Your Japanese word of the week is...

"kayu". It's translated in the dictionary as "rice porridge" but if you read the kanji (or even into the word itself a bit more), you realise is "congee". There's actually two types, one being kayu and the other being jiko (or jika..... I forget exactly, but it's something similar haha). Kayu is a bit more like plain congee whereas the other has much more stuff put in it. I haven't actually had any yet but I will try some the next time I have a chance to.

I bring up food because in Japan, oh so many things follow a particular standard or process. The society itself is set up around formalities so things like greeting someone are just a touch more structured than it would be in Canada or America.

I bring THAT up because yesterday, I had my very first random encounter on the train. It was a rather nice man in a rather nice suit who asked me........... well.... I don't know actually haha..... it was something about Saitama and in Japanese, perhaps how nice it was. I pointed out that I'm not Japanese and thus began the explaining that I'm from Canada and the subsequent double take on how I look Japanese.

But, to my utter amazement, the follow 10 minutes of conversation were entirely comprehendable (did I mention it was all in Japanese?? haha). I wasn't just nodding and going off on tangents like I have been doing the past few months, but it was actually talk. Although, the conversation is buoyed by the fact that, as I mentioned just now, many things in Japan follow patterns.

And so, when talking to a foreigner, there are many things that people are bound to ask someone new to their country. Where are you from, why are you here, how long are you here for- those things aren't a surprise as anyone from anywhere asks those. But Japanese, I find, always like to ask if I like Japanese food. And they always act surprised when I tell them I do.

Which ties right back into the food point. I get asked how Japanese food is all the time perhaps because some Japanese food really is an acquired taste. I'm not a big fan of natto, for instance. Nor do I like umeboshi, which is a sort of uber-sour plum. But I always point out that Vancouver has lots of different styles of food available and while the Japanese food there isn't always what the Japanese eat, at least you give your tastebuds a try.

Case in point, I haven't seen beef teriyaki in any Japanese restaurant as of yet. And maki sushi rolls (with the seaweed on the outside) are really only eaten by kids or families on picnics. They're sort of "food for when you really need ease of access". But then again, some restaurants here offer what's called a "Hamburg steak" which is basically a ground beef patty the size of a small steak (it's a steak made of hamburger meat, go figure heh). They serve it on a hot plate with rice, kind of like what you'd get in a HK style cafe. The changes some food goes through as they cross the border is interesting.

Anyways, the point of today's ramble is that I'm very thankful for such patterns of conversation because, really, it means I can narrow down all the possibilities I will come across. This happens in any country of course, but I never realise what a boon it was to have. And, seeing as discussing how a foreigner likes Japanese food is such a fish and rice topic (they don't really do meat and potatoes here =P), it's all the better to keep the conversation going.