I love eating in Japan more than anywhere else and I’m discovering more Japanese foods with each visit. There’s a story behind this story. I pitched this piece to the GaijinPot editors under the deranged delusion I could research it without eating a lot of these foods. Of course, they didn’t agree to that. So I ate some pretty scary things, but now I’m curious for more!

I’m very charmed by Japanese onomatopoeia and it’s used in the story. If you like onomatopoeia you can also check out my piece Mogu Mogu! Japanese Sweets by Sound.

I once thought natto (fermented soybeans) was Japan’s worst culinary bogeyman, but much nastier, nightmarish foods exist in the archipelago to tempt foreign fates. I’m from Australia, where the Japanese dining landscape is mostly dried seabeds of sushi and tempura bound by rivers of teriyaki sauce. The truly alien encounters await in Japan’s gastronomic world, from surreal sea creatures to pod-like akebi fruit. 
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