Memorable Meals in Missionary Lands

We love tonkatsu! Once in awhile Ueno San takes us to a place near our church which has excellent tonkatsu. They also specialize in katsudon, with the pork cutlet mixed in with egg on top of rice. Delicious!

We've never had strawberries that way but it doesn't surprise me. Could be a Kansai thing.

Alas, this is changing. We see more and more chubby Japanese kids. They eat more sweets, and they get less exercise because of computer games.

When we came to Japan I could go to a park and have a crowd of kids around me immediately to preach the Gospel to. Nowadays you mostly see moms with little kids at the parks. Besids computer games, another reason for this is that the average number of kids per family is only about 1.5, so the population is shrinking.

 

I agree! We limited the "screen time" our son had, but let him decide about his own allocation: TV, computer games, videos. We had a nice park in the neighborhood where he played with his Japanese friends. But times have changed here.

We really miss American bacon too. We heard a story that during and after WW2 the Japanese were so poor they cut corners on bacon curing. To this day they cure it the same way and that is why it doesn't get crisp when you fry it.

 

From 1981 to 1983 I traveled from Saitama Prefecture down into Tokyo every day for language school for almost two years. The trip was 2 hours each way, and I would study on the train. Occasionally I would try the cuisine down in Tokyo for lunch.

One day I didn't eat until transferred in the Tokorozawa train station back in Saitama, and I happened to see a soba shop right there in the station. Soba is a soup kind of like ramen, only with buckwheat noodles. Proud of my new found ability to read the Chinese characters, I read the menu and settled on "Egg Soba," which I figured sounded good.

The cook poured the soup into the large bowl. Looked yummy! Then he put the spices in. Here we go. He put in the noodles. Okay. Then he got the boiled egg and started to put it in. Delicious. Only the egg wasn't boiled but raw, and he cracked it right into the bowl with the noodles.

Well, I had promised myself I'd never eat raw egg, but I'd already paid for it and missionaries don't usually have the financial wherewithal to throw away a perfectly good bowl of noodles. So I broke apart my cheap chopsticks and dug in. You know, the hot soup actually cooks the egg some, and it wasn't bad! Nowadays, though, I prefer ramen--never seen a raw egg ramen before!

 

:laugh: There's a lot of danger when trying to go cross-cultural with a restaurant name. There's one in our town with the English name "Hurl Cafe." I have no idea where they got that.

 

We got to where we liked the raw egg for the sukiyaki. We cook it at home right there on the table in a special cooker. Delicious! The hot meat and vegetables actually cooks the egg lightly. However, several years ago my wife got a bad egg (not me!) and it made her really sick. So now we just have the sukiyaki without the egg. Much safer and still delicious.

 

Aha! Interestingly enough, that phrase means "It's mealtime" or "It's rice" depending on the context. I don't believe I've had it before, but I'm sure I've had similar meals.

Up here in Hokkaido, we don't use the kotatsu because the houses are insulated. It can get extremely cold here outside, but we're always cozy. However, down in Yokohama and where you lived they didn't insulate the houses, so it got cold inside!

Thus, for you who've never been to Japan, the kotatsu--a little table on the floor you can stick your feet under, with a blanket hanging all around, and in modern times a little electric warmer underneath.

 

Oops! I meant to say Yokohama where we lived for 13 years.

 

Alerting all ramen lovers. Back in 1981 when we came to Japan few people knew about ramen in the States.
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[FONT= ]After arriving in Japan, we learned that the language school was full. So I immediately began studies under a tutor using the same course as the language school. In the meantime, Dr. N., the senior missionary, showed me the ropes. In particular we went out together on evangelism quite often.[/FONT]
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[FONT= ]One day while we were out on visitation it so happened that lunch time rolled around before we were ready. Dr. N. began searching for a restaurant, and we finally pulled into what I call nowadays a "greasy chopstick" type of place. For the first time I heard the word ramen. [/FONT]
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[FONT= ]We sat down at the counter and Dr. N. ordered for us: "Two bowls of corn-butter ramen, soy sauce, and double the corn and butter." Little did I know the gastronomic treat I was in for. When I dug in with my disposable, break away chopsticks I was in tasty Heaven. At last I knew why God had given me a love for chicken noodle soup since I was small. It was all in preparation for being a missionary to Japan![/FONT]
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[FONT= ]When you order ramen here, depending on the restaurant you might get various varieties. But whatever the special content they usually ask you if you want shoyu (soy sauce), miso (another soy product) or salt flavor. You can also usually add extras such as corn, butter, pieces of pork, etc. [/FONT]
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[FONT= ]I'm getting hungry!
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After language school, we moved to Yokohama, a city of gastronomic delights. It was there that we first went to a "Korean barbecue" restaurant. You are lead to your table, sit down, and then watch while the waiter lights a burner which is sunken right into the middle of your table.

