Japanese Stuff in the US

I’m not moving back to Japan until march, but I am going to do a few posts before then. Some of them wont have much to do with Japan, but I miss blogging and would like to show what I’ve done since returning to the US. I have a lot of random things to show so I’ve divided my pictures into a few categories. This post will show Japanese things in America.

I loved Japanese style karaoke and my friend found a place in Louisville, called Oasis, that has a couple of karaoke rooms. It’s a Japanese restaurant, but the karaoke systems are actually Korean. There are actually fewer English songs than there usually were in Japan, but there are still plenty to choose from.

Why were there two TVs???? I don’t know, lol. Anyways, it’s a fun place to go even if it does look a bit sketchy from the outside. It looks a lot better inside! I’ve never eaten any of the food there so I can’t say anything about that, but I do recommend the karaoke rooms.

There are quite a few Japanese restaurants around here, but most of them just have mostly sushi and hibachi grill stuff. I like those things, but there is a lot more to Japanese food than that. My favorite Japanese restaurant that I’ve found is Nagasaki Inn in Lexington because it has more variety. They have kitsune udon. Yum! :)

I love Nagasaki Inn, but what’s next door is even better. It’s a Japanese grocery store called Hibari Market. When I go in there I kind of feel like I’m back in Japan. The TV behind the register is always playing Japanese TV shows which adds to the atmosphere. Here are some of the things I bought at Hibari Market.

The melon soda was good, but it wasn’t as good as Melon Fanta. I really wish that would be sold here! Oh well. I was really happy to find melon pan (the bread is named that because of the shape, not the flavor). During my last few days in Japan, I tried to find melon pan in a few different stores, but they didn’t have any. It’s usually a very common item, but they didn’t have any right then because of the earthquake/tsunami.

Last summer I visited Texas. One of the places I went to was the Japanese Garden at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden. I went there several times as a kid, but I think it had been over 10 years since the last time I went there. It’s a really nice garden and it’s done very well. There are some differences such as really short grass in some places that would probably have moss in Japan (moss probably wouldn’t do well in the Texas heat), but it’s really really pretty. 

The koi there are crazy! There are several machines were you can buy food to feed them. It’s fun to throw a bunch of food in at once and watch them go nuts.

This bridge is an example of something that was not quite authentic. In Japan it most likely would have been stone or wood, but this one was concrete. It still looked nice though.

There was a crane and he let me get really close. It was awesome!

That squirrel was sooooo cute! I’ve read that there are squirrels in some parts of Japan, but I never saw any. It’s too bad because I love squirrels!

There is also a Japanese garden in Georgetown, KY. It’s not as big or as impressive as the one in Texas, but it’s ok. The main thing I don’t like about it is that it’s right next to a road which makes it not as peaceful as Japanese gardens usually are. But, in the spring there were pretty sakura trees! :)

Last summer there was a Japanese festival in Lexington. There were a few tables of Japanese items for sale, food, activities, and entertainment including a Japanese Idol singing competition. I’m looking forward to going again this year.

This last picture is pretty random. I saw this house while on a walk and had to take a picture. It’s probably unintentional, but the shrub looked like Totoro to me.