When people ask me about the food in Japan, they're almost always thinking of sushi. The truth is my host family fed me so much incredible home cooking that I only went out for sushi one time! Every weekday, I would wake up to a three-course breakfast and a fresh cup of coffee, and I would come home to a dinner that beats anything I've ever tasted at a restaurant. Even if I texted my host grandma, Baba, to tell her that I would get home past midnight, she would be waiting for me at the table with a hot meal. There was only one exception to this rule: My host father Hiroshi-san would often travel for work and would only be home for dinner one or two nights a week; Hiroshi-san was a ramen aficionado, and he would make sure that on one of his free nights, he would take my host sister Sae-chan and I out for a bowl of ramen. All-in-all, I've had ramen from well over 20 different shops across Japan!
