I had thought I'd shared this here but apparently not!

I've been slowly sharing our experiences in Japan (back in October) via my blog and meant to share the links here, given that I know many of you enjoy exploring and reading about international cuisine (and some of you are also keen travellers, like us).

So here is the generic link to all posts (which will show newest first): http://www.kaveyeats.com/tag/japan

And here are the posts so far:

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/11/our-magical-holiday-in-japan-an-introduction.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/11/vending-machine-ordering-in-japan.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/11/tempura-tsunahachi-honten-shinjuku-tokyo.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/11/kitakata-ramen-piss-alley-tokyo.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/11/staying-in-a-japanese-ryokan.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/12/hida-beef-at-maruaki-takayama-japan.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/12/owara-tamaten-takayama.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2012/12/miyagawa-morning-market-takayama.html

And from Pete: http://www.petedrinks.com/tag/japan/

I have read most of them and enjoyed them! When we went there more than 30 years ago, food was a problem for us, but now it all sounds so lovely!

Do I understand this correctly... they have a "vending machine" that only vends a piece of paper which you then have to take into a caf? to be made ?

Steve

Steve, yes, that's right. The vending machine is in the cafe, just inside the door, usually. It's actually very efficient and helpful as it means the staff don't need to waste any time on processing payments and that there's no confusion about taking an order down incorrectly either.

We found it a little harder because the machines often don't have English language on them, but even then, we found it easy enough just using the photographs on them and had no problems the few times we did this.

It sounds impersonal but it's really not, the staff handling the order and service are just as helpful as in any restaurant, they just don't need to do order/ payment side.

Latest:

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2013/01/mitarashi-dango.html

http://www.kaveyeats.com/2013/01/kaiseki-ryori-at-ryokan-kankaso-in-nara.html

Wow Kavey, you and hubby sure enjoyed your food in Japan. The pictures taken are excellent and the presentation very professional. Though i am not a big fan of Japanese food but the huge variety I saw is wonderful. Keep posting more.

Thanks so much Rajneesh, I have LOTS more to post. x