We Wander… We Wonder!!

When friends and family had learned about our temporary assignment in Japan, everyone was excited for us because we are going to be at the heart of the most sought after food in the world. Everyone talks about the freshest Sushi, The best ramen, made from scratch Udon, Yakitori, Kobe beefs, and every type of Sake you can name 🙂

So here we are, a month into the best place to have food. Let me share with you our journey.

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the foundation to human existence is the fulfillment of our most basic needs. Food, water, clothing, and shelter. As we moved from our very comfortable home in Chandler Arizona, that foundation was shaken a little bit. It was not taken away, just shaken. For a child’s eye it may seem different. When we arrived at 10pm in the evening, we were all starving, but so so tired, we just all went to bed. The morning I woke up, I had felt this anxiety. Like my chest is caving in and the air in the room is not enough. I took deep breaths. I knew where it is coming from. I have 2 kids sleeping, and they will wake up starving. And I want to fulfill their basic need to eat, and I do not know a lot, my fears are getting into me. Thankfully, the serviced apartment had some basic items to get me into gear. There’s coffee, eggs, milk, fruit juices.

On our first day, we went to Kura sushi. Yes, the same Kura sushi that we have in the US. The same conveyor, super cool, robot-delivered-drinks. We are ready for Kura Sushi, after all we had been going to the Chandler and Dobson Kura Sushi every weekend. We have learned to eat sushi and used chopsticks. We are ready! We got it, and I am so proud of my 11yo able to figure out how to get a table, you basically need to input information, print a ticket, and get seated. Well, we were not ready for Kura Sushi, Tokyo 🙂 But we had a good time, A for effort. Even with a beer, some sushi is just a bit too much for our liking. We ended up ordering udon and fried chicken 🙂

I would like to think of our family as the easiest people to feed. That is because we eat the same thing all the time 🙂 You can ask my kids and they can recite to you our meal plan every week. They know, Monday is salmon, Tuesday is taco night, and so forth. We are creature of habits. We are also not the best people that will venture into new food territory 🙂 and the We starts from me. I am quite single minded with food. I do not want meal time to be stressful. But we keep trying. For example, we ordered this gazpacho at a beautiful restaurant with a view of Tokyo Tower.

We keep trying, slowly and surely we have 🙂 We had found this Oyster restaurant that has map of Oysters in Japan. A soba place in Kyoto. A Chinese restaurant in Shibuya. And my kids have now enjoyed having Indian food 🙂 wow and what a story to tell people. They learned to eat Indian food in Japan 😀

And, when you’re up against a wall and you’re hungry, there’s always always dessert! 😀 I had this mochi bowl for lunch for example 🙂 and crepes everywhere! Hard to pass that one out.

What you would notice is that we like to find food restaurants with a view. A nice atmosphere to relax and soak in the environment. So when they say people eat with their eyes, we do eat with our eyes 🙂

For all of you parents thinking of an expat experience, go easy on yourself and the kids. I personally feel that this is not the time, when everyone is trying to find their footing, to impose upon taking on new food. It is the time to feel safe and secure. That yes, we can live here! Yes we can have a good time here. Because after all there’s pizza, pasta, mac and cheese, and most especially Costco!! 😀 Slowly and slowly we will build our tolerance for new food. We have kept out burger and taco tradition as a family. Now, a month in, we can expand our taste buds.

If you were looking for some gastronomic experience, sorry to disappoint you. We as family are not foodies.

I have to tell you about this time when I was going to have lunch at this place that looked like in a middle of a garden. It’s beautiful. But I was so hungry. I put my name in, and waited 10min. When I was called, I was ready. I was ready to have pizza. I was not ready for pizza with no cheese, no tomatoes, but small fishes 😦 I was so shocked. But yet, I stayed, I asked it to boxed, enjoyed my lunch. For me it is just food. I am still in the Maslow’s foundation, I need food to stave off hunger 🙂 so I ordered pasta and all is good in the world again 🙂