7.266

27 (Tue) September 2016

Gu Ba

3.5

at National Institute of Public Health

-Wakoshi, Saitama-

with meeting participants

For lunch in the NIPH cafeteria today, one of the offered items was billed as a Korean soup.  Turned out that “gu ba” was “guk bap (국밥),” the spelling a reflection of the Japanese linguistic tendency of dropping the final consonant of any syllable.

The dish was excellent.  Somewhere between kimchi guk and galbi tang : hearty with a bit of spice, well balanced, well seasoned.  I could eat this every day of the week, twice on Sundays.  Perpetually amazed at how the Japanese, even at a public cafeteria of a government agency in a sleepy suburb, are always so good at getting food so right.

Japan is now the 14th country and Wakoshi is the 27th city outside of Korea where I’ve eaten Korean food (see KOREAN ABROAD).

Mission to Japan, Day 3 (see previously 7.265 Negibasashi Maki).

In Tokyo.  Here to attend/facilitate a workshop on childhood obesity, Tuesday thru Friday.  Arrived Sunday morning.  Flying back to Manila on Saturday.

MIDNIGHT SNACK

I would get so fat — noting that I am already well within the obese BMI range — if I were to live in Japan, surrounded by so much food that’s low in calories, sugar, fat, and salt, high in nutritive value.