How to Tell the End is Near

Viking Meals are served

February is rounding out. That means there's about 2-3 weeks left for the current 3rd graders to finish their tenure at junior highs all over the country. Unique, at least in the Matsue area, to Shinji Junior High is the celebratory "Viking Meal" individual rooms (there are 3) get to have with all the teachers in a large banquet type setup.


By far the greatest of lunches served all year as far as I'm concerned. The main reason being the kids are chatty and its the one time I can eat, joke around and just talk with these teenagers. They're a good bunch of kids too.

For whatever reason, what we call buffet is referred to as "viking style" here and to be honest, I quite like "Viking Style" more. Buffet is just another one of those words borrowed from the french that makes the event sound more regal than it should. Where Viking leaves no doubt in anyone's mind what we came to do..."Conquer, Devour and be Merry!"



Really the food isn't all that special. It's made by the same company that makes our regualr daily lunch, we just get to have more of it. And the food served here is the stuff the kids will enjoy to. With a bit of veggies, its mostly various meats and fruit, with nice desserts as well. For the most part all good and worth eating...but there's always an exception.



Meet Natto. Natto not only smells bad, it tastes worse. It one of the few thing here that I refuse to touch again.
The absolutely crazy thing is. Most Japanese people love it. Some even eat on a daily basis with their rice for breakfast.

Its made from fermented soy beans usually mixed with a miso paste and served on rice or by itself. And its sticky as you can see. Did I mention it reeks? Some Japanese folk get a kick that foreigners don't care for it. (They feel the same way about Blue Cheese by the way)

I really can't express my dislike for this food enough and my man Tetsuya here ate four little cups of the stuff.

Amazing.