Things aren't always they way they seem here in Japan.
In 1990 - in very early August - in what would be my first excursion outside my home by myself, I headed to the local Iseya department/grocery store in Ohtawara-shi (City of Ohtawara), Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture) to buy some much needed necessities like Coke and food... in that order.
The place was a wonder... it was like the Walmart super retail stores, but with groceries. And, as an added bonus, there was not a man in sight... just women - all doing their grocery shopping - and little ol me. I was the only man in the place and certainly the only gaijin (foreigner), but to the credit of these folks, not one really gave me the 'look' or screamed out "Gaijin" at or near me. It was cool.
This was also the first time in my life i had ever gone grocery shopping. I know, I know... and the worst part is that I was almost 26-years-old. No wonder I was still a virgin!
I looked around, picked up some spaghetti, some ground beef, and tomato sauce. My apartment was already loaded up with spices thanks to my predecessor, so I pretty much had food for the next several days - if only I knew how to make spaghetti and meat balls or spaghetti and meat sauce.
I bought some cereal - would you believe they had Raisin Bran? Me either, but they did! I looked around for some milk, correctly surmising it would be in the refrigerated section, and picked up a large carton of chocolate milk - I'm nothing if not classy - not as classy as my wife, of course, who studies in the garage eating Cheezies and drinking Shiraz from a plastic cup.
Anyhow... I got to cashier, paid my bill, and rode my bicycle back to my apartment.
I unpacked and placed everything away and then thought about making spaghetti. I panicked and decided I would have cereal for dinner.
I grabbed a bowl, poured out my cereal and grabbed the milk and poured it on....
... only it wasn't chocolate milk. It wasn't milk at all.... whatever it was, it was watery... too watery to have come out of a cow - I hoped.
I dipped a finger into the soggy, ruined dinner and tasted it.... too watery to tell (why would I have expected it to not be watery anymore??!!)... it didn't seem to have any taste. So, classy guy that I am, rather than use the spoon I had set out for myself, I boldly and bravely grabbed the bowl and put it to my lips and slurped back the liquid.
Ugh!
I put the bowl down and stared at the open carton.
It was tea. Unsweetened, in fact. Good old brown tea... not even Japanese green tea.
Not wanting to go back to the supermarket to buy milk, I walked downstairs to the sake shop below my apartment and bought a bag of what I thought were thin slices of potato chips.
I brought it upstairs, cracked open the 2-litre bottle of cold Coca-Cola, took a swig, and opened up my chips. I grabbed a handful and threw them in my mouth.
It wasn't potato chips...
It was dried squid. It was very chewy and had a salty flavour to it.
And the really weird thing was, it was pretty good. I ate all of my dinner and, quite frankly, enjoyed it.
Somewhere wondering what to do about breakfast,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by Herman's Hermits: DRYTHROAT.
In 1990 - in very early August - in what would be my first excursion outside my home by myself, I headed to the local Iseya department/grocery store in Ohtawara-shi (City of Ohtawara), Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture) to buy some much needed necessities like Coke and food... in that order.
The place was a wonder... it was like the Walmart super retail stores, but with groceries. And, as an added bonus, there was not a man in sight... just women - all doing their grocery shopping - and little ol me. I was the only man in the place and certainly the only gaijin (foreigner), but to the credit of these folks, not one really gave me the 'look' or screamed out "Gaijin" at or near me. It was cool.
This was also the first time in my life i had ever gone grocery shopping. I know, I know... and the worst part is that I was almost 26-years-old. No wonder I was still a virgin!
I looked around, picked up some spaghetti, some ground beef, and tomato sauce. My apartment was already loaded up with spices thanks to my predecessor, so I pretty much had food for the next several days - if only I knew how to make spaghetti and meat balls or spaghetti and meat sauce.
I bought some cereal - would you believe they had Raisin Bran? Me either, but they did! I looked around for some milk, correctly surmising it would be in the refrigerated section, and picked up a large carton of chocolate milk - I'm nothing if not classy - not as classy as my wife, of course, who studies in the garage eating Cheezies and drinking Shiraz from a plastic cup.
Anyhow... I got to cashier, paid my bill, and rode my bicycle back to my apartment.
I unpacked and placed everything away and then thought about making spaghetti. I panicked and decided I would have cereal for dinner.
I grabbed a bowl, poured out my cereal and grabbed the milk and poured it on....
... only it wasn't chocolate milk. It wasn't milk at all.... whatever it was, it was watery... too watery to have come out of a cow - I hoped.
I dipped a finger into the soggy, ruined dinner and tasted it.... too watery to tell (why would I have expected it to not be watery anymore??!!)... it didn't seem to have any taste. So, classy guy that I am, rather than use the spoon I had set out for myself, I boldly and bravely grabbed the bowl and put it to my lips and slurped back the liquid.
Ugh!
I put the bowl down and stared at the open carton.
It was tea. Unsweetened, in fact. Good old brown tea... not even Japanese green tea.
Not wanting to go back to the supermarket to buy milk, I walked downstairs to the sake shop below my apartment and bought a bag of what I thought were thin slices of potato chips.
I brought it upstairs, cracked open the 2-litre bottle of cold Coca-Cola, took a swig, and opened up my chips. I grabbed a handful and threw them in my mouth.
It wasn't potato chips...
It was dried squid. It was very chewy and had a salty flavour to it.
And the really weird thing was, it was pretty good. I ate all of my dinner and, quite frankly, enjoyed it.
Somewhere wondering what to do about breakfast,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog title is by Herman's Hermits: DRYTHROAT.
