Pizza

Pizza is very different in Japan. They don't have privately owned pizza parlors here, so your only access to pizza are places like Pizza Hut and Domino's.

If that wasn't bad enough, the pies are also smaller than in America. The average large pizza in Japan is about a medium in the US. "That's not really a big difference," I can hear you say. OK, you want differences, let's get to it.

Toppings, that's what really makes a pizza, right? You thought that those specialty pizza places in America put some funky toppings on their pizza? Mister, you ain't seen nothing yet. Here's a list of popular toppings in Japan: mayonnaise, soy sauce, fried eggs, seaweed, mini hot dogs (you know pigs in a blanket? Throw that on a pizza!) and ginger.

What's that? hold the anchovies, seafood doesn't belong on pizza. Oh no, you didn't! The Japanese love seafood on their pizza and they show it: shrimp, tuna, eel, octopus, squid, clams (sometimes still in the shell!), scallops, fish and the all-time winner - kani-mayo (a pizza that uses mayonnaise instead of tomato sauce as it's base and is covered in king crab meat!)

Pizza is a bit expensive in Japan, though. In America a standard large pie from a mom and pop shop could run you about $10 - $15, but in Japan a Domino's large (about a Domino's medium in the US) would run you about $30, but look on the bright side, you don't have to tip the delivery person!

Speaking of delivery, when you order a pizza for delivery in the US, you are greeted by a person in a beaten down old car, maybe with a light box sign suction-cupped to the roof, not so in Japan. Each pizza place has an army of 3-wheeled scooters all decked out in advertisements and your pizza will be kept out-of-the-oven hot in the hugh insulated compartment on the back.

The cool thing? You can order pizza online and they even have menus in English, so even I can order pizza with no problem.