Not so much in Japan. Something like 98% of the population is ethnically Japanese. (there is such a thing as "native" or indiginous Japanese, but that group has largely mixed with whatever "normal" Japanese is.) It's so homogenous that whenever I see an American (black or white or brown) I want to run up and introduce myself, as if we should all know each other! ;)
But, there are still a lot of international influences in Japan. By "a lot" I mean more than I would expect from such a homogeneous group.
The most notable is the Buddhist religion, which was imported from China, by way of India. Today, few Japanese are Buddhist, per say, but many do respect Buddhist principles.
There are some American foods, namely hamburgers and starbucks. Also we had a delicious American breakfast at the hotel (complete with coffee, orange juice, eggs, bacon, and toast). Japan's entire constitution was practically written by the U.S., and some would say they have managed to be even more American than we have, showing how effective "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy can actually work.
But we're "Mexicanitos" or "casi-Chilangos" now, so we could hardly go a week without salsa and tortillas and Jamaica and Limonada. We found the only Mexican restaurant in Tokyo and tried it out!
The recipes were more authentic than those in most Mexican restaurants in the U.S., but their execution was not as delicious as at Mexican restaurants in Mexico. Still, super yummy!
2 comments:
Japan certainly is a strange mix of being homogeneous and international. There is more than one Mexican restaurant in Tokyo (in a city of 30,000,000 there has to be). Which one did you go to?
there were only 2 mexican restaurants listed in our tourbook - we went to the one that was "reasonably" priced rather than really expensive, but it was still kind of pricey, and in the Roponggi neighborhood which seemed very upper class and international.
Post a Comment