torakris

"ETHNIC" SHOPPING AREAS There are a couple areas around Japan that seem to have a cluster of "ethnic" shops Tokyo's Okubo station area http://www.luckyfrog.com/ethpara/index.html Tokyo's Ameyokocho area http://www.ameyoko.net/shop_guide/gyokai/food.html Tokyo's Kappabashi shopping district http://host.goo.ne.jp/kappabashi/top.html Yokohama's China town http://www.chinatown.or.jp/1index.html Kobe's China town (Nankinmachi) http://www.nankinmachi.or.jp/cgi-bin2/db2w...ex_1.d2w/report Nagasaki's Shinchi China town http://www.nagasaki-chinatown.com/ Kawasaki's Korean town http://www.totenkaku.biz/koreamap/koreatownshop2.htm

a "tasting" of the new winter beers/chu-hi http://www.japan-zine.com/Feature.htm

CHEESE SHOPS Fromagerie Depart (online) http://www.fromage.jp/ Aromassimo http://www.aromassimo.co.jp/ Order cheese (online) http://www.order-cheese.com/a8/ Fromagerie Fermier http://shopping.fermier.fm/

GENERAL INTERNATIONAL ONLINE ONLY FBC express (online only express service of the Foreign Buyer's Club) http://www.fbcexpress.com/cart/customer/home.php @mart (mostly American, some European) http://www.mart.co.jp/ Price Club Online (mostly American) http://www.price-club.co.jp/e/index.html Iiajisagashi (Americas, Europe, Asia) http://www.world-foods.jp/index.html Select Foods Mart Kataoka ( mostly coffee & teas but some other foods as well) http://store.yahoo.co.jp/kataoka/index.html Kishi Photo (this is a camera shop that sells food from all over the world ) http://www.kishiphoto.co.jp/products/food1.html Dining Plus (American, European) http://www.dining-plus.com/shop/goods/goods.asp Food Net (Gourmet foods) http://www.zest.ne.jp/foodnet/index.asp Chef pride (American, European, Australian, a lot of meat/seafoods) http://www.chefpride.co.jp/ Catalog City Online Japan (this lets you shop online from various ctalogs, mostly US, but they all ship to Japan and prices are listed in dollars as well as yen) http://jp.catalogcity.com/cc.class/cc?main...20791&ccsyn=804

COSTCO JAPAN Costco isn't really so special that it needs it own thread, it's just that there doesn't seem to be a Japanese homepage, so I will be giving different ones for all of the stores plus the online services that have sprung up that will deliver Costco goodies to your door. Costco.com (from this page choose Japan from the coutry list and click go, then click on the store you want to find out the information about it in English) http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=inf...locations%2Easp There are five stores in Japan Tamasakai, Tokyo http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~shirabe/Local/Costco.htm Kanazawa Seaside http://www.costco.co.jp/eng/whs_862.htm Makuhari, Chiba http://nanairo.ocn.ne.jp/monitor_costco.html Amagasaki, Hyogo http://www.flat-85.com/85_nosusume5.html Hisayama, Fukuoka http://www.torius.co.jp/shops/costco/costco.htm The Flying Pig will deliver Costco products to your door (English) http://www.theflyingpig.com/tfp/Shop.ASP So will Costcost21 (Japanese) http://costcost21.com/

I don't know too much about the "Chinese" mushrooms but here is some info on the Japanese ones There are a couple basic grades: donko, the highest grade and the most prized of these is the hana donko, these tend to be small and the caps curved so tightly under they almost appear round. The hana donko often have a beautiful pattern, like cracks, on the cap. It is best to soak these overnight. koushin, these are the thin flat ones that have no curling of the cap kouko, are in between donko and koushin, of a medium thickness they have caps that are curled under at the end bareha, are the really cheap ones, very thin and flat, they have edges that look frayed, these need a very short soak to be reconstituted. look here for pictures: http://www.jinseki.co.jp/kind.html the text in Japanese, so here is the order hana donko donko kouko koushin bareha (sliced)

Sunday night chirashi(scattered) sushi with fresh tuna and avocado tofu patties with 7 kinds of vegetables inside (including wood ear mushrooms, kabocha, green beans) this is a wonderful purchased product that I serve with ponzu satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato) miso soup with yuzu-koshou (green chile and yuzu paste) dessert grapes

word for 12/8: メロン meron Melon, the Japanese love melons and they are they are one of the most popular fruits to serve after a meal. There are a huge variety of melons grown in Japan (less than 10% are imported) and I will spend the next couple of days talking about some of the most popular.

Are you thinking of something that easy that is eaten as a meal/snack? or of something spreadable? If it is something snack/meal like I would say onigiri (rice balls) are the best equivalent.

