Day one was spent wandering around a nearby temple immersed crowds, jetlag and OMG we're actually in Japan. Hunger finally overtook our cultureshock and we entered a nearby vendor of noodles completely stunned that we had only our phrasebooks to help us and the patience of those in the service industry here. Well after ordering what I thought was a safe vegetarian option of miso dipping noodles ( a miso soup with a plate of noodles to dunk it in), I was surprised to find big chunks of pork floating around in it. Not being all that strict a vegetarian I shrugged and picked out the pork and was happy to have food in my belly.
That night we hit Shibuya which is an area of Tokyo that's like Robson Street in Vancouver on an extemely busy Friday night but multiplied to the power of 100. Numbed by the continual bombardment of video screens on every building, blinking signs we can't read (or in broken english), and a parade of Tokyo's prettiest, most metrosexual 20 somethings, we sought shelter in another place to get some noodles. This I place another sure bet on noodles from the clearly labelled (in english/romanji) "Vegetable dishes" section of the menu but alas, mystery meat was abundantly spread throughout and proudly defined as "pork" by our server. Yes ladies & gentlemen, pork is the new vegetable and my new favourite Japanese expressions are:
Niku wa tabemasen.- I don't eat meat. Bejitarian no ryori ga armasu ka? - Do you have any vegetarian dishes?
These helpful expressions were brought to us by Sara Juel McLaughlin for lending us a very well used Phrasebook!
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Amanda flipped us your blog. Have a fabulous time in Tokyo! Dan & I saw a show just last night on OLN, 2 cdn dudes travelling through Tokyo, we'd love to see Japan one day! Lil & Dan
ReplyDeleteSomehow I knew this was going to happen to you two! On my travels in Hong Kong I ran into "mystery meat" aka "pork". you just have to go with it and good on you for coping with picking the meat out, you'll most likely have to do that a lot!
ReplyDeleteSo great to see you before you left. I realized when I drove away I don't see you enough and didn't even wish you a happy anniversary....bad Ali! So happy anniversary, I love the blog and will keep reading!
Lots of love,
Ali :)
oh my buddhas
ReplyDeleteflash backs to china where i ended up laminating a post it note in mandarin script-can i please have vegitarian with no pork and while you are at it hold the tones of msg
love to you both
sarita
ps thanks for the card mere and all the lovely clothes.