TEST YOUR CHOPSTICKS

Japan will make a foodie out of anyone. It’s that good. Many restaurants feature amazingly detailed plastic replicas of their dishes. Others have machines where you simply insert money and press the picture of what you want to eat. Alternatively, duck into a ramen house (you can hear them slurping a mile away) or an izakaya (a pub) and try your luck. We only went wrong once with what can only be described as gristle on a stick. For dessert, you’ll be hard pressed to avoid the strange, everpresent red bean. Same goes for mozuku, a seaweed which accompanies most meals and resembles boiled straight pubes. But enough about the Onsen hot springs…