There is no singular simmering sauce used in all dishes, but popular ones include dashi (the stock used in miso soup), soy sauce, and mirin (a type of rice wine). Ingredients typically (but not always) included are onions, eggs, and seafood. One of the most popular types of donburi is oyakodon, which literally means “parent-child donburi.” This is because it consists of both chicken (the “parent”) and egg (“the child”). Oyakodon also includes onions and may be simmered in a variety of sauces, but is usually simmered in a soy sauce mixture.

Another popular donburi dish is katsudon, which features fried pork cutlets, egg, and onions. However, there are many seafood varieties, such as tenshidon, which offers a crab meat omelet over rice, and tekkadon, which features spicy raw tuna and seaweed. There’s also unadon, which includes cooked eel.

You can find beef in donburi dishes such as gyuudon, which features just beef and onions, and tanindon, which is like oyakodon, only with beef in place of the chicken. (“Tanin” means “stranger,” since the beef and egg would have no familial relation.)

Donburi are typically inexpensive dishes available quick to order. You may find a small Japanese restaurant with only counter seating, but turnover is fast since the food is made quickly and you’ll be able to get a seat without much wait. Just don’t linger around more than necessary, as you’ll want to free up your seat for another customer.

Donburi dishes are also popular ways to prepare leftovers and give them additional flavor. Home chefs need only simmer some meat and vegetables from a previous meal together in sauce and serve them over steamed rice.

Have you ever eaten a donburi dish? Which one? Which ones sounds the most appealing to you and why?

Curry has only been in Japan since the late 19^th century, but it’s already considered a fairly quintessential Japanese dish. Curry made its way to Japan via the English Navy. As India was an English colony at the time, the British had been influenced by Indian cooking and introduced the way in which they replicated the dish to the Japanese once Japan opened up to the West. In the British recipe, curry mimicked the style of Western stew, and that became the basis of Japanese curry.

Japanese curry took a while to catch on, but it positively flourished in the late 1960s. Besides being available in many food stands and restaurants, the curry roux mix made it possible for Japanese homemakers to easily make the dish at home. It wasn’t until the 1990s that actual Indian-style curry became somewhat popular in Japan as well.

Japanese curry is traditionally much less spicy than Indian curry, although it can be extra spicy at the chef’s discretion. The sauce is typically made from curry powder, flour and oil (and can more easily be purchased rather than made in the form of curry roux in supermarkets). The basic vegetables cooked in the sauce are carrots, onions and potatoes, but the chef can add any number of vegetables (and fruits!), such as peas, scallops, eggplants, turnips, broccoli, lotus roots, pears, melons and apples. Also in the curry is usually a meat, either cooked without additives or deep-fried first. Popular choices in Japan include beef, pork, chicken, oyster, duck and even deer.

Served over rice, Japanese curry is known as just “karee” or “karee raisu.” Other popular ways to eat Japanese curry include as the filling in bread (“karee pan”), over Japanese noodles (“karee udon”), with a raw egg (“yaki karee”) and as a soup (“suupu karee”). Japanese curry is usually quite affordable and can be found at most types of restaurants in Japan, fast-food and sit-down alike.

Have you tried Japanese curry? Did you like it more or less than Indian curry? Which type of Japanese curry seems the most appealing to you?

Most Japanese hamburgers (known as “hanbaagu” in Japan) are similar to what is known as “hamburger steak” in the West. Eaten with a knife and fork on a plate (with no bun), the Japanese hamburger patty is made from beef or pork (or both) and is minced together with onions, breadcrumbs, eggs and/or a mixtures of spices. The patty is then served with the diner’s topping of choice, which is typically a combination of any of the following: a fried egg, teriyaki sauce, demi-glace brown sauce, or vegetables.

When the Japanese decide to make hamburgers at home, more often than not it’s the hamburger steak. This is also a popular dish in family restaurants and other restaurants serving Western-style food.

The Japanese actually do have American-style hamburgers complete with a bun, called “hanbaagaa,” in the American-export fast food chains, such as McDonald’s and Burger King, as well as in other Asian burger franchises. However, the Japanese find holding their food directly with their hands unsanitary. If you order a hamburger in Japan, don’t be surprised to find it served in cup-shaped tissue paper that you’re expected not to unwrap. You hold onto the burger by gripping the tissue paper portion (careful not to bite into the paper!), allowing you to eat the hamburger without touching your food directly.

Another way that the Western-style burger differs in Japan is in the toppings. Teriyaki sauce-covered patties, fried egg-covered patties, shrimp croquette-covered patties, patties made from tofu, and even pork cutlets in place of the beef make for popular hamburgers in Japan. Some hamburger buns are even made entirely from rice grains!

Have you ever had a Japanese hanbaagu or hanbaagaa? What did you think of them? Would you be interested in trying one? Do you like the idea of not touching your burger with your hands for sanitary reasons?

Onigiri is rice that’s specially prepared to remain sticky so that it’s easily shaped. The rice (white rice only) isn’t rinsed before cooking, which helps contribute to its stickiness and makes it clump together. The rice also can’t be instant rice and is usually short-grain. Depending on the chef, a small amount of salt may be added to help preserve the rice but is not always necessary.

