Food

Today's topic is simple — food. Many of you should be familiar with Japanese food, since there are very popular in Thailand and around the world. But there are also other food that are not usually found in Thailand. It is also Japanese manner to say "itadakimasu" before eating and "gochisousama deshita" after finishing the meal while putting your hand together in front of you (like a Thai Wai). I haven't seen many people do it though, maybe that's because they try to do it inconspicuously not to bother others around them.

Let me begin with breakfast. For breakfast, I usually get something from Family Mart inside the campus and bring it to eat inside the office. For the last two days (read: my only two breakfasts), I've had bread (Japanese call them "Pan") and some rice or pasta. Melon Pan is a fluffy-shaped bread with cream inside. These often cost around ¥150 each. Also, we drink tap water here. I think it has a bit of chlorine smells, but I'm getting used to it.

Melon Pan and some kind of wrapped pasta

Hokkaido Melon Pan and Chicken Mayonnaise Norimaki

For lunch, I usually eat something at the cafeteria within the campus, which sells Japanese food. So far, I've tried grilled salmon (comes in a set with rice and miso soup) and udon (a kind of noodle). Most of the food cost around ¥500 with udon costing around ¥350. Free water and tea are available. (For pictures, see First Day in Japan). Today, however, we went to an Italian restaurant outside the campus. It is a little bit more expensive at ¥900 for Italian pizza, but also comes with complementary salad bar. The vegetables there are totally different from salad bars here in Thailand though.

Salad bar

Pizza

Dinner is where it varies, since I have to go to places to buy groceries and other things. The first day, I went to Tsukuba station and ate at a food court there, the price is similar to AIST's cafeteria. On the second day, I ate at the cafeteria (only 2 menus available for dinner). Today, I've bought boxed dinner from a nearby supermarket. One interesting thing about Japan is that boxed food is often cheaper than freshly-cooked food. (In Thailand, chilled food in supermarket often cost a lot more than fresh food or the quantity is reduced.)

Boxed food from the supermarket