Wild Horses

One of the first questions people typically ask me about Japan is..."how is the food?" I generally have few complaints. I can't lie and say there aren't certain dishes that I miss...or pretend to not notice the difference between burgers here and in the States...but aside from that, few complaints. On a positive note, food here comes in much smaller portions and is generally much healthier than in the US.
One of the main tenets of having a successful international assignment is being open...or so I've read. I'm pretty picky about some food, but in general, I'm open to most meats. So, during my second week in Japan, on a driving trip to Yamanashi, we stopped off at a somewhat traditional Japanese restaurant. Traditional in that we had to take off our shoes and sit on the ground. Traditional in the sense that raw horse meat was on the menu. In an effort to show my new co-workers just how open I was to new experiences, I persuaded them to do the ordering and that I would sample what they choose. I hated the tofu that came out, but surprisingly loved the taste of the raw horse meat....isn't that ironic? I've never been particularly squeamish about raw foods - I'm a big fan of sushi and as long as it's safe...I'll give it a try. After my dabble with horse, I've since learned that I've only scratched the surface of raw cuisine. Apparently, raw beef and chicken are also quite popular here...yum yum!!