Yes, I am a tourist. (Food Edition)

Things are different here.

Slurping down your noodles is considered a sign that you are enjoying the meal. One of my roommates says it makes them taste better as well.

Breakfast can be anything from the aforementioned noodles, to sandwiches on the absolutely whitest, most delicate bread you've ever eaten, to toast that makes Texas toast look skimpy, with salad and yogurt. (And with that toast you get a little packet that adds both butter and jelly at the same time. Good idea!)

Green tea is served everywhere and with every meal. We had several meals catered in Bento boxes and they always came with a bottle of cold green tea. As that is not my favorite drink, I shared with my roommates, as they were all of Japanese descent, and enjoyed it very much. Very cold water is always available in the vending machines, so I kinda stuck with that.

Noodles were sometimes topped with a patty of scrambled eggs and small tempura shrimp. However, they seems to leave the shells on the shrimp, which I found disconcerting. But I got used to it.

Not a lot of vegetables, and they were generally IN things as opposed to as a separate side dish. I tried lotus root for the first time, it looked kinda like a slice of potato, which has natural holes around the perimeter, and I think one down the center. Flavor was bland, but not unpleasant.

One my first night there, my roomies shared mochi with red bean paste filling. It is a rice-based dish, sweet and chewy, not quite gummy-bear-chewy, but close.  That chewy, gelatinous texture seems to be a hallmark of Japanese cuisine. I had ordered a dish with scallops for dinner one night, and found them cooked so as to be very chewy. Couldn't quite get them down.

Another given about Japanese foods is that flavors are very subtle. American flavors tend to shout, Japanese flavors whisper. We had a tapioca-type dessert with a simple, clean but mild vanilla flavor which was very nice, and natural tasting, not artificial-chemical-kick vanilla.

Miso soup is another staple, and one I love, especially the very darkest kind that looks like beef broth. I asked my friend Nick what kind it was so I could get some at home, but he explained that there are many variations, sometimes down to the regions the soy beans were grown in. So if you know a brand of miso that seems like my dark miso, let me know what it is!!