Posted by Jess
7 October 2010
On October 5th, we hit the two month anniversary of our move to Japan. Since my last few posts have been the thoughts of others, I wanted to post some personal observations about life here in Tokyo as it relates to eating.
To-Go or Take-Away food is not very common here. For most restaurants, if they have anything at all that can be taken to-go, it says "take away" on the menu so you know it's ok to ask for it to go. You do not take leftovers with you home from a restaurant. Places like Starbucks do take-away and package your drink(s) and food item in a bag for you. This is because people don't eat or drink in public - like on the train or walking down the street. So typically for me it would work like this - Starbucks is between my house and the train station. So I stop in, order my coffee and breakfast as take-away. It comes in a paper bag with a cup holder inside the bag and a pick to keep the coffee from spilling. I carry the bag onto the train with me but do not drink or eat on the train. At first, I felt uncomfortable even having the stuff on the train with me even though I wasn't drinking it. But recently I've noticed more that people have drinks in their hands or bags with them - but they do not drink or eat it on the train.
So then I get off the train and walk to work about another fifteen minutes. And although during this time I feel a bit more comfortable taking out my drink and enjoying it on the walk, I have noticed that people don't generally have beverages in their hand - which is odd to me since there are like 1.6M vending machines in Tokyo (that is not an exageration - they say 1 machine per every 23 people - there are 4 on the floor of my office building alone). Where are they drinking the things they buy from these machines?
An outcome of this phenomenon of not eating outside is that there are few garbage cans on the street or on the train platforms. But there's no litter either. So I'm not quite sure how that combination works, but it seems to be working for them so I'll go with it. I have to say though that with two little kids, I want more garbage cans. Who wants to carry around a snotty tissue for the rest of the day? Or the wrapper from a snack that a certain 15-month old could not wait for?
As far as lunch time at work, very few people eat at their desks. I think that's part of the fact that people do not bring a lunch from home very much nor do they cook at home very much. We do have a multi-purpose room in it. Take-away sections at the market and convenience stores are crammed with people during the lunch hour and every night from 5pm on. I believe this is mostly due to the fact that kitchens and refrigerators are so small that most people do not cook in their homes. And since most people here do not get married until later in life (at least compared to the US), how often do you really cook for just yourself? And they do not entertain at home either - if you want to meet with friends, you meet at a restaurant or bar, but not generally at your house. The houses just aren't big enough to have people over.
Eating out can be as quick or as formal of an experience as you like. There are ramen shops where you stand at the counter and quickly eat a bowl of noodles, places where you cook your own pancake type meals or the fanciest of the fancy here. But again, no leftovers to take home with you. Portions are small but once you get used to that they are very filling. And a lot of restaurants menus change a little bit based on what they have on hand that day or week. Lunch places sometimes run out of food, dinner places will say "we ran out of that" more than you hear in the states. Less food is kept on hand which means your meal is fresher and tastier. Amen to that.
Before drinking with friends, its customary to toast with "Kanpai!" (Cheers!) and before starting your meal, you say "Ih-ta-da-ki-mas" (I gratefully receive).
Bring on October, post-season baseball, fun with friends both here and in the US, and Kiki-fest 2010. There will be lots to blog about as we enjoy more of what Japan has to offer with my sister. Plus she takes lots more pictures so the blog will get more interesting again.
Kanpai!
Jess
7 October 2010
On October 5th, we hit the two month anniversary of our move to Japan. Since my last few posts have been the thoughts of others, I wanted to post some personal observations about life here in Tokyo as it relates to eating.
To-Go or Take-Away food is not very common here. For most restaurants, if they have anything at all that can be taken to-go, it says "take away" on the menu so you know it's ok to ask for it to go. You do not take leftovers with you home from a restaurant. Places like Starbucks do take-away and package your drink(s) and food item in a bag for you. This is because people don't eat or drink in public - like on the train or walking down the street. So typically for me it would work like this - Starbucks is between my house and the train station. So I stop in, order my coffee and breakfast as take-away. It comes in a paper bag with a cup holder inside the bag and a pick to keep the coffee from spilling. I carry the bag onto the train with me but do not drink or eat on the train. At first, I felt uncomfortable even having the stuff on the train with me even though I wasn't drinking it. But recently I've noticed more that people have drinks in their hands or bags with them - but they do not drink or eat it on the train.
So then I get off the train and walk to work about another fifteen minutes. And although during this time I feel a bit more comfortable taking out my drink and enjoying it on the walk, I have noticed that people don't generally have beverages in their hand - which is odd to me since there are like 1.6M vending machines in Tokyo (that is not an exageration - they say 1 machine per every 23 people - there are 4 on the floor of my office building alone). Where are they drinking the things they buy from these machines?
An outcome of this phenomenon of not eating outside is that there are few garbage cans on the street or on the train platforms. But there's no litter either. So I'm not quite sure how that combination works, but it seems to be working for them so I'll go with it. I have to say though that with two little kids, I want more garbage cans. Who wants to carry around a snotty tissue for the rest of the day? Or the wrapper from a snack that a certain 15-month old could not wait for?
As far as lunch time at work, very few people eat at their desks. I think that's part of the fact that people do not bring a lunch from home very much nor do they cook at home very much. We do have a multi-purpose room in it. Take-away sections at the market and convenience stores are crammed with people during the lunch hour and every night from 5pm on. I believe this is mostly due to the fact that kitchens and refrigerators are so small that most people do not cook in their homes. And since most people here do not get married until later in life (at least compared to the US), how often do you really cook for just yourself? And they do not entertain at home either - if you want to meet with friends, you meet at a restaurant or bar, but not generally at your house. The houses just aren't big enough to have people over.
Eating out can be as quick or as formal of an experience as you like. There are ramen shops where you stand at the counter and quickly eat a bowl of noodles, places where you cook your own pancake type meals or the fanciest of the fancy here. But again, no leftovers to take home with you. Portions are small but once you get used to that they are very filling. And a lot of restaurants menus change a little bit based on what they have on hand that day or week. Lunch places sometimes run out of food, dinner places will say "we ran out of that" more than you hear in the states. Less food is kept on hand which means your meal is fresher and tastier. Amen to that.
Before drinking with friends, its customary to toast with "Kanpai!" (Cheers!) and before starting your meal, you say "Ih-ta-da-ki-mas" (I gratefully receive).
Bring on October, post-season baseball, fun with friends both here and in the US, and Kiki-fest 2010. There will be lots to blog about as we enjoy more of what Japan has to offer with my sister. Plus she takes lots more pictures so the blog will get more interesting again.
Kanpai!
Jess
1:51 AM |
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