U.S. President Obama was in Tokyo last week.
He had sushi dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Abё at the world-famous Sukiyabashi-Jiro Sushi in Ginza, Tokyo.
That restaurant in said to be the world’s best sushi … and the most expensive. A twenty-piece set costs ￥30,000 (about U.S.$300 ) .
And he could also meet Honda Corp.’s famous “Asimo” (pronounced “Ah-she-mo”) robot:
Here’s a なぞなぞ (Japanese riddle).
Can you guess the answer?
ねだんが分からない寿司はな～んだ？
(What type of sushi has an unknown price?)
Write your answer in the comment section of this post.
I’ll put the correct answer here soon.
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edited: 2013 April 11
Here is the answer (there are two possible answers):
First, the more common answer is:
「いくら」 (fish roe)
This is because 「いくら」 is pronounced “ikura” and is “fish roe”, which is a possible topping on sushi.
But also 「いくら」 (ikura) is the Japanese for “What is the price?”
Another possible answer is:
「はまち」 (Yellowtail Tuna)
This is also a possible answer to the riddle because 「はまち」 is another possible sushi topping, and it’s pronounced hamachi which sounds similar (with a Japanese pronunciation) to the English phrase “How much?“
Do you know what わさび (wasabi) is?
Wasabi is a spicy condiment made from a root. It is most commonly eaten with sushi…but, it is eaten with other foods as well–including avacado, noodles, and mayonnaise.
There are also “wasabi snacks”—potato chips and nuts—in Japan.
I like spicy food. So, I eat wasabi on many different things.
Do you like wasabi?
Well, now McDonalds in Japan is offering a new item…
the 「チキンタツタわさびタルタル」 (which is basically “Fried Chicken with Wasabi Tartar-sauce“) sandwich.
Christmas isn’t nearly as big of a holiday in Japan as it is in western countries.
In Japan, New Years is the biggest holiday.
In Japan, Xmas is a regular workday and many people don’t even bother to celebrate it at all.
Generally speaking, X-mas Eve is considered a romantic evening for couples to go on a date…often to a place with X-mas Illumination, and either on X-mas Eve or X-mas Day families eat a Christmas dinner (often of Kentucky Fried Chicken).
Champagne and “Christmas cake” are popular parts of a X-mas dinner in Japan too.
Japanese X-mas cake (from "Fujiya")
To give you an idea of how X-mas is spent in Japan, some statistics from a poll taken by monitoring group conducting a poll of Japanese people (the respondents were a ratio of 50:50 male:female and between the ages of 20-60):
How important is Christmas in your country? What is your country’s biggest holiday?
How is X-mas celebrated in your country?
Last month, I wrote a post about the Japanese Kappa.
But do you know the inexpensive, but delicious, 寿司 (sushi) chain in Japan called 「かっぱ寿司」 (“Kappa Zushi“)?
All of the sushi there cost only ¥105 each for a plate of two sushi.
Do you like sushi?
Have you ever tried 「かっぱ寿司」 (Kappa-Zushi)?
If you want to visit 「かっぱ寿司」 (Kappa-Zushi) you can find the nearest location by using their website (in Japanese only).
Often words or expressions from one language become part of another language. And sometimes the meaning of the word gets changed.
In Japan, alot of words of foreign origin are used in the Japanese language. Many are used quite differently in Japanese than they are in their country of origin.
For example, パン (pan) is Japanese for bread. It came from the Portuguese word “pão“, which means “bread”. And 「カステラ」 (Kasutera) is the Japanese word for a type of cake that was introduced from Portugal called “Castella“.
There are many others. From English, Japan uses words like 「アイスクリーム」 (ice cream) and バスケットボール (basketball)*.
*(Foreign sports usually keep their original name in Japanese. An exception is 「野球」 (“Yakyuu“) for “baseball”. (lit. “field globe (ball)), which isn’t called by it’s English name because it was introduced to Japan during WW2 when America was considered an enemy.)
Some words are shortened. Such as テレビ (Terebi) for “television”. And some words have morphed into something unrecognizable to English-speakers, such as 「スキンシップ」 (skinship) for “bonding”.
But it works the other way too.
America (and other countries as well, I’m sure) have adopted Japanese words into the English language. Some have retained their original meaning. But others are used with totally different meanings than the “real” Japanese meaning.
And many “Japanese words” in English are pronounced so differently that a Japanese person wouldn’t recognize it.
