Food tips: Food Ordering/Ticket Machines in Japan

You've done it, you're in Japan! You've been riding those trains and walking around all on your own. Finding the sites you planned out and getting some nice pictures. All that work gets you hungry and you find yourself in a nice little restaurant with your family.

You've entered and found your own seat. The delicious smells coming from the kitchen make you anticipate the meal to come all the more as you wait for the waiter. You wait, wait some more, and then wait a little bit after that. Surprisingly you've still had no contact with the staff! What's going on?

A lone man enjoying his rice bowl seems to be glancing at you occasionally. Not entirely odd, you've got two young children that enjoy making some noise. Considering moving on to find a new place for lunch before dinner you make eye contact and he asks "Have you ordered yet?". Why no, you have not! You're then introduced to the novelty of food ticket machines.

Yup, it happens. Hopefully not too often. I'm sure you can guess which part I played in that. Rice bowls are delicious! And this was one of the best I had while in Japan. Moral of the story is to check around before you enter or after you enter a place to eat. Sometimes you'll find these machines right next to the entrance. Which I most often saw in a high traffic area such as the train platforms (those were usually stand and eat ramen booths). And in the case of the above story, just after you entered. Also the really awesome ramen shop I went to with Yoko also had a ticket machine for ordering your food. The food courts at Fuji-Q and some Yoshinoya (a Japanese fast food chain) operate in this fashion.

So how do they work?
Well, they're pretty easy actually! Unless they don't have pictures and you can't read Japanese... then of course it is really hard. But it's pretty common to have pictures on the majority of the machines I encountered. Some also had a laminated menu with pictures and names of the items corresponding to the numbers on the machine. Quick steps to deliciousness.

1. Enter restaurant and approach machine.
2. If it has pictures on the buttons life is likely going to be easier for you. Commence your normal browsing of things you ca't read and rely on those nice pictures they've put up.
   
   If there are no pictures on the items but everything has a number next to the text. Start looking around for a menu. In the larger cities it wouldn't be overly surprising to find a menu in English that you can use. If you don't see one but are feeling bold. Ask for the menu or help with the translation. Just because it's a ticket machine doesn't mean the food isn't any good. Take it as a sign that they would rather spend more time making your food delicious than taking your order.
3. Got your food in mind and ready to order? Awesome! Insert your money and watch that yen tick up showing that you've put money in. You can now press as many buttons as you like till you're out of money.
   Do note that some of the options, in my experience the ones without images, are modifications or additions to what you can get. Getting some ramen and want an extra bit of pork? You can do that! Don't be afraid to give new things a try.
4. You'll notice after every button you pressed a tiny bit of paper was shot out into a little tray. This is what all your hard work has produced. Make sure to pick up your paper and change after hitting the coin return button. Then make your way over to the helpful waiting staff and give them your papers. Sometimes you'll just go sit down and place it on your table. Then wait!
5. Eat!
   
   Doesn't that look so good? If it doesn't you should know that it was! I should have gotten seconds.
6. Based on that last thought. Repeat steps 1-5. You're on vacation, have some fun!
. 

Why are they around?
From an outsider's (my) view. It would be to help streamline the process. You don't have to call a waiter, you don't have to go through the menu flipping back and forth to show what you want, and it's easier for the restaurant to handle all the transactions. You've already got your change after you get your tickets!

Why should I bother? It might be hard.
Of course it might be, but that doesn't mean it isn't rewarding. You're not at home. I'm guessing you're not because you wanted to experience something new. So try something new. In my opinion the worst thing you can do while exploring the world is not try something because it might be hard or awkward. If it's dangerous... sure skip it. But ordering food isn't dangerous unless you're ordering puffer fish from a place that shouldn't be serving it. Food is a great way to experience something local. Give it a shot! You can do it!

I believe in you!

Plus look, you can get something like this.

Video of the Shimanami Kaido Bike ride

As I was riding for the first part of the bike ride here I had my GoPro recording on time lapse mode. Figured it might be fun  to have that available to share. Unfortunately, I'm lazy so it took me a while to get it processed and uploaded. But here it is now! Enjoy.




