Eating sushi in Japan was
also a profound experience
even though I’m already a
big fan of sushi in Malaysia.
The baseline standard is high
and I would describe it like
eating pieces of fish that had
been swimming around in
the ocean only hours before.
The freshness is paramount.
And the way they prepared
and presented the sushi was-
like food theatre; entertaining
and satisfying.
Besides that, the finest
food can actually be found
at Japan’s fluoro-lit 7-Eleven.
Pop in for chewy red-bean
mochi, wasabi rice crackers
and fresh onigiri, a pressed
rice triangle filled with tuna,
salmon or vegetable, wrapped
in seaweed. Here, I also got to
taste the most popular light-
as-air Japanese cheesecake.
Nevertheless, Japan’s 7-Eleven
provides a dazzling array of
high quality, low cost snacks,
drinks and meals covering
the whole gamut of flavour
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options from traditional Jap-
anese fare to Western-fusion
flavours.
In most other countries,
eating or drinking foodstuffs
procured from a vending ma-
chine has shameful connota-
tions. It’s the type of desperate
act you complete at an airport
when you’re so hungry you
start experiencing hallucina-
tions. But as with convenience
stores, Japan’s vending ma-
chines are in another league,
dispensing everything from
bowls of ready-made ramen
to bottles of sake and seafood
dinners.
Most common are the
drink vending machines. Dis-
pensing both hot and cold
drinks, these miracle ma-
chines can be found every-
where from train stations,
abound on subway stations,
at temples, by museums, any-
where you can think of.