Tim Anderson

It's not in Tokyo (but only a 40-minute train ride away), but if you can only go to one place in the area it has to be the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum. I went to eight or nine different food museums/food theme parks while I was in Japan doing research, and the Ramen Museum was hands-down the best one, with the possible exception of the Kirin Yokohama Beer Village (but I only liked that one so much because of the little free nomihodai they had at the end of the tour). The museum itself is awesome - they've constructed a nostalgic vision of a 1958 street scene with painstaking detail - and the FOOD. Oh my good god the food... they've got outposts of eight different legendary ramen shops from all over Japan there, and each one is delicious and unique. You can order mini-ramen from each shop for about 500-600 yen, so you can sample many shops' ramens in one day without feeling sick to your stomach afterwards. If you go, you must try Keyaki's Sapporo-style ramen and Komurasaki's delectably garlicky Kyuushuu-style ramen. They're heavenly. Between meals, you can peruse extensive collections of ramen bowls and instant ramen packaging, learn about how the noodles vary from region to region, and view cup ramen commercials from the '60s and '70s. It's a good time. The museum's English page: http://www.raumen.co.jp/ebook/e/e/webt/wys...win_viewer.html Unfortunately it doesn't display correctly in Safari (if you're a Mac user), but Firefox works.

Bad news, everybody. But let me preface this bad news by saying, I knew this was going to happen! Back when I first started eating JBz, I thought... man, why aren't these more popular? They're delicious! They are absolutely, hands-down, one million times tastier and more fun to eat than M&Ms. The more I ate them and the more I thought about them, I began to formulate a theory: since M&Ms all taste the same, you can eat more than one at a time without having to worry about the flavors clashing. JBz, on the other hand, are all individually flavored and so you can only eat them one by one, or in carefully calculated combinations. I suspected that most people want to get a more substantial amount of chocolate in their mouths than a single M&M or JB provides (i.e., they want to eat more than one at a time), and they don't want to worry about mismatching flavors. Hence, the popularity of JBz dwindled, and recently, M&Ms released their so-called "Mega" M&Ms. And the bad news: JBz has streamlined their menu from the original twenty flavors to a lame, concilliatory twelve. The new flavors, I noticed, are much more compatible with each other than the original batch. Gone are the bolder varieties like sizzling cinnamon, licorice, juicy pear, tutti frutti, apricot, buttered popcorn, and my personal favorite, honey graham cracker. New entries: caramel, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate fudge brownie. Frankly, I am surprised that mint wasn't eliminated, since it's kind of a wild card in a new batch and doesn't quite fit with the other flavors. Overall, however, the new JBz seem to be geared towards faster, less thoughtful consumption. And the extra bad news: I don't think it's helping JBz sales! JBz used to be available at Target, most grocery stores, drugstores, and even 7-Eleven. Now they're nowhere to be found! Are we in danger of losing one of the most unique candies America has to offer? All because our culture is obsessed with portion size? I encourage everyone to buy as many JBz as they can before it's too late! AND BOYCOTT MEGA M&Ms!

At a souvenir store in Sapporo station, they were selling cans of whale curry (along with seal, bear, and deer curry), but they were 1000 yen each so I didn't buy it. Has anybody tried any of these? I went to an Ainu restaurant while I was there, too, hoping I'd get to try some bear, but I had no luck. Speaking of Ainu food, this is a long shot, but does anyone know of any literature on it (cookbooks, histories, etc.)? I'd love to find out more.

I have found that a lot of the California short grains that claim to not need washing are full of crap and come out of the cooker all slimy if you don't give them a good wash. Plus I think it's good practice to wash it anyway, just to get all the bugs out.

In Kyoto, there is a woman who teaches cooking classes out of her home to very small groups of people or in one-on-one sessions (I was the only one there when I took the class). She teaches you how to make basic, traditional Kansai foods, and her lesson is different in each session, which probably has a lot to do with the importance of seasonal ingredients. I didn't make anything too exciting (mostly vegetables, rice, and tofu), but the class provided me with an idea of what essentials I should have around my kitchen for doing my own Japanese cooking. If memory serves, it took about two hours and it was only 3000 yen. It was fun! She also gives good advice on where to eat and what to do in Kyoto, and she directed me to an awesome noodle/nabe shop that I never would have found on my own. Her name is Mariko and she is very sweet and helpful. Oh, and she does speak English, but if you know a little Japanese you'll have more fun. Here is her info - scroll down to "Japanese Cuisine Classes."