Japan Eating & Travel
I first arrived in Japan with a one-way ticket, no job and the inexplicable confidence of youth, then spent two years learning how to find my own way through a country that could leave me bewildered, curious, enchanted and hungry all at once. Coming back as a traveller meant following that feeling through smoky yakitori alleys, precise kaiseki, regional markets, quirky restaurants and train journeys where every city seemed to have a dish worth travelling for.
My friend once told me about competition in Japan. She and her husband were from England and he was posted to Tokyo by his pharmaceutical company. He said that in Japan when competing business bring out a similar product, they get together to set the price for this product with everyone in agreement as to the price. In Australia, that's considered price fixing but in Japan, it seems more a quaint gesture probably borne from the exceeding politeness of the people (although I'm sure, it's not as polite to be in the room when this happens now). So on our visit to Harajuku (favoured area for the youth of Tokyo) and Takeshita dori, the market style street that sells this season's styles at a teenager friendly price tag, we count 4 crepe places, two directly opposite each other with barely enough room between them to drive a car.
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