00:03 John Daub: Yeah, this is a Japanese breakfast. This has all the stops and a lot of it is just really typical of things that you'll find in Japan. It's definitely not a Western breakfast. There's no pancakes, no bacon—well, there are eggs. This is tamagoyaki (rolled omelet), but it's just different.

00:23 John Daub: So I thought in this live stream I would introduce you to Japanese breakfast, ryokan style. This ryokan is called Hanano-yu. I'm in Bandai Atami, an onsen town (hot spring resort). And instead of having courses, this place has a buffet. The good thing about that is you get to see everything. Nothing is held back. So I'm going to take you around the buffet and show you some of the foods. And then I'll tell you, after I show you all the stuff, we're going to take a look at what I picked and sort of decipher it all. Shige is going to help me. Shige is over there still eating. Oh, that's the half-boiled egg.

01:26 John Daub: All right. So before Shige got to this point though, we raided the buffet bar. We're going to do that right now. We're going to go together for about 2-3 minutes. So Shige and I are going to go and explain to you the buffet bar. It's going to be fun. This place is pretty classy. You can tell by the music and the chandeliers. It's where you want to be when you're in Bandai Atami.

02:02 Shige: There is a drink bar, so you can help yourself to drinks and coffee.

02:12 John Daub: All right. Where should we start? Miso soup is good. So this is udon. And you can actually throw it in the water yourself and make it yourself and put the toppings on, which is pretty cool. Very nice. Corn soup. Yep, that's corn soup.

02:35 John Daub: Rice. Rice is nice. Is this Fukushima rice?

02:52 Shige: Yes. This is local Asakama rice. This is brand new rice from this area. Koriyama.

03:05 John Daub: Okayu (rice porridge). That's sort of watery rice. It's kind of soft on the stomach. Yes, that's right. And these are two kinds of miso soup. This one is red miso soup. Wow, look at all the stuff in there. And this is white miso soup. You used a different kind of miso, didn't you? Yes, that's right. Thank you. Which do you like, red or white?

03:47 Shige: I really like red.

03:48 John Daub: I like the red one, he likes the white one. So different people have different preferences. Oh, okay. So there's some fresh fruit. Milk pudding. That looks pretty good. Pineapple and oranges. Alright, but Shige, over here, I don't know what a lot of this stuff is.

04:16 Shige: This is Japanese radish. Radish, carrot.

04:21 John Daub: Alright, so this is a mix of Japanese radish, carrots, and konnyaku (yam cake), which is a gelatin potato. This is mentaiko (spicy cod roe). Mentaiko is like the fish eggs. It's the roe from there. Ah, it's like a fish cake. I'm simplifying the translations. Ah, okay. This, I know what this is. This is natto (fermented soybeans), right? Natto. This is natto. Small beans. And you get the packet of soy sauce and mustard inside. Very nice. Seaweed. Nori (seaweed sheets).

05:13 Shige: And this is potato.

05:20 John Daub: Right, it's a kind of a potato. It's a really gooey sticky potato when you smash it up. And it's so good. I really like it over rice. And here's fresh tofu. The presentation—it looks like a bucket of ice cream. It's tofu, right? Yeah, tofu. And that's the topping? Yes, it's tofu, ginger, and green onion. Ah, ginger. Ginger, leeks, and katsubushi (dried bonito flakes). Okay. What's this?

05:55 Shige: This is kombu (kelp). Seaweed.

06:00 John Daub: Where do you put it? You put it on rice and stuff like that. It's really salty. Sweet and salty. This is really salty, and you put this on top of the rice. This is also umeboshi (pickled plums). Is this sour? I don't know. So this is umeboshi, and we don't know what it's called. We don't know if it's sweet or sour. You have to figure that out. And there's some vegetables. Okay. Let's take a look at some other stuff.

06:43 John Daub: So this here is—remember that mushi potato (steamed potato) over there? That's what this is, but it's been deep fried. That's pretty cool. I didn't know that. You eat hamburgers for breakfast?

06:55 Shige: No, this is a tofu hamburger. It's made with tofu and soy sauce.