If you want something the kids will really like go for Hi-chew, they are soft chewy candies thata re sort of the candy of the moment right now. http://www.morinaga.co.jp/hi-chew/ or if you want something more "traditional" (not the best word when referring to candy ) you could go with any of the Milky products that have been around forever and are still popular. http://peko-oyatsu.com/shohin/index.html

I have moved on to pistachios and am thinking about an iced coffee

Another flyer in my newspaper, this time for a place called Two Way Pizza and since it doesn't even deliver to my area I am not sure why I received it...... Even if it was in my area I doubt I would order They have what they are calling the "edge series", I think this is a take off on the sausage stuffed crust but theirs looks like a minced up formed into a roll was this really ever a meat product thing. AND they have a variety of flavors!! choose from: pork edge chicken edge Chinese edge Keema curry edge hamburger edge terichiki (teriyaki chicken?) edge and if that wasn't enough you have a variety of sauces as well! plain old boring pizza sauce Genova sauce (pesto) goma-dare sauce (sesame) demi glace sauce gourmet curry sauce mapo sauce (like for mapodofu) or there are even some sauceless ones AND then there is my favorite magarine sauce homepage: http://www.twowaypizza.co.jp/

iced coffee and wishing I hadn't finished up that box of chocolate covered almonds yesterday....

Gorgeous plate! Saturday night, husband was out and I had a headache the kids had mac and cheese (from a box) with green peas and I had blue cheese on club crackers with some chocolate covered almonds (when the kids weren't looking) dessert: popsicles

Forgot to say it is a tanzou (hammered?) and it also of the suminagashi style which I am not sure what this exactly means as I could only find a couple references on google to this and still couldn't figure it out.

I was hoping someone else would tackle this question because I know nothing about knives..... Here goes anyway The little blurb about the knife is writtn by one person who visited the shop of this 5th generation knife maker and bought a knife. He comments that he used it every day and that after 2 months of constant use it still beautifully slices onions and tomatoes without even one sharpening. He also says that the tip of the knife curves ever so gently while cutting and that unlike other knives that curve this one slices perfectly. Then there is the general information about the knife made from high carbon stainless V gold 10 with 1.0% carbon 15% Chromium 1.0% Molybdenum 0.2% Vanadium 1.5% Cobalt It is good as an all-purpose every day knife

Oh dear, I am ashamed to admit that I like the milk tea in the can better than the milk tea I make at home..... Here is my favorite http://www.cocacola.co.jp/products/lineup/kotyakaden/ the first one in the short blue can

word for 12/7: ネクタリン nekutarin (neh-koo-tah-rheen) nectarine Though they are still pretty much newcomers to the Japanese market, the Japanese farmers now produce over 80% of the market. They seem to be rising in popularity every year, their season lasts through the summer but peaks in August. nectarine: http://www.maruka-ishikawa.co.jp/images/ve...ure/nectar1.jpg

I guess I have been in Japan too long because I don't find this idea strange at all. Actually it is not to bad, especially in a warmed can...... Anyone else drink milk tea or buy any of the numerous milk tea flavored products? there was some discussion of this in the engrish thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=20442

here is the thread we had on Japanese vending machines: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry276667 In the winter a lot of vending machines turn to warmers and serve warm drinks, most of them are half and half and you can buy either hot or cold. You can tell the difference because hot drinks will have the price written on a red background and cold drinks on a blue one.... Hot drinks in cans are wonderful in the winter, they can be almost painful to hold at first but then you cup both hands around them and they warm up the whole body.

NATURAL FOODS Tengu Natural Foods (online shop) http://www.alishan-organic-center.com/en/t.../shop/index.htm Kansai Consumer's Club (online shop) http://www.kansai-cc.co.jp/zenkoku/efrontpage.htm Organic Cyber Store (online shop) http://www.organic.co.jp/indexnew.htm Radish Boya (home delivery service) http://www.radishbo-ya.co.jp/ Warabemura Wholefoods (mail order) http://www.warabe.co.jp/english2.html

a little more information on osechi with recipes for some of the dishes including Kansai and Kanto versions of ozouni: http://www.shejapan.com/jtyeholder/jtye/li...hi/osechi0.html

INDIAN FOODS Ambika (online/"real" shop--Tokyo) http://www.ambikajapan.com/ Bindi (online/"real" shop--Tokyo) http://www.bindi.org/index_j.html Ohtsuya (online/"real"shop--Tokyo) http://www.ohtsuya.com/ Indojin (online/"real" shop--Yokohama) http://www.indojin.com/

CHINESE FOODS (most of the Chinese food shops will be covered in the General Asian category) Ryuuka (online/"real" shop--Yokohama) http://www.ryuuka.co.jp/ Saikousai (online/"real" shop-- Yokohama) http://www.saikousai.jp/ Banraiko (online/"real" shop--Yokohama) http://www.banraiko.com/ Chugoku boueki koushi ("real" shop--Yokohama) http://www.walkerplus.com/yokohama/gourmet...china222_c.html

FOODS FROM THE PHILIPPINES Philippines Market (online shop from Fukuoka) http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~phil/index.html Kabayan (online) http://homepage3.nifty.com/paranaque/index.htm Bayong (Philippines) (online/"real" store--Chiba) http://bayong.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index.html Buds Corporation (online from Nagoya) http://www.buds.jp/ Akabane Bussan (online) http://www.akabanebussan.com/