For example,
★ 「アニメ」 (anime: Japanese animation)
★ 「マンガ」 (manga: Japanese comics)
★ 「オタク」 (otaku: is used as “fanatic” overseas, but “a Trekkie” is closer to the Japanese meaning)
★ 「カラオケ」 (karaoke)
★ 「さようなら」 (sayonara: farewell (not used in Japan in cases when you’ll be seeing the person again before long))
★ 「台風」 (taifuu: in English, the pronunciation morphed to “typhoon”)
★ 「きもの」 (kimono)
★ 「寿司」 (sushi: isn’t “raw fish” (that’s sashimi). Sushi is vinegared-rice with a topping (such as sashimi))
★ 「(お)酒」 ((O)-saké)
★ 「すき焼き」 (sukiyaki)
★ 「相撲」 (sumo: Japan’s national sport)
★ 「芸者」 (Geisha: aren’t prostitutes)
★ 「歌舞伎」 (Kabuki)
A promo poster for a Kabuki show
I’m sure there are more. This is all that I could think of off the top of my head.
Do you know some other instances of Japanese words being popularly used in English (or another language)?
Today my wife and I went to a Levi’s outlet sale in 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo).
We bought some clothes for our kids.
While we were in 新宿 (Shinjuku), we had lunch at 三葉回転寿司 (Mitsuba conveyor-belt sushi).
Do they have 回転寿司 (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurants in your country?
At this type of sushi restaurant, the sushi chef prepares various types of sushi and puts them on different colored plates. Each colored plate represents the price for that particular sushi.
Then the sushi is placed on a conveyor-belt and goes around and when the one you want passes in front of you, you can take it off and eat it.
When you’re ready to leave, the restaurant staff calculates how much you owe by counting the colored plates from all the sushi you ate.
You can also request the sushi chef to make a particular sushi that you want, if you don’t see it on the conveyor.
Here are a few photos I took of the sushi and around 新宿 (Shinjuku):
フグ (Blowfish) skin
This building in Shinjuku has banners advertising Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympics.
The banner says: 「Tokyo 2016. 日本だから、できる。 あたらしいオリンピック！」 ("Tokyo 2016. This is Japan, so we can can do it...a new Olympics!")
In your country, what types of food can you have delivered?
Is it good? Is it expensive?
As far as I remember, in America only pizza and maybe Chinese food is available for delivery.
Isn’t that right?
In Japan, you can have 寿司 (Sushi), カレー (Curried rice), ラメーン (Ramen), お弁当 (Japanese box lunches), 酒 (alcohol), ピザ (pizza), “Kentucky Fried Chicken“, and more delivered to your home.
All of it is quite good and most is quite affordable.
梅酒 (Plum wine) can be delivered to your home (as well as beer, sake, wine, etc)
寿司 (Sushi) is usually about ¥100 (US $0.90) a piece.
カツカレー (Pork cutlet & curry rice)
When you order 出前 (delivery) Sushi, Ramen, Curried rice and other foods like that, it usually comes served on ceramic dishes. When you finish the meal, you wash the dishes and put them outside your front door…and the delivery man comes back the next day to pick up the dishes.
Would such a system work in your country?
One thing that is expensive in Japan is ピザ (pizza), though.
I think the pizza menu is much better in Japan than in America…but many foreigners are surprised by pizza toppings that are popular in Japan, such as Japanese mayonnaise, corn, and potatoes.
Do such pizza toppings seem shocking to you? They’re actually quite good.
Japan has American pizza chains “Dominos” and “Pizza Hut“, as well as domestic chains like “Pizza-La” and “Wheely“.
Because the differences in toppings, pizza restaurants in Japan (even the American one) serve better side menus, desserts and drink choices than in America. (Most Japanese people could never eat just pizza for dinner. They want a salad and maybe some other side dish, as well.)
Another difference is the price. We almost never order a pizza…as I mentioned above, Japanese food is much more affordable in Japan than pizza.
For example, I checked prices on both the U.S. “Dominos“ and Japanese “Dominos“ websites.
In America, a large “Honolulu Hawaiian” pizza with a coupon costs US$13 (¥1198*)…but a comparable pizza at Dominos in Japan is called the 「トロピカル」 (“Tropical“) and costs ¥3100 (US $33.65*) for a large pie.
*(US dollar amounts are based on the ¥→US$ exchange rate on February 8, 2009. The US dollar is currently very weak.)
U.S. "Dominos" menu
At "Dominos Japan", you can get a "Quattro" pizza and a salad or potatoes for about US$25.
Kids' "Pikachu set" at "Dominos Japan"
"Mayo, Tuna, Corn Pizza" is actually quite good!
Baked potato is a side-dish at Dominos Japan.
Shrimp and potatoes is another side-menu here.
Dominos Japan's drink choices: Coke, orange juice, 御茶 (Green Tea), 紅茶 (Brown Tea)
Tokyo Five 
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