Japanese Food Bites: Indulging in the Taste of Summer

Hello, this is Logan Lary and I will be writing about Sunday, July 28th.

My day started off just like any other day: the blaring, obnoxious, evil alarm on my phone went off, waking me from my deep slumber. Today’s alarm was not just a reminder to get out of bed but a slap in the face that this trip was ending, meaning I had lots of homework to do and experiences to experience before going home. 

I rolled out of bed, got dressed, slugged my backpack over my shoulder, and headed out the door on a journey to be productive. Inspired by my peer and friend Kelly Chen, I went to Ogawa Coffee to study. The entrance to the Ogawa Coffee location near Kyoto Station is hidden between restaurants and hotels. The interior is quaint, there are only six tables to dine at. This Sunday morning, most of the tables were occupied by local families trying to escape the oppressive morning heat. I was sat in the corner of the café, giving me the perfect space to study and people watch.  

I ordered the shrimp and avocado breakfast plate with toast and an iced coffee. When the meal arrived, I was delighted by what I saw. On the left side of the plate was a salad of shrimp, avocado, spring mix, a tomato slice, and shredded red onion. The salad was dressed with a citrus and oil dressing that zapped my taste buds with every bite. Despite my distaste for spring mix, I ate the whole plate because of the vibrant dressing. I paired every bite of shrimp with a piece of avocado, a perfect combination of fat and fish. While the salad was amazing, the true star of the show was the piece of toast that more resembled a slice of cake than a piece of bread. The bread was toasted to a golden brown on the outside but was still warm and soft on the inside. It was sliced to the thickness of four slices of regular bread. When I ripped open the loaf, a puff of steam shot into my face signaling the freshness of the bread. I generously buttered the toast, and sighed in awe when it melted in my mouth. It was the perfect combination of sweet bread and salty butter. I ate it quickly, in a rush to clear the table to start studying.  

After about four hours of studying for my upcoming biology quiz and final exam, I left Ogawa and headed to the Kyoto International Community House, where we were having class during our time in Kyoto. Today’s class was not like a regular class because my classmates were presenting their end of program presentations. Each presentation was a representation of each person’s experience on this trip and in some ways, a representation of their personalities. While I wish I could have recorded the eight presentation that I watched today, I could not so here is a quick summary that will definitely not do justice to the actual presentations: Mandy presented a zine that she drew about how to order at restaurants in Japan, Shirley wrote a poem about her solo dining experience at an Izakaya, Jeremy taught us how to use Beli to review where we eat and shared his major dining takeaways, Romi educated us on “Blue Zones” and the elements of Japanese food that promote longevity, Jo shared her financial discoveries about meal prices, Rachel gave us a look into her scrapbook to see her perspective of the trip, Frederick developed concepts for five cookies inspired by the prefectures we visited, and Jayden rated and reviewed all of the new foods she tried in the last month. I watched in awe as my classmates presented the work that they did, inspired and proud of all of them.  

When the presentations for the day concluded, it was time to take our dreaded third biology quiz. After our papers were collected, we all knew what was coming: a presentation from the one and only Sora, our program assistant and savior. Sora educated us on various elements of Japanese history, along the way debunking various assumptions that we had and creating important discussions.  

Our time in class eventually ended and we made our way to our farewell dinner. For me, this meal was less about the food and more about talking and sharing what we all loved about the trip, a nostalgic recap of the last month. All 16 of us students plus Dr. Young, Professor Ito, and Sora shared what we were most looking forward to on the trip, what we loved, and something that was not so great. Once again, I wish I could share exactly what everyone said but that is not possible, however, there was one comment that I think sums up everything: “This has been one of the best months of my life,” first said by Romi, then echoed by Dr. Young. I think everyone agreed.