Food you can only get in Japan

[Mulboyne]

Forbes: Best Japanese Foods You Can't Get at Home

Foreigners who visit Japan think they have a solid grasp of Japanese food before they even set foot in the country: sushi, teriyaki, maybe some noodles. They arrive expecting to see sushi bars at every corner. But raw fish is really only the beginning. It's just one part of a gastronomic experience that includes many foods you can only sample within the country. Take miso soup, which you'll find in nearly every Japanese restaurant abroad. In the U.S., the soup will arrive at the beginning of the meal with the hors d'oeuvres. In Japan, soup is always served at the end of the meal. And many Japanese drink miso soup for breakfast--not as a pre-dinner course...

One of Japan's most popular dishes is oden, an everyday, homey stew made of a variety of fish cakes, tofu, vegetables and sometimes octopus, all cut into chunks that look like a toddler's building blocks. The Japanese eat oden everywhere--at home, in dedicated restaurants and even out of takeout containers from convenience stores in the winter. Hungry office workers crowd 7-Eleven counters for the dish, choosing which fish-cake pieces they want in their bowls. The tasty brown-and-orange soup isn't exactly pretty, but it's the Japanese version of comfort food.

Japan abounds with such dishes--local favorites that haven't made the jump to dinner tables abroad. Perhaps because many of these foods have tastes or textures that don't jibe with foreigners' palettes. Junsai , for instance, a plant that resembles a water lily and whose buds are served in clear broth or in sauces, can be off-putting because of its slimy covering...more...

[Taro Toporific]