Small Thing Number Three: Go Shopping!

If you are going all the way to Japan, you are probably going to stay a while. I'll be going with an exchange program, so at least a couple months for me. Therefore, I'm going to need to go shopping for food. Now, I have food allergies so this is a little more of a concern for me, but this is still a good idea for everyone.

Do a quick Google search to find your local Asian grocer and go take a look around! See what kind of produce there is, what kind of dry goods, see how it is different than your other local grocers. If you have allergies like me, use this opportunity to check the ingredients in your own language! Get a feel for what is in stuff so you have an idea of what you can eat later.

Since you are there, get some food! See what you like and don't like and give something weird a shot, like azuki ice cream. A year or so ago my aunts and uncles took my sister and I out to ice cream and one of the topping options was azuki, sweet red beans. Sounded pretty weird to me but my (Japanese) aunt said it was good so we got it and it was quite tasty! Remembering this, I decided to get some azuki ice cream on one of my visits to the Asian grocer and that was definitely tasty as well.

You are also going to want to be realistic about what you are going to eat. Like for me, I can't really do all that instant stuff because of the allergies so I am going to have to cook most of what I eat. Rice is readily available over there so I plan to make fried rice a lot with whatever vegetables I can get. Also developed a simple egg salad recipe that can be made with whatever vegetables are available plus whatever vegetables in jars are available with the magic ingredient of aioli garlic mustard. Something else to note is that things you might want may not be available in Japan, so make sure to bring those with you or have someone send some to you.

IF YOU HAVE GLUTEN ALLERGIES, HERE ARE SOME RESOURCES
http://www.celiactravel.com/stories/getting-gluten-free-food-in-japan/
http://www.legalnomads.com/gluten-free/japan/