Umeboshi

Umeboshi are pickled Japanese ume fruit that are known for their remarkably sour and salty taste. They are typically served with rice. For example, a hinomaru bento offers a single umeboshi in the center of white rice designed to look like the Japanese flag.

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Mentaiko

Mentaiko are the strong tasting raw roe of pollock or cod. They are served as a side dish with a good stiff drink. They are also a popular topping and ingredient in a wide array of dishes including Japanese spaghetti.

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Gunkanmaki

Gunkanmaki (literally: gunship rolls) are a type of sushi. A hand formed oval of sushi rice is wrapped in nori to form a boat shape. The top of the boat is filled with soft ingredients such as fish roe.

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Oshizushi

Oshizushi is sushi that has been pressed in a wooden mold known as a oshibako. It's a specialty of Osaka. The most common type is Battera, pressed mackerel sushi.

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Shogayaki

Shogayaki is thin-sliced ginger-fried pork. It's a basic Japanese dish that people cook at home.

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Kare Pan

Japanese curry wrapped in dough, breaded in panko and deep fried. The result is essentially a curry donut.

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Taiyaki

Taiyaki is a fish-shaped cake filled with anko, custard, cheese, or sweet potato. Another Japanese festival favorite.

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Yaki Onigiri

Onigiri rice balls grilled with soy sauce and butter until crunchy.

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Ebi Furai

Prawns breaded in panko and deep fried. The term usually applies to reasonably large fried prawns that have a somewhat standardized size. Ebi Furai are a common bento item and are sold precooked at supermarkets and depachika.

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Chawanmushi

Chawanmushi can be translated "steamed in a tea bowl." It's a Japanese egg custard that's not sweet but instead has an umami flavor. Its ingredients read like a list of Japanese favorites: soy sauce, dashi, mirin and shiitake mushrooms. There's usually a single ginkgo seed near the bottom.

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Tonjiru

Tonjiru, literally: pork soup, is the most popular soup in Japan after miso soup. It's considerably heartier than miso. Tonjiru consists of pork, burdock root, konnyaku, onions, daikon, carrots, tofu, potatoes and mushrooms in a pork and dashi soup.

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Umibudo

Umibudo is a seaweed that resembles a string of green grapes. Each tiny ball of umibudo is filled with a salty liquid that's not sea water despite its light salt water taste. It's typically served marinated in a little vinegar and soy sauce. Umibudo is a well known specialty of Okinawa.

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