10/13/08
Nakatani Apartment, Nagoya

Today was a holiday. My host family and I went out for lunch... we went to this sushi place, but there was a half-hour wait, so we crossed the street and went to another restaurant.

We went to this supermarket/variety store place. There was a pet section, with puppies and kitties. There was one fluffy little kitten who would whack at your finger if you put it up against the glass, it was pretty cute. I wondered how no one had bought him yet, until I figured out that he cost over fifteen hundred bucks. Meow.

4 comments:

Kara said...

$1500? do pets cost more in general over there or just this kitty?

again, i'm a friend of your moms... LOVE reading your blog. i have dreams now of going to japan even when it was not on my top list of places to visit before - it is now. i have to google or wiki so many of the things you talk about. :-) thanks for sharing this blog.

Anonymous said...

Do you find it easier or more difficult to eat vegetarian in Japan? How about vegan? Your comment about sushi prompted all my questions. :) What's in sushi in Japan? I had always heard it was raw fish, but we make "sushi" with marinated baked tofu, sticky rice, red peppers, etc rolled up in nori sheets. Yum! Janet

Cordell Newmiller said...

There were a few pets there, ranging from around $600 up to $2400 for a little pug. I don't know if that store is representative of the average pet prices here, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. Houses are small/expensive, and if you can afford the space for a pet, a few grand would be spare change.

The staple of "sushi" is sushi rice, not the fish. That's why we pinkos can get away with calling our rabbit-food abominations "sushi." The raw fish is called "sashimi," and although the two styles are closely linked, they are distinct.

It's both easier and more difficult to be a vegetarian here. It's easier because the normal Japanese diet is significantly less meat-laden than the normal American (midwest) one, so you don't really have to go out of your way to keep your nutrition on track. It's harder because I don't speak Japanese too well yet, so ordering in restaurants or reading labels is challenging.

Thanks for commenting!

~Cordell

Anonymous said...

Thanks for answering! :) Janet