Ordering some Take Out

To order up some take out in Japan is an incredibly old new-fangled idea. Don't understand what I mean? Well, Japan has done take out in at least one form for quite some decades. That form takes the shape of the very well known bento. Sure most people prefer to make their own or have their mothers or girlfriends make them for them, but there have always been bento shops for that special occasion or the rare incidence wherein you forget to pack a lunch. These bento shops are places that you could either pick up your order, or on the rare occasion (at least for back in the day) they could deliver it for you (probably if you had a large order or something).

Today, it seems like take out food is more of a new thing in Japan. Yes they have McDonald's. Yes, McDonald's does take out. But that isn't really where I am going with this. I am going in the direction of real meals, restaurants and the like. I know in America, it is perfectly acceptable to walk into nearly any restaurant, or at least any restaurant chain, and order your meals to go if the wait to get a seat is just too long or if you were feeling rather misogynistic that night. Places like Outback steakhouse or Chili's. In Japan, not every place does that. I even doubt the Outback in Osaka will do that, granted I haven't tried yet...However, there are some places that do. My favorite ramen joint with excellent karage now does that, Osho, the kansai chain of Chinese restaurants as well. Why I am really not surprised by Chinese take out?
But whats more?
Some places even deliver. I am not just talking about your local Pizza Hut, which of course delivers, but even the Tokyo McDonald's has a fleet of McDonald's emblazoned scooters that scoot around the city getting meals to their patrons. I am sure there is a price limit to justify the use of one though. Bento stores like the one that my school orders en masse from of course deliver directly to our school. Most other bento places will deliver as well to patrons who probably fall under the McDonald's clause of spending x amount of money. And then a bunch of mom and pop places will deliver to their long time patrons or patrons who are possibly too feeble to make it to the store. Or maybe just to anyone?
The favored method of deliver is is via scooter. They will equip these scooters with large insulated coolers as a back attachment for the mopeds and away they go. I am sure there is also some variant of three wheeled scooter-car with a bed or larger back area to enable them to carry their large order to patron such as my school. There are also special rigs that either must be done personally or by some interesting tech that does some bizarre designs. I will let your minds wander as to what contraptions I might be referring. Perhaps one day you will be so lucky as to get a picture. But then my favorite, is the delivery method by my favorite mom and pop restaurant shop. They too have a little moped and the driver has this great wooden delivery box with an enormous handle that he holds on to as he rides to his destination.
Need Proof?

Salt: A Gateway Mineral

Which is exactly as it seems. A doorway offering. 

I have constantly asked what this was time and again over my nearly year and a half here and have gotten various answers.
"It is a salt lick for horses back when we used them and people still keep it out in remembrance"
"It is actually their table salt. You have to come out here to use it"
"When you work out, you use both your and the airs' electrolytes and we put this out here to replenish the airs' electrolytes. We don't want the air to taste bad for other people."
"It is for you, so you can replenish your electrolytes after running. We are very nice people"

Perhaps I should just know better than to continuously asking the same person. The same person who told me that  the decorative sample meals or fruits and vegetables outside of restaurants are actually free and that they were for the homeless or for us to take home. Because you see, their restaurant had such superior quality produce, they wanted us to try it and see how amazing it was and come back and eat at their restaurant because of their exemplar quality of foods.
So, don't believe that one either.

