Japanese Food - Real and Otherwise

Now that the pressure is off after that first blog I can relax a bit and not be so serious.  It was fun impersonating Chairman Kaga and Anthony Bourdain!

There was two things that I learned about the consumer market in Japan.  They have finely honed their customer service skills to a razor's edge and the packaging & presentation is always eye-catching.  The food courts inside the airport for the most part looks normal barring the language barrier.   Entering the city the first things that I had noticed at restaurants were all the plastic food in the displays.  The Japanese truly eat with their eyes!  On the displays would be some of the most detailed and vibrant props one would see in a movie studio.  Some displays would be from floor to ceiling containing nothing but delicious menu items tempting potential patrons.  This would certainly get my attention much more than any boring electronic or paper menu.

This last picture is a great lead-in for a special request for "Eat Here Next" to see something worthy of a Man Vs Food tale.  Here is 70 centimeter (cm) tall sundae in the display that we found in Shibuya.  While this is not quite as daunting as the Kitchen Sink Challenge that Adam Richman faced in Walnut Creek, California; it is definitely not for the timid.  If a person could completely finish the sundae within an hour then they get their picture posted with the finishing time on the wall of fame just like an episode of the show.

Again this is not the real thing but even up close it is difficult to tell!

We figured we can at least at there and order coffee while we decide what to have for lunch.  Since it was near lunchtime they decided to take the challenge head on and forgo the food.  I wasn't feeling well so I wanted to eat lunch and not lose it.  It took about five minutes for us to convince the waitress that we wanted to make our order. This should give you some sense of height seeing the waitress bringing it in. 

Next, the waitress slowly came back with a second one!

This was quite the attraction as alot of pedestrians from the mall stopped gawked and murmured in hush tones about this attraction.  People started to trickle into the place as we noticed a trend that other tables also started to order this melting tower of dairy.  Those employees must have regretted getting out of bed that day and I feel really bad for them.  During the dissection we found out that everything was supported by 2 thick baboo skewers.  One friend succeeded while the other was not so fortunate and hit the proverbial "wall" that any MvF fan will understand the meaning.  What was the most difficult part for the friend that finished it was all that melted sledge of ice cream mixed with all those toppings.  This time man has conquered food once again!