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Baikingu (Viking)
All-you-can-eat buffet. Prices around 1,000-1,500 yen for lunch, more for dinner.
Bento; O-bento
Lunchbox. Sold in convenience stores and "bento" stores etc. Often homemade.
Bibimba
Korean dish consisting of rice mixed with meat, vegetables and raw egg etc. Increasingly popular.
Bounen-kai
End of Year drinking parties, as of November. As of January, the same parties
are called "Shinnen-kai" (New Year drinking parties). Good excuse for parties.
Bon odori
Public "Bon" dances performed in the summer.
Bonsai
Dwarfed potted plants..
Butsudan
Buddhist household altars.
Cha / O-cha
Tea. Includes "hoji cha" (brown and of ordinary quality), mugi cha (roasted barley tea drunk in summer), uji cha, hako cha, ryoku cha (green tea in general), matcha (powdered green tea used in tea ceremonies) and more recently uron cha (oolong tea).
Chahan
Chinese-style fried rice.
Chonai-kai
The local town association of residents, with responsibility for cleaning streets, ensuring trash separation and recycling etc.
Domburi
Rice bowls (both the tableware and food). Popular dishes include gyudon (beef on rice), oyakodon (chicken and egg on rice), tendon/tempuradon (tempura on rice), katsudon (katsu/cutlets on rice) etc. Usually fast and relatively cheap.
Ema
Small picture tablets with prayers/wishes that people hang in shrines.
"Esunikku"
From "ethnic", but meaning food/culture etc that isn't Chinese, Japanese or Western.
Famirii resutoran / famiresu
Half western, half Japanese-style "family restaurants" such as Bikkuri
Donkey, Denny's etc.
Jei Aaru
"JR" - the Japan Railways train network.
Jidouhanbaiki
An Automatic Vending Machine. Selling just about everything, but in particular drinks, snacks, tickets etc.
Kafunsho (pollen disease)
Hay fever - pretty common from February to April.
Kaiten zushi (revolving sushi)
Restaurant where sushi is served to customers via a revolving counter. The prices
are usually shown by the color of the plate they are placed on, though a new
variation is to make every serving the same price - usually 100 Yen.
Komainu
Mystical animal, half dog, half lion, originally from India. Temples are usually
protected by a pair of komainu. On the left side there's a komainu with an open
mouth, on the right side his counterpart with a closed mouth. The komainu protect
the temple against all evil, symbolized through the open mouth which stands
for "a" and the closed mouth which stands for "n", the first
resp. the last syllable of the Japanese alphabet, thus enclosing all syllables
and everything describable in the Japanese language.
Kotatsu
A low table with an electric heater inside, covered by a blanket. Unless you have central heating (and you probably won't), its always a good idea to obtain one before winter sets in.
Mikawa
The Mikawa region. The old name for the region of eastern Aichi Prefecture where
Okazaki is, and the name of the local dialect "Mikawa-ben".
Miso
Fermented bean paste. There are variations such as aka (red) miso and shiro
(white) miso, with Okazaki's Haccho Miso being the best in the world (and don't
be caught saying otherwise!). It's the key ingredient of Miso-shiru (Miso soup),
without which Japanese cuisine could not exist.
Natto
Fermented soy beans, often eaten for breakfast. Usually either loved or hated.
Omiage
It is a custom to bring a local souvenir from the place one went travelling
to. The safest souvenirs are local food specialities. A good omiage from Okazaki
would be Hatcho Miso.
Seiza
Sitting on your knees with legs folded underneath you on tatami. Used when you
are supposed to express reverence, or meditating. After anything from 5-20 minutes,
the average gaijin will often have trouble standing up.
Shinkansen
The very fast "Bullet Train". Nearest stations are Toyohashi, Mikawa-Anjo and Nagoya.
Tonkatsu
Deep-fried pork cutlet with batter, usually eaten with miso sauce, shredded cabbage and rice.
Yaki-niku (Korean barbecue)
Mega-populary "grill your own meat" restaurants. Seoul
Karubi is one of the more popular in Okazaki.
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