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A great food and travel programme aired last night on the BBC called, “Hairy Bikers Asian Adventure”. The programme delved into the food of traditional Japan looking at sushi, Buddhist Shyojin style food and good ole Okonomiyaki. Great to hear the bikers mention that Japan had exceeded their expectations that had been set over twenty years of wanting to visit Japan. After this great episode which included lots of sights and good food, our tour leader Steve takes it down another notch and gives us his tips on the cheap Japanese food that is available across to country…
Seaweed burgers? Sushi nuggets? Not quite, but the Japanese fast food experience is, bar the obvious imported, “feeding centres” , quite a different affair from the high streets of the UK/US. Eating at one of these establishments can be a very cheap and reasonably healthy option to anyone living out here or on their travels.
In metropolitan areas, you are sure to come across an ubiquitous fast food joint by the name of Yoshinoya (which delightfully translates to something like “House in Fields of Fortune”). This chain diner could arguably be labeled Japan’s equivalent of McDonalds but with an edible advantage – that is, you can eat the fare on offer and feel reasonably healthy in doing so. Just look out for Yoshinoya’s bright orange and green sign and drop in for a swift bite. Its focus is largely on beef – stewed in onion and sweet soy sauce, which comes with steaming rice and optional extras such as salad and miso soup. For under £3, you can therefore fill up on a relatively balanced meal and dine salaryman style. Need some omega 3? Well they even do a grilled salmon set here so that one is covered, too!
Another favourite and probably number 2 in popularity – let’s say, Japan’s Burger King but again, with edible advantages, is Matsuya (Pine Shop). This popular eatery for the hurried puts a little more effort into pig on plate – for instance, hotplate pork belly with soup and salad weighing in at a (hardly) hefty 700 yen (still under a fiver!). Here, you also have the added fun of purchasing your meal via a ticket vending machine that always works and always has change, for coins and notes. Highly recommended and the array of salad dressings and sauces for your meat is an added bonus!
There is also Sukiya, with its Japanese name (すきや) emblazoned in white across a red bowl. This shop, although like Yoshinoya – a specialist stewed beef restaurant, also delves into the world of burgers (minus the bun and served with rice), Japanese curry and even eel, if you are not so big on digging on pig.
So why are these places so popular? Well, given that three quarters of single metropolitanos in urban Japan are likely to be living in single room apartments of 20-square metres or so, cooking space is not really available. You may be lucky to have to one or (gasp!) even 2 gas rings, but with the preparation space of a table mat cooking becomes a jolly rotten encumbrance. Add that to your heavy salaryman/OL (office lady) white-collar work schedule and bone-crushing commutes to and from the office, and time becomes similarly just as tight.
Hence the important role played out by these great establishments of convenience. Between the hours of 6 and 9pm any of the above are guaranteed to be full of slurping workers, refueling directly before or after their harrowing commute home.
Next time you are in Japan, be sure to walk past the infamous golden arches and give one of Japan’s fast food gems a try – you might just get hooked!! Oh and you are likely to get your food quicker than at a Japanese McDonalds too.
