You are reminded that you are in Japan when...

you bite into a small cake with a green tinge to it, only to discover that the inside is totally green & then read that it's 'green tea and aduki bean' flavour. Mmm (a cake I received from school no less, some of the 'omiyage'- souvenir/ presents that routinely go round to everyone in the staffroom... not sure where this one came from tho).

On the subject of food, I've been enjoying cooking again this week- don't know why I don't seem to have done too much of it recently. I took the plunge and bought some fresh fish from the supermarket. (Could probably have eaten it raw...) But for a mere 88yen [that's hmm, 40p], I bought salmon one day and sanma (saury) the next - straight from the Pacific Ocean i imagine. It was nice grilled with rice and miso soup (fermented soy beans and veg). I felt fairly Japanesey- although Nihonjin would eat this for breakfast (well maybe not the saury, but definitely the salmon)!!