Diversity of Food in Japan (Amirali)

“Hurray…I am going to Japan!” Imagine how cool one feels when they say this. The opportunity to visit one of the coolest countries gives a feeling of excitement and thrill. However, as the day approaches, you start packing and planning for the trip, a question flashes through your mind, “But, what about food?” And this is where it really starts troubling your mind. The situation gets worse especially if you are from Pakistan or sub-continent generally, where Japanese food is excessively expensive and reserved for the elite population. Most of the people haven’t even tried sushi- leave alone the other specialties of Japan. The Muslims, who eat ‘Halal’ food and avoid usage of alcohol, and vegetarians, may feel concerned of the availability of food. To all those out there, with such questions throbbing in their minds, the simple answer is: “Don’t worry. You will find extreme food diversity here that will certainly make your taste buds!”

Diversity of food in Japan in the last decade has increased significantly. In short, you can get the food you want; either it be Thai, Korean, Indian, Malaysian or native Japanese food, just name it and there is a high probability that you would get it. There are several restaurants specializing in food from various parts of the world. If you are coming from Pakistan or India, you can find an Indian or Nepali restaurant in all major districts of Tokyo. In fact these restaurants work exceptional well and are usually filled with Japanese customers because foreigners and Japanese both love Curry and Nan. So if you need Indian food, be sure you can definitely find a restaurant meeting your needs near your residence. Also recently several Halal shops have sprung up in different parts of the city making it convenient for Muslims to buy and eat Halal food.

Another thing that I found particularly cool and unique is the exterior setting of restaurants. Most of the food items listed on the menu and the special dishes of the restaurant are displayed artificially outside the restaurant. And trust me, it looks nowhere near artificial. It illustrates specific details including the price (before and after taxes). Therefore, rather than going in a restaurant and deciding whether you want to eat here or not, you can simply see the dishes offered by the restaurant on the window and select what you find best for yourself. It is more of a ‘window menu’.

However, to foreigners coming to Japan I would strongly recommend to try Japanese food. It is different and delicious. Most food dishes are not spicy in Japan as Japanese people are not fond of spicy food; however, you can request for additional spices in your order in almost all restaurants. Interestingly, Japanese style of presentation resembles to a South Indian plate where small quantities of various dishes are presented in one serving for someone to enjoy different tastes under one roof.

In short, food is no more a ‘Question Mark’ for your preparations to come to Japan. In fact the diversity of food offered here would surprise you. You can eat whatever you want and refresh your taste buds either with native Japanese food, your country’s food or the food of other countries. This is what makes Japan special and cool.