“I wrote this book with the hope that it will serve as a ‘pre-reading guide to Japanese food’ to help you increase your anticipation and motivation for your next trip to Japan.


I've always thought, 'Food tastes better when you know what you're eating!' So, for Koreans who love Japanese food, and for those who want to go on a food tour to Japan someday, I'd like to tell you about Japanese food so that you can have a more delicious trip."
--- p.9

“Oh, right! In Japan, there’s a culture where people can remain friends without any pressure even if their age difference is large.
Even if there is a ten or twenty year age difference, if we understand each other, we are all 'friends'.
“I hope that you and I can become good friends through this book, even though we are different in age and taste.”
--- p.11

“For your information, if you want to eat delicious tonjiru, I recommend going to a restaurant that serves delicious tonkatsu (298p).
Tonkatsu restaurants often sell delicious tonjiru.
Tonkatsu is fried pork, and I think it's because the same good pork used to make tonkatsu is also used in tonjiru."
--- p.56

“In Japan, they teach from a young age that ‘you must hold your bowl and eat.’
When you eat Japanese food, you usually don't get a spoon with it.
So, you need to hold the bowl close to your mouth to eat comfortably.
Have you ever seen the popular mukbang drama [Solitary Gourmet] where the main character, Mr. Goro, brings the bowl close to his mouth and slurps down his food in one gulp? I recommend that you try that next time you eat donburi in Japan.”
--- p.74

“I think one of the charms of ramen is its scalability.
When I was young, I only knew about the local ramen shops, but as I grew up, I started to look for 'ramen I haven't tried yet'.
Back when I was a student and there was no social media, I used to read ramen magazines and visit many different shops.
“New ramen restaurants open every year, and ramen trends, like music or fashion, change from time to time… I always feel like the search for a great ramen restaurant feels like a never-ending journey.”
--- p.105

“Okinawa is famous for eating a lot of pork.
The broth for sokisoba is also mostly made by boiling pork and mixing it with bonito broth.
Sokisoba is a specialty of Okinawa, so it is commonly sold in any restaurant in Okinawa, even if it is not a specialty restaurant.
If you're dreaming of a trip to Okinawa, why not try a bowl of sokisoba with the locals?
--- p.185

“Another difference between Korean barbecue and Japanese yakiniku is that in Japan, the meat is already cut into bite-sized pieces.
So when Japanese people go to a Korean barbecue restaurant, they are often confused because they don't know how to cut the meat.
When I first started living in Korea, I once heard someone jokingly say, “If you can’t even cut meat, you can’t survive in Korea.”
I remember getting special training in cutting meat from a Korean friend at a pork belly restaurant.”
--- p.230

“There is an interesting story about sukiyaki.
In the 1960s, Japan's national singer Kyu Sakamoto released the song "Let's Walk Upward" and it became a huge hit.
It was so great that it even reached number one on the US Billboard charts.
The English title of this song, which was introduced on Billboard, was [SUKIYAKI].
The English title was changed to that because at the time, the American agent's favorite dish he ate in Japan was sukiyaki.
Since then, the Japanese have come to believe that sukiyaki is a representative Japanese dish, and this may have led them to love sukiyaki even more.
--- p.233

"Why do Japanese people love curry so much? I think it's because they grew up eating delicious curry from a young age.
Curry was the most frequently served menu item in elementary school lunches.
I've never heard anyone say that they didn't like the curry they got at school because it was bad.
Elementary school students look forward to 'Curry Day'.
When I ate curry during lunch, I used to compete with my friends to see who could eat more and faster, and when we were done, we would run to get refills.
"
--- p.276

“This book is a combination of what I can do (Korean) and what I want to do (help Korean people).
I hope that at least one more Korean person will read this book.
This time I told you about Japanese food, next time I want you to tell me about Korean food.
“Because I really love Korean food!”

--- p.355