Sake It Like A Polaroid Picture.

So during your last trip to Japan, you combed through all travel blogs, travel magazines, online accounts, the social media feeds, purchasing PDFs, guides, ‘best of’.

Highlighted this; bookmarked that.

When you returned, the photos you took felt like a pale comparison to someone else’s memory. Bought a lot of shit made from microplastic, and couldn’t help feeling a little hollow inside.
You’re probably reading this right now, in a queue for whatever pedestrian noodle or rice dish, experiencing what the Japanese call baka gaijin - the fleeting moment of life wasted down the drains.

Well, what do you expect dude, to quote Morpheus from The Matrix paraphrasing philosopher Baudrillard:

Welcome to the desert of the real, where expectations are based on a virtual world, instead of a real one.

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Here’s a tip I gave to everyone visiting Japan.

Go to a bookshop. A big one.
Kino or Tsutaya.

Find the magazine section, wander until you see the food / gourmet section.

You should be able to see the latest edition of Ramen Walker, or Dancyu, or Brutus, or some sort of regional food special. Most of the time, there’s a beautiful lady or male idol with make-up sitting in front of a table.

It’ll look like this Amazon section, but you know, real shelf, real sensations.

If you’re my daughter, by now you should have the voice-over in your head saying magazines are simply paid ads.

But at least we know the sponsors here are local.
You know, Japanese clients targeting Japanese consumers.

So use your translate app, flip through the magazines, and when you see something you’re interested in, jot it down, save it, commit to memory.

These are the current ‘hot’ local restaurants.

You’ll still have to queue, but at least, you’re not queuing with someone from home, if you know what I mean.

When I travel this way, I feel like I’m learning and applying in real life.

Or another piece of advice: just jump on tabelog website or Michelin guide.

Here’s advice number three: