Japan 2019 - 9 Whimsical Japanese Food

When in Japan I love to try weird foods that you find in vending machines or elsewhere.

At Tokyo Midtown, a multi-purpose complex in Roppongi, we happened upon this popular ice cream place, with an array of interesting flavor combinations. Sorry, you'll have to blow it up to see them all but here they are (top to bottom, left to right: lemon-ginger, chocolat-banane, soy-strawberry, soy fruit mix,soy macha, milky mix, blueberry yogurt, kaki (persimmon) hojicha, pumpkin, mont-blanc, mix east, and annin(?) mango lychee.

Some cool items found in vending machines. First, this machine that dispensed corn soup, a favorite, either hot or cold: very sophisticated.

Corn soup in vending machine: hot or cold

Then I found one machine with corn soup and clam chowder. I had to try to chowder and can say that it was one of the worst things I've ever eaten. Fortunately, no need to be polite so tossed immediately.

Finally, a great ice cream vending machine on a train platform, with at least 17 different flavors.

Ice cream vending machine

Other things the Japanese love: Tokyo Banana, a  sponge cake with banana custard filling (reminds me of a Twinkie), and KitKats, here a banana-flavored one.

KitKat and Tokyo Banana

And there's so much more. Japanese food can be sublime or not-so-sublime. I love it!

Bobby Jay