Weird foods in Japan

Since we haven't done anything much this week except go out to eat and walk and shop for food, I thought I would show some of the food that are or have been offered in Japan. I'll admit that we haven't seen many of these "delicious foods" that follow but, believe me, we have seen plenty of different foods.  Elder Chandler is much more adventurous than I am and he has enjoyed many more "delicious" foods than I have.

Aren't these cute watermelons?  Unfortunately, we've never seen them but even if we did, we couldn't afford them as I understand that they are equivalent to about 100 dollars each.  (They grow them in boxes.) Even regular watermelons are very expensive, too.

Frito flavored Mountain Dew

Dried lizards for soup

Kentucky fried chicken flavored potato chips

Basil seed soft drink

Charcoal Ice Cream

 Eel soda

Curry lemonade

Frosting dipped Cheetos

Horsemeat, Octupus, and Chicken Ice Cream

Meat Pringle Chips

Natto- (rotten beans)  Many people eat this every morning for breakfast because they think it is really good for you.  Many of the senior missionaries do, too.

I'm sure you heard about the black squid juice hamburger buns, black cheese, etc. that was offered here at Halloween.

Candied Squid

Herb Shiso Pepsi, White Yogurt Pepsi, Cucumber Pepsi

Salmon Doritos

Soybean, blueberry, cheesecake, and baked potato Kit Kats.

Black pepper added to fruit gum

Rose menthol gum that is supposed to make people's sweat smell like roses.  (Not a bad idea when people are crammed in on the trains.) Fortunately for us, we've never been on a train as stuffed as these below, but the secretaries in the office do every day.
rush hour cramming on the train in Japan

more cramming

These are just cream filled cookie kind of things but the name isn't the best.

Salty brine Oreos

Okonomiyaki- what we had had bits of octopus in it.

Scallops and mayo flavored chips

Black Black Gum (Spicy Caffeine Gum) which looks a little like the Black Jack gum that we had as kids but it isn't harmless like that gum was.  The ingredients in this gum are caffeine, oolong tea extract, sugar, erythritol,gingko, chysanthemum flower extract, cacao, gardenia, niacinamide and gelatin.

And last but not least Wasp Crackers.  (That's one way to get rid of those pesky insects!)

Did you know that even senior missionaries and the young missionaries here in Japan have emergency kit back packs with water and some food, emergency blanket, flashlight, etc, etc in case of disasters, earthquakes, etc. It gives us some peace of mind to know that we are somewhat prepared. For even more peace of mind, it is even better to have food stored for a year, and to use and rotate that food. For good ideas on storing food, here's a quick link below with some good thoughts.

Food Storage

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!