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This is yet another article from the Japan Times. This one is from my favourite section which is a weekly article about culture in Japan. I have taken many excerpts from this column alone over the last few months.

Food in Japan is treated very highly. On television if there isn`t a programme about golf on (There was once golf on three channels at the same time), there will be one about cooking (There will be one of these on every other channel.) They range from a restaurant`s chef showing what he cooks and how he cooks it to a how-to-cook goats scrotum Ainsley Harriot style or a light relief programme such guess what dish cooked by experts your opponent doesn`t like. There will be a panel of D-list celebrities who are usually comedians and whatever the chef lifts out of the pan be it cooked fish, grilled beef or the afore mentioned curried goats scrotum they will all yell furiously in unison Oishee which means delicious.

When I first came to Japan and had difficulty with some of the more unusual delicacies such as raw squid, which is actually truly delicious when you are accustomed to it, seaweed slime or natto I used to think that it didn`t matter if the meal was tasty or not. At the start of my sejourn it was often not the case due to my limited English palate but the rest of the party would be experiencing orgasms of delight via their tongues and practically have to gasp and squeal out Oishee. As I got more accustomed to the food I would say Oishikata afterwards and meant it (I enjoyed that meal) and would be puzzled when the response was, “Really? That seaweed was a bit slimy or the sticky sauce too sticky.” I just don`t get it.

Natto

I still find it difficult to tell if it`s nice or if I am being toyed with but when in doubt just say Oishee and see what happens. I have eaten and enjoyed some dishes which I would never have attempted for fear of long term illness in England. Squid, eel, octopus, whale (heavenly), seaweed, natto, rice mixed with raw egg, raw beef and raw chicken have all passed through my system with minimal and often positive effect and I urge you to try them as well if you ever have the fortunate opportunity. In the meantime just read the article.