Japan Eats

The pictures above were taken at a recent dinner while in Japan. The first dish is my favorite Japanese dish; karaage. Karaage is chicken that has been marinated in sake, garlic, soy, ginger, and other spices, then deep fried. mmmm Japanese fried chicken. The chicken retains much of it's seasoning while remaining crispy. I am from the South so fried food are one of our major food groups. This dish fits nicely into my Southern diet. Now if I could get a glass of sweet tea to go with this dish -Yum! The second dish is Hamachi Kama or grilled tuna collar. All foodies know that the collar of any fish is the best part due to the sweet, robust flavor. I don't know the name of the third dish, but it was some type of beef stew with potatoes, onion, and soy sauce. This is Japanese comfort food. I would be very happy with this over rice any day. The last dish is the most adventurous. It is an entire steamed octopus. Scissors are used to cut the octopus into bite-size and chopstick manageable pieces. The taste is what I imagine a bicycle inner tube would be like if it sat at the bottom of the ocean for a few years. More karaage please.