Aside from the perennial use of chopsticks while eating, there’s really so much more to Japanese food that just eating raw fish or breaded food. Aside from being considered as “relatively healthy food”, the preparation that goes into cooking Japanese food is also pretty much thought of as an art. Apart from highly skilled Japanese chefs, traditional Japanese cooking has also been mastered by common housewives who’ve been taught by their mothers early on how to prepare traditional Japanese food.

One such famous type of Japanese food is the Okinawan style of cooking wherein the food tends to be spicier and have stronger flavors unlike other kinds of Japanese food. These characteristics of the Okinawan dishes are highly attributed to the great influence that the Chinese passed on to how dishes are prepared. Pork is the main ingredient in this specialty, whether it be the pig’s feet, the pig’s ears or even the pig’s tripe, they will all add that up to a delicious Okinawan dish.

Using seafood is also highly popular Japanes food ingredients. Several local vegetables and fruits are also added to the dish. As for the flavor of these dishes, the Japanese like to use what they call as awamori, which is an Okinawan alcohol that is made from rice, black sugar is also commonly used as well as soy sauce and miso. As for the usual marinating ingredients, the alcohol awamori is mixed up with a spicy condiment that is known as kooreegesu.

As for the style of cooking, stir-frying is the most common method of cooking Japanese food. Common dishes like Okinawan chanpuru is a stir fried dish that is actually the combination of leeks, tofu, eggs as well as a lot of other fresh ingredients. There are actually a lot of different types of chanpuru dish; it just depends on your taste.

The Japanese dish known as the rafuti is what they call pork stewed in miso soup with soy sauce, awamori and sugar. This dish has a Chinese counterpart known as the kakuni. There’s also the toofuyoo a Japanese tofu-based dish that is high on flavor and is usually eaten with alcoholic drinks.

For those who are feeling less adventurous, there’s the Western style taco rice – where instead of the taco shell, the Japanese uses rice to hold the ingredients of the “taco”.

Here are some unique alternatives to the popular Japanese dishes that you may want to try out:
Yakisoba – these are thick noodles that are stir fried along with some vegetables as well as some pieces of meat. This dish is usually sweet and spicy to the taste.

Saataa andagi – these are doughnuts that hail all the way from the Okinawa district of Japan.

Hiijaa sashimi – for those who want to try a different kind of sashimi try this one which is made out of raw goat meat.
Datemaki – sweet fish paste that has a sponge-like texture this is often prepared for special occasions such as the osechi or the Japanese New Year.