salt), Miso, Shoyu(soy sauce) and Tonkotsu(pig bones). Additionally you can find soups made of Shrimps or fishes and so on.
Its price is reasonable and it is quite filling. If you have one Ramen, probably your dinner will be it.
If one is not enough, you can always ask for "Kaedama(refilling noodles)".
As it means, the restaurant will not refill soups, so don't forget to leave them :)
Try once and you will be one of Ramen Maniacs!
-Tempura(天ぷら)
Tempura is simple, it consists of vegetables or seafood that has been buttered and deep-fried. to add tastes, you can use salts or soy sauce. Tempura brings out its original ingredients flavor. I feel like I can see partly a simplicity of Japanese habit. You can find tempura with different prices. But generally the more you pay, the better tempura tastes.
So I recommend you not to hesitate to spend money on this :)
Yakiniku(焼肉)
Well, this is not only about Yakiniku, but I have to say that generally the quality of meat is pretty high in Japan. Also we, Japanese tend to cut meat thin. Yakiniku means just "grilled meat". What makes this so special is the atmosphere of Yakiniku restaurants and its special sauce called "Yakiniku-sauce". Doesn't it sound so special to you? in that case, you gotta try first.
We classify meat into so many different parts and created so many different type of Yakiniku-sauces. You will try some parts of meat you never tried perhaps.
Oh, and the best way to eat Yakiniku is with rice!
ai No Suimono(貝の吸い物)
This is not a particular name of Japanese cuisine, it refer to type of soups made of broths from sea shells. The process of cooking this is also as simple as Tempura. Just by subtle differences of amount of spices, it change its tastes dramatically. As you may know, Japanese eat a lot of seafood. If you want, you can cook this easily by your own. All you need is sea shells, soy sauce, sake and ginger if you like :)
But maybe it is better that you try at restaurants and see how it actually tastes.
Especially the its flavor of sea shells will definitely fascinate you!
-Mochi(餅)
Probably some of you may know this. Mochi is a rice cake, a type of sweet made of rice and beans. It has such a unique elastic texture that you might get addicted.
I even don't know how many different types of Mochis are out there. Maybe it is too sweet for you, maybe you will like it. Try it first! My favorite is Dango with Mitarashi sweet sauce. You can find good ones usually at Wagashi-Ya, Japanese sweets shop!
Don't get too many, otherwise you will be round like Mochi!
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