Japan and Mexican Food

When you come to a country like Japan, it’s normal that you’ll give up some things you might be used to having back home. This includes having access to ridiculously cheap buy-1-get-1-free delivered pizzas, having more than two varieties of cheese to choose from at the supermarket and enjoying things like turkey, Nutella or American-style peanut butter, all of which are difficult to find here. The joy of walking into a bookstore and leisurely browsing for something to read in your native language is generally denied to you, and certain rare drinks like Mountain Dew are all but nonexistent here, though availability of Dr. Pepper has improved steadily thanks to Steins;Gate. You also have to say goodbye to pretty much all Mexican food, as it’s just something the Japanese never got the hang of eating. I’m from San Diego, where no one goes a week without getting delicious Mexican food from Roberto’s or one of the other copycat chains, and it was surprisingly hard to give that up. The closest thing to Mexican food in Japan is Taco Rice, an Okinawan dish consisting of taco mean and salsa eaten over white rice, or possibly the chicken wraps from KFC, which aren’t too bad if you close your eyes while you eat.

One does not simply eat Mexican food in Japan.