Mmm... tastes like good

We've had a couple of interesting eating experiences here in Japan. The first authentic Japanese meal that I tried was at a Ramen shop just down the street from the university. It felt really, well, real, seeing all the working men on their lunchhour devouring their noodles at the counter. It was actually a lot more different than I had expected. The most interesting part was how you order. Even though there are people serving and cooking for you, nobody takes your order. This portion of the dining experience is completely automated, and certainly intimidating as those that know what they are doing wait impatiently behind you. You put your money into the machine and press a button indicating your dish of choice. (In my case, the first time was determined by what price seemed reasonable, since I can't yet read Japanese. The next time we returned to the place, I stuck with my 750 yen button since it had been so good to me the time before.) Many of the people that we see eating are hunched over their food, intent on the task at hand. I've come to find that the louder you slurp your noodles, the more it means you are enjoying it. The only problem that I haven't solved yet is splash control, because as you slurp up the noodles, broth goes everywhere. This being the case, I resort to a quiter dining experience. Another thing that I marvel at is the size of these shops. Some of them barely have enough room for you to get into the door. I tried to capture the size of the shop in this picture, but don't know if I have done it justice. (I do know that I have done a good job of capturing the surprise of the chef at the fact that someone is taking a picture of the place.) It is always a squeeze when someone new comes into a restaurant. One of the solutions I found that one Japanese restaurant had to the demand of many patrons is that of the kaiten. Here sushi travels around on plates, and you just select whatever it is you want to eat. When you are done, you stack up the plates and they are counted for you to get you your total price for the meal. Some places have colored plates that indicate different prices. Before you can eat, you have to wait for your place. There is a bench that goes all the way around the wall, and you start right by the door and keep scooting down as people finish their meals. Apparently, we are used to American oversized seating, because we were asked by hand gestures to scoot closer together to make more room. This specific place also had a seven plate minimum buy. When you reached that amount, you secured yourself 20 minutes of eating time. The whole time that we were there the place was packed.
We have been around a whole bunch of restaurants, and many of them are very similar in style. I think with this last picture I cover the whole spectrum of interesting types of restaurants that we have visited so far. This was from the only free meal we've had so far, during Temple Japan's orientation. We had to take off our shoes to go into this restaurant, and the floor was raised up around the tables so that you sat on the floor and your feet sank down beneath the table. It was nice to have some free food, even though the Japanese that accompanied us complained that the food was really cheap. Oh well, it was all-you-can-eat.
Well, the first day of classes went well, and this past weekend was fun, too. It was nice to check out the Tokyo night scene that I had heard so much about, even though I'm not really into clubbing. A lot of the songs the DJ played reminded me of fun times dancing at home. (Not by myself, but with my friends. I was trying to say it reminded me of my friends.) We went and applied for our alien registration cards today, and with those we will be able to buy bikes and phones. Slowly but surely, I am getting adjusted to Tokyo life, and I think that my body is getting used to the Japanese diet.