Sarah’s Blog Post 19: February 12, 2016
People from other countries are often
surprised by the food models that restaurants in Japan display in their front
windows. I remember coming to Tokyo ten years ago and being surprised by the
fake crepes that I saw in Harajuku. They looked so realistic. In the United
States, it isn’t very common to see food models in front of restaurants. The
only place I have seen them is in Japantown in San Francisco. Restaurants in
the United States usually only have pictures in their menus to show customers
what they are ordering. When I researched about food models, I learned about
Kappabashi-dori. I decided to go because one of my friends who used to live in
Japan also told me that he bought a very good knife from Kappabashi-dori.
At first, I thought it wouldn’t be very
big. When I arrived, I was so surprised by how many stores there were and how
many different kinds of things I could buy. Many websites said that you
wouldn’t be able to buy real food there. This is true because there aren’t many
restaurants in the area, but it is also partially false because there are many
shops that sell specialty food products like dried beans, nuts, sauces,
dressing, and tea. It is very hard to find some of these things in regular
grocery stores. I bought two tea cups that remind me of “tsukimi” and some
cooking utensils. I think I might go back there this weekend to buy souvenirs
for my family and some food for myself.