Salt has an important significance in Japan, it is an offering of sorts to gods and people and has a meaning of purification and cleanliness, as well as to keep away ill luck. You know things like witches and zombies and stuff. Place yourself in a doorway guarded by salt and the oni cannot enter. Ok, but seriously, these salt piles are called morishio, 盛り塩, meaning pile of salt in a very literal sense. Back in the day, salt was an important commodity; it was a well cherished import noted for its importance in keeping fish and meats from rotting and also valued in a spiritual manner as well. It was so pure and white and pretty, it began to be used for religious purposes as well. Probably the most notable today is the use of it at funerals where you will sprinkle it on you before the funeral and throw it at the door as you leave in order to purify yourself from death. A bit resembling the way one would throw beans at the oni during Setsubon.
But even more commonly, you will find it outside of doorways and in gardens and other unusual places. When placed outside of doorways, it is typically in two little dishes on either side of the door, in what are often described as little cone shaped mounds. But the reality of that statement is that there is just salt in a dish, typically in a semblance of a mound. The cones are reserved for the more influential of restaurants and are smashed once a customer has entered the establishment to signify to others that the business is prosperous at that time. In most cases though, these mounds are hand formed by the shop owners and are placed on the outside for a symbol of purification and that their shop is clean. It is an old business model that is still used almost as a token of good luck in attracting customers. It also symbolizes that the restaurant is traditional and is in keeping with some of the more customary Japanese practices. In fact, before placing salt outside of their doorway, most companies and businesses will wash the road and sidewalk in their vicinity with water and salt, or at least water. I actually see this practice every morning, a little old woman with a bent back is up at the crack of dawn watering her street corner as I ride my bike to the station. My Japanese friends have told me that is what they do when they first get to work to open their business as well. They say that it is to 'clean up', so I am mot really sure if the welcoming good business aspect of it applies to that or not, but I assume if you are 'cleaning up' to look respectable for potential customers, that clause is also grandfathered in.
In other practices, for anyone who might ever see a sumo match, the wrestlers will throw salt in the ring to purify the ring and keep evil out. I am not really sure why that is. I am not sure if sumo is a holy sport or if they feel vulnerable without their salt, but it is now a tradition and no match it complete without it.

Can I take your order?

One of the things I first loved about Japan, was their plastic food.

Outside of a great many restaurants you will find their menu. In food format. In Japan there is a whole industry on the construction and life-likeness of plastic food. The food of course displays what the menu is for the restaurant and for someone who spoke and read exactly no Japanese save for sumimasen, these visual menus were the perfect way to see what a restaurant had. You might find a good amount of the menus of places are written in stylized kanji and will need someone to order for you. It seems that, save for very well populated and well positioned restaurants, a good amount of menus have a sincere absence of visual aid to help you decide what you would like to order. Making these little outdoor look-alikes a nice blessing.
Plastic food seems to last forever. Honestly one restaurant where I live I swear probably installed their display in the 70's and hasn't opened it since. Granted there are newer and better models of the same thing that are now in production. Models that look nearly real. Of course models still need a good dusting now and again to maintain their life-like qualities or the food will sincerely begin to look a bit drab.
Occasionally there will be real models of the food outside. If there is a special that day or a slight change in the menu or what not. But be advised not to eat it. I am sure they will look at you very strangely for that indeed. Also it will probably be cold.

Can't speak Japanese? Not a problem. When I first visited Japan and went to restaurants alone, I would take a picture on my phone of whatever I desired to eat and show the waiter/waitress/or cook. And oh they loved it. I was such a funny little gaijin to them.

That seat is saved...

And so is that one. And that one.

In some ways Japan has not yet left childhood. You have the comics, the anime, the pen cases, and all other manner of bright colorful objects of childhood that are quite commonplace in the adult world. But one thing I think is truly amazing, is the seat saving.
Between cafes like Starbucks or restaurants ( using the term loosely) like McDonald's, you might find yourself hard pressed to find a seat. In Japan it is natural to go and scout out the situation and reserve seating or a table by placing a personal item upon the furnishing. Marking your territory. This lets everyone else know that that seat is claimed. This personal item may be a cell phone, a handkerchief, or even a purse. The amazing thing for this is not that they save the seats as you would for a childhood friend in a cafeteria, it is that all other people respect that and will not relocate their items or worse take them. They simple recognize that someone has prior claim and will move along.
Interestingly, when visiting another country, say Korea, they might still do the same thing to save their seat; however, Koreans are not so big on doing this and will line up first, order, and seat scout later. Therefore, unless the item is very evidently a personal item, like a purse, they (the Koreans) will sit down anyways wondering who the hell left their handkerchief there. Thus making the Japanese tourist later retrieve the item from the now occupied seat and find a new one.

There is exactly one stool in this picture that is not on reserve.