For just 1680 Yen, this Ise Shrimp and American Sauce Ringuine (?) of Scallop Sitting on a Nest of Spaghetti can be yours. Well, not this plate in particular because the restaurant is very attached to it as a way of visually presenting their culinary virtues to passers-by.

伊勢海老&帆立のアメリカンソースラングイネ

The most important question is of course: how do they stop the spaghetti sliding off the plate?

The omnipresent but slightly behind the times in a the-shops-probably-look-much-as-they-did-25-years-ago-kind-of-way coffee shop chain Doutor has latched on to the Seattle style with its relatively new "Excelsior Caffé" (sic) cafés. A stop-over at Gifu station provided an opportunity to sample Starbucks Japanese-style with this exquisite morning set (モーニングセット) consisting of a boiled egg, kafeore (カフェオレ, café au lait) and a croissant containing various animal and vegetable products. All for 450 Yen.

Well, it was OK. The hard-boiled egg was boiled and the croissant was crescent-shaped. The coffee had milky foam on top. The WLAN reception was zilch. All in all a representative Japanese breakfast experience.

Links: Excelsior Caffé, location.

At home I avoid fast food "restaurants" wherever possible, not just for diet or ideological reasons. In Japan however I find them useful for shorter and longer breaks while on the move: they almost always have a non-smoking area (otherwise a rareity in Japan), it's possible to stay there for hours without being disturbed (apart from the raucous cries of feral kogals at the next table), and, most importantly, there's a reasonable chance of an open WLAN network in the immediate vicinity.

Fortunately Japan has its own native competitors to the omnipresent McD, which are always good for a cup of coffee (tip: if your primary aim is to drink good coffee, go elsewhere). I avoid the food usually. With one exception: the ebi burger.

"Ebi" burger - エビバーガー

Restaurant Oraga Soba Yamaie (?) - おらが蕎ば山家 - deep in the bowels of the Odakyu Halc building, Shinjuku Station Nishiguchi.

ebidoshi (えびどし) - prawn soba with scrambled eggs; 870 Yen

Ein sommerhafter Frühlingssonntagmittag im Großraumbereich Baumschulenweg. Etwa da, wo die Sonnenallee ihr kürzeres Ende hat. Nach einem langen Laufweg haben sich die Kehle getrocknet. Doch keine Versorgungsstätte weit und breit. Auch wenn es gerade angebracht wäre, feierlich das erste Eis des Jahres zu verspeisen.

Die Schotten sind bekanntlich für ihr Whisky berühmt, die Deutschen haben sich eher auf Bier spezialisiert. In einer von dem Rest der Welt offenbar vergessenen Ecke von Pankow (wahrscheinlich ein Geheimtipp unter Casting-Scouts - hier könnten noch Filme über das Plattenbaumileu der 60er/70er gedreht werden) gibt es ein Einkaufszentrum Bauart 1990er, in dessen gespenstisch stillen Untergeschoßsupermarkt das Ergebnis eines Aufeinandertreffens der beiden Kreativrichtungen überraschend entdeckt wurde.

Japan has a long tradition of eki-ben (駅弁) - literally "station packed lunches" - which consist of a tray of Japanese food, typically reflecting the local culinary tradition of the station's region. These are sold at the station or even on the train and are usually eaten cold.

But hey, if you're travelling in Japan for any length of time you get sick of all this traditional stuff and long for a good home cooked meal just like a vending machine would make it. Look no further than Shin Osaka Station.

Nie wieder Nikolaiviertel. An der Waisenstraße ist noch echte Berliner Altstadt. Und direkt an der Mauer (zur Altstadt gibt es selbstverständlich die Altstadtmauer) steht dieses Etablissement mit einer gerichtlich orientierten Speisekarte.

"Einstweilige Verfügung": vergleichsweise leichte Kost.