Category: Japan

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#foodie dining out Japan Japanese culture

"Ladies’ Set" on Japanese Menus

I took several pictures of my lunch from today, but this is the only one I shall feature. It was the dessert, and I’m not sure if you can tell or not, but this little dessert was really tiny. It would probably not even pass as a kid’s dessert in the US; probably would pass for a toddler’s portion.

Anyway, as the title says, today I discovered that in some restaurants in Japan, there are designated sets for men or women; this little tidbit of information stunned me a bit as I listened to my Japanese friends explain the difference between the two sets. Men’s sets are bigger in portion, have certain foods that are more “manly”, etc. Meanwhile, with the majority of Japanese women who actually diet as a “hobby” (!!), the women’s set is usually a lot smaller, healthier (which is a good thing), and a few other things that I forget.

I feel like such set menus would not/could not exist in the US; after all, the society in the US is a bit more balanced (in some ways) when it comes to gender. Both men AND women want to be healthier, eat better portions, etc. With the idea of sets for each gender in Japan, it goes to show how different and more traditional the society still is.

I mention this fact since my friends and I actually ordered the women’s set at the pasta restaurant we went to. It came with a generous portion of pasta with a salad and this dainty dessert. I forget what the men’s set had–don’t think it had salad though.

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#foodie Japan restaurant

Denny’s in Japan.

I had a friend tell me before that the Denny’s in Japan is much more different from the Denny’s in the US. Granted, I kind of assumed that most things exported to Japan were different from the US versions, but my curiosity was piqued.

Well, indeed, the Denny’s in Japan was quite different. For starters, they had morning/lunch/evening menus, as opposed to having an all-day menu. The breakfasts are a mix of Western and Japanese breakfasts; I decided to try the traditional-style Japanese breakfasts since after all, I am in Japan.

This breakfast was the bacon/egg breakfast set. Bacon and eggs are more American, but they were made the Japanese way (eggs a little runny, the bacon with some fat intact). I enjoyed eating them with the rice and the nattou (fermented soybeans). I know I certainly left Denny’s with a full and happy stomach.

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#foodie Japan Japanese food sweet treats

Another visit to Wired Cafe…

I woke up late today, had a small breakfast consisting of junk food from the convenience store. Had to wait around for the mailman so I could pick up an important package for myself; after receiving the package, I decided I would go out for some dessert.

I ventured all the way back to Wired Cafe to get free wireless and try out one of their desserts. This was the chocolate parfait; expensive (around 600 yen), yet it was so delicious anyway. Cornflakes, soft cream, chocolate drizzle, marshmallows…my mouth is just watering trying to re-live the experience.

It’s too bad that I am not staying anywhere close to Shinjuku; Tachikawa is 26 minutes from Shinjuku. A long and somewhat expensive train-ride; I am not aware of any free wireless spots in Tachikawa, so in order to get Internet working on my laptop, I have to come to Wired Cafe. I could use the Internet cafes in Tachikawa, but I really prefer using my laptop to access the Internet since my laptop has all the information I need.

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#foodie Japan Japanese culture Japanese food

Matcha Latte and a Danish.


Caffe Veloce in Tachikawa; for only the past couple of days, I have passed by this little caffe a few times to and from the station. After visiting some old haunts in Harajuku/Shibuya today, I decided to stop into Caffe Veloce and have myself a small treat and a drink.

This was my first time trying green tea/”matcha” latte in Japan. I’m sure the drink was around when I was in Japan two years ago, but I guess I didn’t take much interest in any tea drinks back then. Tasting the latte was a new experience for me; it tasted just like authentic green tea, with a hint of cream and milk. A little strong for any other Westerner, but I personally liked the taste.

The danish was standard, nothing special. Maybe a little less sweet than its Western counterparts. The Japanese are known to have milder flavors of a lot of Western foods/sweets, which I actually prefer a lot more. I don’t feel like I am getting diabetes from eating a Japanese sweet; when I eat sweets in the US, I sometimes feel like I may have to go to the hospital from the extreme sugar rush. Okay, perhaps that’s just an exaggeration, but I can’t help it when I say that most sweets/desserts in the US are TOO sweet for my liking.

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#foodie Japan Japanese food

Omelet Rice @ Wired Cafe (Shinjuku)


I stumbled to this cafe in Shinjuku because my friend told me that there was free wireless available here. I’m still getting re-acquainted with the area, so I come to this cafe located on 7F of LUMINE 2 in Shinjuku station.

This was my first real meal in Tokyo; I didn’t eat anything on the day of arrival besides some onigiri and water. It felt nice to finally eat something of substance; omelet rice with a tomato-based mix of vegetables and a small side salad. This was one of Wired Cafe’s lunch specials of the week; granted, it was a little pricey for my tastes (roughly 980 yen), but I didn’t mind so much since I got a good amount of food in the deal. Plus, the drink was included in the set.