07:06 John Daub: So that's why you can have it at breakfast. This has a little bit of chicken in it, he said. Oh, it looks good. Hot dog? Wiener. So I never see breakfast sausage in Japan. I always see like hot dogs. Wieners, we call them in Japan. Are you a wiener? I'm a wiener. Sounds like winner. Oh, this is onsen tamago (hot spring eggs). I didn't get this before. So these are half-boiled eggs in the onsen. So it has a little bit of the minerals in it. Very cool. And vegetables. I like it. It's really healthy. Very healthy. Yes, yes, yes. Shumai (steamed dumplings). A little bit. I always get a couple of those. And I don't know, in Japan, meatballs are really popular for breakfast. You just put a couple of them on your plate.

08:26 John Daub: Oh, and over there is the final. So we have some simmered vegetables in here. This is kabutsu (rolled cabbage). Rolled cabbage. Very nice. I always see this for breakfast, but what is this?

08:46 Shige: Saba (mackerel).

08:49 John Daub: Oh, this is mackerel. Saba. You grilled it, right? Oh, so they grilled it. Yeah, that looks really good. And salmon. So you just take a little bit of that. You take the one that you like. I like the saba, but you can also go for the salmon. And here's more stewed vegetables. Nikujaga (meat and potato stew)? Ah, this is nikujaga. Thank you. I'm sorry. I avoid the ham, but it's always at Japanese breakfast as well. The buffets as well as different salads. Konnichiwa. Good morning. Yes, it's still morning. Very healthy. Really love the mackerel. It's got lovely colors. So that's it. Arigato, Shige.

09:40 John Daub: We don't have a lot of time. I'm going to the next onsen. We're in Bandai Atami right now for another 15 minutes, and then I'm getting in the car, and we're headed to the next onsen. I just wanted to share with you a little bit of Japanese breakfast. It's a pretty interesting experience, and usually you'll come as a course if you're at a ryokan (traditional inn), but at this place, you get to buffet, and you take whatever you want, and you can have a good time. Shige took a lot, and I took a lot. I have to go eat that right now. It's funny. It's fun to see all the people and what they take. What do they like? Yeah. Me? I like the coffee. It's black and hot. But you know what? A little tip about ryokans. Coffee's hard to find here. If you do stay at a ryokan and you're a coffee drinker, bring your own filtered coffee or something. I'm not sure if you can find it at a ryokan or a supermarket, because you can't find any coffee at ryokans usually. Typically it's green tea only. So I hope that this episode was important. I hope you learned something. I'm going to take my plate of food over to where Shige is sitting. This is what I got. See the rice, the natto, the miso soup, all the food.

11:18 John Daub: So this is what I got. I got the deep fried potatoes with wiener. There's umeboshi. This is the tofu, the tororo (grated yam). Tamagoyaki with a tofu burger. Both the fish, the saba and the salmon. This is mackerel. Two tomatoes for good color. Miso soup, the red kind with natto. And rice. And on top of here, you have toppings for rice. This one is seaweed. It's kind of salty and wet and it mixes well with the rice. So it has a good flavor. It looks kind of gross, but it's good. Don't be afraid to try new stuff.

12:01 John Daub: Now when you eat natto. Thank you, Mateus. I am going to enjoy this natto, my friend. You can see how gooey it is. I'm making this just for you. Oh yeah. All right. A little bit of tare (soy sauce). Tashi deshou kore? Oh yeah. Now kids should love this because this is when you get to play with your food. Oh yeah. Breakfast is served. Fermented soybeans. We call this natto where I'm from. Nice. This is Japanese breakfast at its finest. Yeah. And then after you're done with that, you put this on top of the rice. It's kind of a mess. There you have it. Breakfast in Japan made easy.

13:20 John Daub: So there you go. John and Shige here teaching you a little bit of Japanese breakfast. Thank you very much for watching this episode and I hope it's useful for you when you come to Japan and you don't know what to eat or you're kind of confused at what's in front of you. Just try it. It's pretty good. See you next time everybody. Whoa.