The rice is then shaped into a convenient small form. Although usually translated as “rice balls,” onigiri are more often triangular in shape than circular, but they can also be circular, oval or rectangular (often confusing people unfamiliar with the dish who think that it’s sushi), star-shaped or any kind of shape the chef desires. To help keep the rice together, the outside of the rice is usually (but not always) partially wrapped in a strip of dried seaweed (nori).

Some onigiri are served plain, but there’s often at least one (usually salty) ingredient literally stuffed into the middle of the ball of rice. This helps not only contribute to longer preservation but gives the onigiri more flavor. Popular ingredients include umeboshi (pickled ume, an apricot-like fruit), kombu (dried kelp), satled salmon, dried tuna, and salted roe. In some parts of the world, particularly in Hawaii, onigiri is often prepared with Spam.

Japanese people frequently have onigiri for lunch (either on its own—perhaps more than one at a time—or paired with something else) and you’re more likely to see a student buy or pack an onigiri from home than a sandwich. People frequently make their own onigiri, but they can also buy them from convenience stores, vending machines and cafeterias for cheap. Ongiri are high in carbohydrates, so they’re filling and give you a fair amount of energy. However, they’re not typically a delicacy eaten for dinner or ordered at a restaurant.

Have you ever eaten an onigiri? Do you think you would like to try one? Would you rather have rice or sandwiches for lunch?

Constitutional Amendment Day was established in 1947 to honor the first day the country came under the laws of the Constitution of Japan, which was developed alongside the Allied Forces. The Constitution turned Japan into a liberal democracy. (It was previously a militaristic, imperialistic system.) It greatly lessened the role of the imperial family, making them more figureheads than policy makers, and also declared that the country would never again declare war. Instead, Japan would only defend itself if necessary, which is why the Japanese military is now called the “Japanese Self-Defense Forces.” The meaning behind the day is for Japanese citizens to reflect on democracy and government. It’s also the one day per year in which the National Diet Building (where the government—the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives—convenes) is open for public tours.

As discussed previously, the next holiday, Greenery Day, takes place on May 4^th. Golden Week’s last national holiday is on May 5^th —today! Children’s Day (kodomo no hi) is meant to celebrate children and their fun-loving, innocent personalities as well as to honor parents (particularly mothers) for raising them. It was originally known as Boys’ Day and was meant only to celebrate sons (as there is another holiday in March to celebrate daughters), but it was changed in 1948 to Children’s Day to celebrate all children.

An iconic symbol of Children’s Day is the koi (carp)-shaped koinobori flags. Households traditionally hang these flags from their rooftops, one for each of the parents and each of the children who live inside. Another tradition is to display a Kintarou (a fabled adventurous boy) doll and a kabuto (samurai helmet) inside the house, as these are symbols of healthy and strong boys. Today in Japan, many families are eating kashiwa-mochi (red bean rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves) and chimaki (sweetened rice paste in a bamboo or iris leaf) to celebrate.

Have you ever heard of Children’s Day or Constitutional Amendment Day? Do you think it’s fair that Boys’ Day was changed to Children’s Day when there’s still a Girls’ Day?

While some Western breakfast staples have become a bit more popular in Japan, particularly as an occasional treat, they’re not typically eaten each morning. The closest breakfast item the West shares with Japan is eggs, as the Japanese are particularly fond of dishes such as ome rice, an omelet in which the egg yolks are mixed with (cooked) rice and any choice of vegetables (such as zucchini, carrots or onions) or meat (particularly chicken, pork, or beef) before the mixture is fried into an omelet. If the chef is so inclined, she or he may also decorate the oblong-shaped omelet with a design or message written in ketchup, the most popular condiment for omelets in Japan. Tamagoyaki, another popular style of omelet which is basically just a rolled omelet with or without vegetables and meat, is also served for Japanese breakfasts, usually with soy sauce.

However, the similarities between the Western and the Japanese breakfast end there. In the traditional Japanese family, the mother or wife will wake up before her husband and/or children—as much as an hour beforehand—to prepare a full-course breakfast while she also works on packing them a cold lunch for later. Traditional staples of the Japanese breakfast include:

• Fish, particularly broiled, dried and salted fish. Popular choices are horse mackerel and salmon.
• Rice, either just a bowl of steamed white rice or rice mixed with seaweed and/or vegetables. Some families prefer okayu, which is warm rice porridge.
• Miso soup, complete with seaweed, tofu and onions.
• Seaweed, either within other dishes or just served in dried rolls or strips. The seaweed on its own is often dipped into soy sauce.
• Natto, which is a form of fermented soy beans. This sticky, strong-smelling part of a Japanese breakfast is great with soy sauce or on top of rice.
• Pickled vegetables, which are pickled in brine or salt. Some popular pickled vegetables include cucumbers, turnips, ume (a kind of plum), cabbage and radishes. These can be eaten on their own or mixed with rice.
• Salad, Japanese style. With lettuce or cabbage and traditional vegetable accompaniments.
• Green tea (the most popular breakfast drink).

