Myth #2: "Eating Japanese food is a good way to stick to my diet," or the corollary: "I'm always still hungry after eating Japanese."
Truth: When I was given this assignment, I joked with friends that this would be the one food reviewing job where I'd actually lost weight. Not true. If you stick to sushi and sashimi or the plain buckwheat noodles, you won't
put on any extra pounds. But many of the cooked dishes can be rather filling and caloric: the batter-fried tempura, sugary teriyaki sauce, greasy deep- fried dumplings and cutlets, and salt-laden soy sauce in everything. So if your goal is to watch the calories, order carefully.
Myth #3: "Japanese food is an exotic cuisine and hard to find."
Truth: There are close to 30 Japanese restaurants throughout the region, and that's not even counting the numerous Japanese fast-food counters in many of the area malls. Nationwide there has been a slight upswing in the number of Japanese restaurants, as diners over the last decade have been increasingly turning to the freshness and artistry that Japanese food represents.
Myth #4: "Like many other ethnic cuisines, Japanese food offers an economical way to go out to dinner."
Truth: You can spend as much at a top Japanese restaurant as at a good French or continental dining spot. Because so much individual attention is paid to the preparation and presentation of the food, Japanese restaurants tend to charge more than their Chinese or Vietnamese counterparts.
Now that we've set some of the most common myths aside, what else can we say about Japanese dining? Probably the thing that most impressed me in my tour was that eating Japanese cuisine is not just a different food experience, it's a cultural awakening.
