There are countless vending machines throughout Japan. Items available range from canned coffee, hamburger, yakisoba and rice bowl (served hot!), beer and sake (served freezing cold), to cigarettes, tissue, underwear and condoms.
Sunroom Café and Sweets is quietly nestled away on the 81. But that solitude, accompanied by its fresh bakery and delicious coffee, makes the quaint shop one of my top choices for food, drink, and peace.
As a kid, every New Year I would look forward to a sweet jelly called kouhaku kanten. Kanten is a jelly made from boiled tengusa algae and seaweed. It is known for being low-calorie and rich in fiber, so it is often used as a healthy alternative to regular sweets.
Turmeric, or “ukon” in Japanese, is a kind of ginger, known as a spice for Indian curry, and in Japan, it is mostly recognized as a food that can help avoid hangover.
It has been said that food is the soul of a country. This couldn’t be truer for Okinawa. A mix of favorable natural conditions and diverse foreign influences produced unique eating habits and a cooking style that is now known as “Okinawan cuisine”.