Do you think you would like or dislike to eat so much for breakfast? Does the traditional Japanese breakfast appeal to you? Would you rather have fish or pancakes for breakfast?

Bento are served not in bags, but in sturdy square or rectangular bento boxes, which range in quality from storage-container-like durable plastic to wooden boxes to fragile polished lacquerware. The more expensive boxes are often decorated ornately in a classical Japanese design and may be family heirlooms. Bento can also come in disposable plastic bento boxes when purchased pre-made at food stands or convenience and grocery stores.

The main feature of the inside of the box is its separated compartments, so food doesn’t become mixed. Smaller, cheaper bento boxes may have as few as two compartments, whereas larger, more expensive bento like those intended to carry an entire group’s food for an outing, may be three or four stacked layers of two to five compartments each. Bento boxes can be tucked into any school bag or brief case, but they are traditionally carried with a large decorative Japanese handkerchief called a furoshiki. The furoshiki is not used to blow noses or wipe faces and is intended for carrying items. You tie the cloth around the box and carry the box by the knot of fabric at the top.

Bento can contain virtually any Japanese or Western food that is easy to take on the go, but the primary staple is white rice. The largest compartment of the bento box, sometimes 2/3 the size of the box, is traditionally reserved for white rice with a little garnish, strips of seaweed or pickled vegetables. Popular food for the rest of the bento include picked vegetables, tempura meat and vegetables, sausages, chicken, fish, and boiled eggs. Less traditionally, bento may consist of Western food like finger sandwiches.

The most simple of all bento consists only of white rice with an umeboshi in the center. Umeboshi, which is often translated as “pickled plum” but is a pickled ume, a native Japanese fruit somewhat like an apricot, is red when pickled and this gives the bento the effect of looking like the Japanese flag (white with a red circle at the center). Therefore, this type of bento is called the Hinomaru bento, as Hinomaru is the name for the Japanese flag.

Traditionally, bento are cooked by Japanese mothers and wives for their children and husbands to take to school and work. Some women get up an hour or more before their families to make these bento, which not only feature delicious food, but may be elaborately decorated with patterns of colors or shapes or even meant to look like popular cartoon characters. The more ornate and varied the bento, the more “love” the woman is said to be packing for her husband or children and it’s often a joke that those stuck with the Hinomaru bento have unloving wives or mothers. More realistically, it could simply be that the busy career woman doesn’t have time to make elaborate lunches or the lunch was made by the man or student him or herself.

It’s also a traditional for Japanese girls, particularly high schoolers, to get up early before school to cook food and then offer a hand-made bento to their crushes or boyfriends, perhaps in anticipation of one day cooking for them during marriage. Although this is far less common as more women continue to work after marriage and children, an old-fashioned romantic Japanese marriage proposal translates to, “I want to eat your bento everyday.”

Can you imagine eating rice and pickled vegetables every day for lunch instead of sandwiches? Would you think it was fair for your mother, wife, or girlfriend to get up an hour early just to make you lunch?

No, Japanese pastries are not filled with actual chunky beans and rice. Anko is a word you’ll often see when ordering Japanese pastries. It refers to a red bean (azuki) paste that’s mildly sweet and has been the main ingredient of Japanese pastries long before things like chocolate made their way to Japan.

Anko is a popular fillings in classic Japanese pastries such as taiyaki (a fish-shaped cake—and no, it doesn’t taste anything like fish), manju (a steamed bun based on an ancient Chinese dish—read more here), dorayaki (a pancake-like pastry with filling), and shiritama (dumplings).

Rice isn’t usually a filling but a sweet in and of itself. By fermenting the rice, Japanese pastry-makers can get the rice into a sweet, gelatinous consistency like that in mochi (rice cake), daifuku (sweet rice cake), and shiruko (a soup made of sweet rice cake).

One popular classic Japanese pastry is anpan. Anpan is literally a sweet bread filled with a sweet filling that dates back to the late 1800s. Typical classic fillings include anko, pickled cherry blossoms, chestnut jam, white bean jam, and green pea jam and modern fillings include chocolate cream, custard, fruit-flavored cream and cream cheese. While it sounds like enough to send anyone running to the dentist, the Japanese version of “sweet” is quite different than you may be used to in the West. Even Western-style cakes in Japan are mildly sweet. Japanese-made pastries are delicious without being cringe-worthy sweet. You won’t find yourself scraping off frosting to avoid getting cavities.

If you’re ever in Tokyo, consider taking the train about an hour outside of the city to Saitama’s Kashiya Yokocho (“Confectioners’ Alley”). This classic-style alley of mom-and-pop-style homemade pastry and candy stores is made to elicit the feelings of 1950s Japan. The popular ingredient for pastries there are sweet potatoes. You can find sweet potato anpan, ice cream, chips, coffee and even beer.

The mild sweetness of Japanese sweets can truly only be tasted to be understood, so track down the nearest Japanese style bakery and give it a try. One popular chain of Japanese supermarkets in the US is Mitsuwa, which has one location in New Jersey (only a 20-minute shuttle ride from Manhattan), one outside of Chicago, and six in California.

What’s your favorite Japanese pastry? What’s the best Japanese pastry filling?