Street food in Japan is less popular than South Korean. Street food in Japan is more likely to occur in festivals and events. There are hundreds of festivals in Japan: fireworks display, food and drink festivals, and cherry blossom festivals. Some street food is provided on the roadside in the night, and the price is inexpensive. Japanese street food is easy to prepare and cook, and some are well-known in China and Korea. I like Oden (Kantō-ni), a one-pot dishes with eggs, fishcakes, and daikon. Yakitori, chicken or beef skewers with tare sauce, is my favorite, too. In this post, I’ll introduce some Japanese street food in Oakland.
Takoyaki
Takoyaki (“octopus fried”) might be the most famous Japanese snack. Takoyaki is a fried ball, made by wheat flour, minced octopus, pickled ginger, green onion, and Tenkasu [1]. It’s cooked in a cast-iron pan with semicircle holes, and cooks use a long stick to twist it. There is mayonnaise, anonri (dried green laver), sesame, sauce, and katsuobushi (dried and smoked skipjack tuna) on the top. The freshly made Takoyaki is the best, and frozen Takoyaki is somehow less crispy. Sadly, all restaurants in Oakland use frozen Takoyaki. You can eat it in Chick’n Bubbly and Zen’s noodle House, and taste difference between two restaurants are small. Takoyaki is sold around six to eight per piece. The inner temperature of Takoyaki is high, so don’t eat one at a time. Try the heat first, or you may hurt the throat.
Ramune is a favorite carbonated soft drink in Japan. Ramune in Japanese means “lemonade”, and it’s created by Alexander Cameron Sim in 1876 [3]. Now, Ramune and firework are two symbols of summer in Japan. Ramune is famous for its design on the bottle: a glass marble is sitting in the lip, and users have to use a small device to push the marble inward. The device is sold with every drink. It’s a funny process to open Ramune. Honestly, it’s the main reason I drink it again and again. It’s a bit hard to open and drink in the first time, and I never hesitate to ask for help from waiters. Ramune is sold in Fuku Tea, Mount Everest sushi, Sushi Fuku, and Zen’s noodle house. The price is around $2.50, and there are six flavors: blueberry, grape, lemonade, lychee, strawberry, and watermelon. Next time in Fuku Tea, please try Ramune (although winter is coming).
Reference:
[1] “Takoyaki.” 2018. En.Wikipedia.Org. Accessed October 28, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki
[2] Balls, Takoyaki. 2018. “Takoyaki Octopus Balls Recipe”. Japan Centre. Accessed October 30, 2018. https://www.japancentre.com/en/recipes/22-takoyaki-octopus-balls
[3] “Ramune.” 2018. En.Wikipedia.Org. Accessed October 30, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramune
Panther Eats 
The Takoyaki sounds very interesting. I am a huge fan of calamari (deep fried squid). Does the takoyaki taste similar to it? I’ve only had octopus in the form of sushi, never cooked!
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Yes, they are similar. Taste like calamari with salty sauce.
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Really cool post! I’ve always been a little hesitant when it comes to my food choices. I stick to what I know, and it’s seemed to work out for me. After reading this, though, I feel it’s so cool that we get a little taste of Japanese street food right here in the heart of Oakland. I definitely am feeling more encouraged to give it a try one of these days. Don’t know if I’d be able to jump right into the fried octopus at first, but I’ll definitely have to give one of your other recommendations a try. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for your reply! Yes, we all like to stay in the comfortable zone. Perhaps you could start with pork dumplings in Chick’n Bubbly 🙂
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