I will say I have learned that having a properly placed camera really helps when shooting with the GoPro. Kind of wish I had worn a helmet so I could have strapped it to that or had a bike mount with me. Instead I had it attached to the strap of my backpack. Which is why it's a bit sideways... oh well. Also what you're doing makes a huge difference. The really smooth shot towards the end is about the only time I didn't have to pedal.

If you want more on the route and blog from that day. Go here: http://know-then-go.blogspot.com/2014/04/shimanami-kaido-bike-ride-in-japan.html

An interesting encounter at the castle

Place: Osaka Castle - Osaka, Japan

Time: April 2nd, 2014 around 18:00

The scene: A slowly creeping shadow cast from the towering castle nearby. A fading blue sky slowly overtaken by darkened clouds. Sitting alone on a long bench watching the crowds slowly thin in the yard. Patrons entering the souvenir shops before leaving with their memories. I pass the time looking up train routes I'll need to know the following day. Going over my camera and realizing I'd had a setting on all day which has cast the shadow now surrounding me on all my picture. Shouldn't have done that. Waiting for night to fall to see the blooms illuminated by the lights of man. From the corner of my eye I see a bike approaching me. Turning to face the man, we greet.

Ooo, ahhh. Dramatization. A story I didn't have the time to write down in full back when it happened at Osaka Castle. True story, but far less dramatic. It's not precisely an oddity that someone wanted to speak with me. Though out of the other foreigners there I'm not sure why I was chosen. Thinking back I believe in the evening hours was the only time I actually had a conversation with any male. At least with someone I had not known of before going to Japan.  There certainly wasn't anything particularly odd about him in appearance or behavior. But soon interesting facts were revealed.

As with most conversations in a foreign land you first get asked where you're from. The following is what I recall how our talk went with this introduction. We will call him Ojisan.

Ojisan: Hello
Me: Konbonwa
Ojisan: Do you mind if I sit and speak with you?
Me: Of course not, please do
Ojisan: Where are you from?
Me: America, the United States (cover both bases since technically America is pretty much everything over on this side of the world)
Ojisan: Oh really? What state?
Me: Utah
Ojisan: Oh really? Provo? Salt Lake City?
...

Well, this is peculiar to begin with. For one, Ojisan actually knows something about Utah. And by something I mean he knows major cities and geography of my home. Which in all of my travels I can assure you is incredibly odd. Most are happy to know the country you're from and want no more than that. After I tell him my city, which is smaller than those previously mentioned, he again surprises me by saying "Oh! That one, it's up in the north right?". Again, he is correct. He then asks me if I was born there and I tell him Idaho. A state to the north of Utah. I shouldn't be surprised to learn he knows the major cities in Idaho. Yet again, I am indeed surprised. Rattling off 3 of the southern cities he guesses my birth place.

At this point I'm pretty confused. So I begin to task the questions. You may recall the Mormon missionaries I encounter in Takamatsu. Well the missionaries aren't located solely in the South. If you look you can find them across most of the world actually. And in Osaka it appears they offer a free English class where people can come and learn or practice. I have no idea how long Ojisan must have been going to this to learn as much as he had. Not only was his English really good. He knew an amazing amount of my stomping ground back home. Where Utah holds the greatest source for missionaries it does make sense that he had learned about the area. But to know as much as he did there would have had to have been a large amount of missionaries being met. Kind of funny how small the world can be.

He was an interesting man for sure. Turns out he was now retired from years of making the cloth signs you can find outside a store front or over the door way. Where the name of the shop would be made by hand in the past. It is now produced by machines. Which to say the least he wasn't a big fan of. I can understand the sentiment as it does remove some of the charm to no longer have that hand made sign.

My size was apparently impressive too, which I can't say I think much of. We talked about diet and things for a fair amount of time actually. Turns out he had mostly rice or other things he found boring. Only some fish but never beef. I wouldn't say I have big arms but somehow he got the impression that I'm a strong fellow. And kept asking me how much beef or chicken I ate back home. Was it easy to get? Gave my biceps a squeeze and patted me on the back saying "Ohh, you are strong!". I hadn't thought he was senile until then. Ok, not really, I never thought that. But it was pretty funny (and fun) to be called strong.

Where most people pick up a speech tic such as "you know", "like", or "uhm".  Something most people do subconsciously when thinking about what they'll say. He had picked up the phrase "Oh really?" for his. Which is quite engaging I must say! It really made me wonder what the classes he's been to must be like. I'm glad he has gone to them as he has had great success as a result.

