I think about the food that I ate in Japan constantly. Sure, the ramen and sushi and other regional specialties were incredible but just the normal everyday food was mind blowing.

 

Eggs

Why didn’t anyone tell me that the eggs in Japan are insanely delicious? We grabbed some hard boiled eggs from 7-Eleven for snacks and did not anticipate the flavor bomb that ensued. Usually, hard boiled eggs are something you only eat for sustenance and not enjoyment but the eggs we got were intensely flavorful and full of umami. I felt like I had never eaten an egg before. The yolk was creamy, a vivid orange, and a little sweet.

 

Convenience Store Food

The food at Japanese convenience stores, or conbinis, is much higher quality compared to what I normally associate with U.S. convenience stores. It’s typical for people to get onigiri (rice balls) or tamagoyaki (rolled omelette) for breakfast. Conbinis also have sushi, curry, soba noodles, rice bowls, salad, bento boxes, sandwiches, and more that actually looks and tastes pretty good. I loved getting the hardboiled eggs, salmon onigiri, and inari (rice in fried tofu skin).

The packaging of the onigiri is ingenious. There is a piece of plastic that separates the seaweed and rice until you’re ready to eat it so it doesn’t get soggy.

 

Inari

I am an inari fiend and will eat it nonstop if it’s readily available. It’s a pretty simple food but I should have known that Japan would find a way to elevate it. While looking for food at the train station, I came across a really long line that extended past the doors. I was curious as to what was so popular and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was an inari shop. I stood in line and debated on what to order. The display case was full of plump little tofu pockets filled with all kinds of different flavored rice.

When it was my turn, I pointed at what seemed like the bestseller and bounded away with my tiny bag of golden deliciousness. I have eaten a LOT of inari in my life but the ones that I got from this shop were far and away the best ones that I’ve ever eaten. When I took them out of the bag, the inari was a perfect golden brown. They had been carefully shaped into two almost identical pouches. I bit into one and I was in heaven. The rice was delicately seasoned with soy sauce, sesame seeds, and pickled vegetables. It seemed like each grain of rice had been individually flavored and placed for my enjoyment.

 

Fruit

Japan takes fruit way more seriously than any other country. Department store food halls are full of beautifully packaged $100 melons and $25 strawberries. “Common” fruit like apples and oranges can be comparably priced to ones you get at the grocery store in America but they taste much better. The apples I got from the markets in Japan were incredibly fragrant and crisp. The oranges were sweet and exploded with juice when I peeled them. If the $1 apples and oranges were that good, I can only imagine what their luxury counterparts taste like.

 

Beef

After eating Japanese BBQ and shopping at the grocery stores in Japan, one thing that struck me was how marbled all the beef is compared to what we have in the U.S. I would expect that with high-end wagyu but not with ordinary short rib or skirt steak. Like many things in Japan, I don’t understand how they achieve this but I’m very grateful I had the chance to eat it!

 

Sushi

You have to eat sushi when you’re in Japan and like in the U.S., the price can vary widely. One thing I love about Japan is that even the sushi I had at an affordable conveyer belt restaurant was some of the best that I’ve ever had. The sushi had a generous amount of fresh fish and the rice was well seasoned. Even casual restaurants have bidding rights to the famous Tsukiji fish market so you know the quality of most sushi in Japan is unmatched.