Arrived in Kansai 3/17...
 

Just got to Japan for 12 days...went to a sweet yakitori restaurant for dinner...but am exhausted.

I'll be there on 3/25. Where was the restaurant?

:ywave: welcome back then.. weather is nice lately :vsign:

Enjoy your break there. :)

my dad makes a great yakitori chicken dish. XD

ooh, TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS MMM. ^^ pretty please

trust me, with food you should NEVER worry what it looks like... Japanese food is, on the whole, a LOT better than any of the 14 other countries I have visited... even the cheaper restaurants serve delicious food!

Remember, you taste with your tongue, not with your eyes so don't judge a book by its cover etc

I find Japanese food kinda ..cleaner.. than foods from other cultures. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems that they don't really encourage mixing flavours, rather keeping the flavours simple. Probably because of that, and other reasons, I don't think theres many kinds of foods in Japan that will completely take you surprise, I can only think of Nattou and maybe the first pinch of wasabi to the unexpecting tourist.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yakitori is just skewered BBQed chicken, nothing to really worry about there (unless they undercook it).

Congrats on your trip, MMM! Will you get a chance to visit Wakayama-ken by any chance, my old stomping grounds? What's your itinerary?

have fun MMM :)

^wow samurai007 your from Wakayama? My family lives there! ^^

Really? What city or town? Tell me a bit about yourself, if you don't mind...

That may have something to do with Buddhist way of thinking. You should not waste food, and all pieces of plant and animal life should be consumed.

• sasami (ささみ), skinless breast pieces
• kappa (かっぱ), cartilage (from the breast)
• hatsu (ハツ) or kokoro (こころ), heart
• rebā (レバー) or aka (アカ), liver
• sunagimo (砂肝), gizzard
• tsukune (つくね), meatballs
• tebasaki (手羽先), wing
• bonjiri　(ぼんじり), tail
• shiro (シロ), small intestines

I had lots of Yakitori, and I never had any of that stuff... it was usually just thigh meat. I suppose in some places you could order that stuff if you wanted it, but that isn't the way it's usually served.

The devout Buddhists I knew in Japan tended to be vegetarians and didn't eat any meat...

Maybe they show all the weirder variations because usual yakitori isn't interesting enough for a whole show? All the ones I saw were regular skewered chicken pieces, very yummy :)

Some monks tend to be strictly vegetarian, and most practice vegetarianism at least when training at a monastery, but otherwise they eat meat. Kamakura Buddhism de-emphasized vegetarianism somewhat. Eating seafood, eggs and chicken has been tolerated.

i'll PM you... :ywave:

No internet where I am staying, so I am at an internet cafe right now.

12 days because that's all the time I could take off work.

In Nishinomiya...a very local place...but there are surely hundreds if not thousands of delicious yakitori places in Japan.


I will not be going to Wakayama this time. I was going to visit a friend there, but our schedules didn't match up.

Yakitori is really good. I've even made it a few times myself. I first learned in class. It's also a nice appetizer snack. At the sushi restaurant that my cousin and I frequent at times, we might get some.

That aside, the main part of the chicken that seems to be used for the dish is skinless, boneless thighs.