Towards the end he asked what I was doing sitting on the bench at that time. And I told him I was waiting to take a picture of the trees and castle illuminated at night. He then pointed me to a pond in the corner of the yard and told me about the reflection of the castle in it. I hadn't even considered that possibility and was happy to learn about that. Shortly after it began to rain and we parted ways. Ojisan off on his bike to who knows what adventure. People make the memories.

I'm the best at being aware of my surroundings. A tale of the women only cars in Osaka.

So a lot of my time while wandering around in Japan I began to feel like there was an extraordinary ratio of women to men. It felt like like the population was at least 75% women and likely to be even more than that. This was throughout the entire day. From the time I'd start going in the morning until I'd get back to my hotel in the evening. If I saw any men it was going to be around the time I'd be having dinner. My friend Karen, who'm I'd been keeping in touch with and bugging about all things Japanese, got this following message from me.

• March 28
• 

3/29,10:56am

Tanner

Japan must have a larger population of women than men. I swear it's like a 3 to 1 ratio.

Really though it's more that a majority of the men spend an incredible amount of time working. The work hours in Japan are kind of crazy and I should never complain again (though I will). Which means the crazy american not rushing to work early in the morning never sees all those men off to work. Anyways, this is something I kept thinking pretty much everyday as I'd go around. Get on a train? Mother and her kids. Get off the train? Group of older ladies. Walking around the city? Men in suits walking around but even more women in suits!

This is the one time I really recall seeing more men than women at any given time. Which was early in the morning in Nagasaki.

You can see why I thought there were way more women than men! Which led to the following series of messages I sent Karen after having spent the day with Mrs. N and Mr. K in Osaka.

• April 5
• 

  Tanner
  

  Case and point, I'm in a train car with nothing but women! No men except for me!
  

  I hope I'm not in a women only car.. Now that I think about it... But that seems unlikely

  Lol it is
  

  Oh man
  

  I didn't know that was a thing
  

  Whoopsie

Whoopsie indeed. It was about 8 or so minutes between sending "I hope I'm not in a women only car" to my realization that I was, in fact, in a women only car. As suggested by this lovely sticker to the right placed by the door to the car. I should mention it's actually stickers. Meaning there was probably at least 10 of them throughout the car and a couple of signs up in other places that anybody but me would have seen. Certainly all those lovely ladies in that car were aware of it! Space cadet reporting for duty.

How was I supposed to know? Nobody even said anything to me! I would have certainly moved cars if I had known or been told when I got on. Though I imagine they had a pretty good idea that:

1. I was very unlikely to be the type that hopefully they're separated from by being in this car.
2. I was someone who had no idea how to read Japanese. Or english. Or probably any other language as suggested by my current location.
3. I had come to this car because I like pink. Which must certainly be the case as I began to realize exactly how much pink and suggestively "This is a women only car" decoration and signage there was.

Needless to say after I figured it out I attempted to play it cool and waited the two remaining stops before quickly departing the car. No longer the innocent unaware american believing such a thing as a women only car was unlikely.

So anybody that's going to Japan and happens to be man. Make sure you check for those signs that will keep you from treading where one should not.

From Fuji to Tokyo and then some in Tokyo

Since I was staying in a Japanese style room. This was my bed for two nights! Took me back to sleeping on the floor as a kid for fun. I still like the floor, if I'm honest. Though my old bones might prefer my bed back home the most.

It's about two hours by train from the Fuji area which isn't too bad. They're all local lines and aren't nearly as quick as the Shinkansen. But it allows for taking some photos along the way!

I hadn't done any research into geography of Japan before coming here. It feels like there are mountains everywhere you go. Always a tunnel you go through to get somewhere by train. There's already so much underground in the larger cities I'm curious how long before the mountains are used as natural buildings or removed to make room! 

Tokyo Sky tree offers a nice view of the Tokyo sprawl. When you're walking around you never get to see Tokyo as a whole. It's such a concrete jungle.

Following day involved Ueno Park. A large area of museums, a zoo, and gardens.

And then the Imperial Palace East Garden.

Apologies for the shortness and lack of commentary. Flying home tomorrow so have to finish putting bags together. Guess it's time to say Sayonara!