Dinners in Hiroshima

Dinners were usually a simple affair for me when I stayed alone. Unless I am out with friends, I don't usually go for fancy dinner when I am alone. In Japan, I found that there are also many options for dinner. There are definitely the fancy restaurants around, but also I could find dinner easily in supermarkets where there are bento sets or sushi sets which goes on a highly discounted rate after 8 pm.

Another option I had was to do my own cooking. Even so, there could be different choices.

When I am lazy, I cook the packet noodles (which is easily found in Japan and is one of my favourite dishes too) adding an egg and some vegetables.

When I am in the cooking mood, I also tried different recipes from Mum and Grandma. In Japan, I experimented cooking rice using the traditional method without the rice cooker. It was not so easy. Rice became porridge in the first few attempts. Finally I could succeed with the right amount of water and time.

My favourite dishes were fried rice and fried noodles. Sometimes it was a simple chinese meal.

Staying alone always makes me miss home cooked food. No matter how many experiments I tried, the food will never taste the same as Mum's or Grandma's cooking. However with every try, I can relive the memories of looking at Mum and Grandma cooking.

Hiroshima apartment

Being the first time in Japan, I did not know what to expect. What makes me even more panicky is that I had to handle taking the train from Narita Airport to Hiroshima where I will be stationed for the next 2 months. Luckily, Boss was already there was the past few months and he knew the place and system pretty well. He gave me a detailed description of where to go and how to get to Saijo, the town where I will be staying, simple drawings of maps to assist me in finding my way.

I took the night flight to arrive in the morning in Narita so that I will have enough time in the day to get to Saijo. I didn't want to risk having to find my way around in the dark. However, it was not as difficult as I imagined and the systematic train system and the friendly people helped me to arrive at my destination even way before my expected arrival time.

My apartment-hotel



The friendly receptionist brought me to my apartment. To my surprise, I saw a little kitchen and a very small room at first glance, with simple furniture.





But after settling in, I found it to be a very clean and cosy place. Everything that was necessary was also available. In fact, after staying for the next few days, I start to like the decor of the room and the little flight of steps that led to the bed. It became my reading corner of the room.

I also liked it that there was a separation between the cooking and toilet area from the sleeping area. The toilet was an interesting discovery of the creativity of the Jap.



I took the little map Boss has drawn for me and found the supermarkets nearby. I started to fill up the kitchen with daily necessities. The only difficulty I had was getting the wrong type of "oil" for cooking as I could not understand what was written on the bottle. But luckily, it was sesame oil that I got instead of usual cooking oil! I was looking forward to my next days in Japan.