You then head for the food, which is all laid out nicely in different areas. The main course is meat, of course, since it is after all a Korean barbecue. The main dish is beef sliced thin, often with a sauce on it. You take that back to your table, dip it in a special sauce and then cook it--just like you like it! Grill away!

There are various kinds of meat, including some that you may find strange: thinly sliced beef tongue, various kinds of pork including pork intestines, called horumon (hormone!). There are also various raw vegetables you can grill. And of course there is the ever present "sticky rice" and a soup or two.

Up here in Asahikawa we have the best ever Korean barbecue restaurant, called "Five Star" because of the five varieties of food: Korean, Japanese, Western, Chinese and a desert bar that is scrumptious. The other day we found out they were having a "cake fair," which of course we had to investigate. There were about fifteen different kinds of cake, every single one looking delicious.

If you come visit us here in Japan, that is where we will take you--Five Star. We've been taking visitors to Korean barbecue restaurants for 25 years now, everyone from our parents to the Asia director of our mission to visiting pastors. Anyone from the BB care to join us for a bite?

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Mrs. Wakamatsu was driving by our church in Yokohama when she saw our sign and said, "That's Baptist, like the one I went to when I was young." So she tried us and liked us. I remember the first day she came, her baby cried and cried at the sound of my guitar!

Mrs. W. had been kicked out of the German Baptist church she attended ten years ago because of her engagement to an unsaved man. After some months in our church she got her heart right with God under the preaching of a Japanese missionary who came on deputation. We began praying for her husband to be saved, and finally he came forward to make a public profession of faith. I remember Mrs. W. just clapped and clapped when he said before all that he was believing in Christ!

When they were transferred to Nagoya we were devastated. But they took us out to eat at an exclusive little French restaurant. We had never had French cuisine, but it was fabulous! The only drawback was that the portions were too small. Among other delicious dishes we had a tiny little steak with a wonderful taste that was gone in four bites. But we thank God for using us in this precious family's life.

 

Yokohama has a wonderful China Town. We used to visit there once a month or so, have some Chinese food, visit a fascinating store where I was able to buy a nice kung fu uniform and occasionally a book on kung fu in Chinese. And did I mention they had great Chinese food there?

In our early years in Yokohama my wife Patty had a Japanese language teacher that grew to be a friend, too. Once we had the whole family over for dinner and games, and the husband was amazed at the fun we were able to have playing a game without even being drunk!

One day this family took us down into Yokohama for dinner at the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to. The waiters had fancy tuxes, complete with a towel over their arms. The cuisine was Szechuan, and it was delicious. I don't remember the details, except that of course it was spicy hot and delicious, as Szechuan cooking should be.

 

That would be a meal only for very ritzy restaurants, given the logistics of trying to keep the little guys alive. Personally? I wouldn't order it!

But that reminds me of a meal a friend had. Tom is a rocket engineer turned missionary, who at one point was working in the Japanese space program. He has a Japanese wife and loves Japanese cuisine, including all sorts of raw fish.

One day Tom and the Japanese engineers were down on Tanegashima Island to launch a Japanese rocket. There was a new guy over from the States, so they decided to take him to a ritzy restaurant.

Tom ordered the specialty, crab sashimi (raw fish)--only the crab was still alive, clinging to a little rock on the plate with his back shell cut off, ready to be consumed. The newby, sitting next to Tom, said, "If you're eating that thing I'm moving." Tom replied, "Don't worry. It will just cling to that rock while I eat it." Nevertheless, the guy moved to the other side of the table.

Tom started in on his crab, only this time the little guy decided he didn't want to be eaten, and jumped off his little rock. Where did he run? Of course, right across the table to where the newby was sitting. And of course the rookie jumped up and hollered and ran, and a good laugh was had by all!