Flavor Boulevard

— Guest blogged by C. from Katsushika, Tokyo. —

Knowing enough Japanese to converse is an advantage but it can also hurt your wallet. I keep getting drawn into clothing stores everywhere I go, and the staffs keep sweet talking me into trying on stuff. (It doesn’t happen if you’re with a friend though!) As if that wasn’t bad enough, why does everything always fit so perfectly? Damn Asian one-size-fits-all. I feel too guilty to just walk out without an adequate reason, so there goes my college savings. The answer is, of course, konbini foods.

There are 3 convenient stores on the way from Kameari station to our apartment, including a Family Mart 2 minute walk away and a Lawson 1 minute from the Family Mart. Konbini food is so good and so cheap that I keep spending more on clothes!

Pictured, from top:
1. Some pastry – I don’t know what I just ate but it’s good.
2. Yakisoba pan – stirfried noodles on bread with some pickle ginger (the pink stuff)
3. Some chocolate pastry – Look at that bar of chocolate in the middle! It’s so thick it’s literally a BAR. Peet’s “chocolate croissants” (and any kind of chocolate pastry anywhere in America), SHAME ON YOU!

On some days if time permits for breakfast, Michiko san fixed me toast and egg. The bread is just normal white bread from the convenient store, but Japanese white bread is A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE from American white bread. Half-inch thick. Big (ACTUALLY a square, not a puny slice of sadness with 4 squished corners like an abused textbook in a rain-soaked backpack). Fluffy (and stays that way!). ABSOLUTELY AMAZING however you look at it and however you eat it. You know those quiz questions “What will you take  if you’re going to a deserted island or something equally ridiculous?” From now on I will say “A truck load of Japanese white bread”. American bread, good bye.

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C. is Asian, female, something of a frivolous nature that wishes to go only by C. and so kindly agrees to blog while Mai is head-deep in work (and classic novels) and Kristen is away in Seoul.