Jokermagician9085 wrote:
Also, I know fishing is an important part of Japanese culture/tradition, but does anyone know how much they rely upon that compared to livestock or other types of food?
Ja mata!
After rice seafood would be the next staple food. (imo)
A traditional breakfast would have rice miso nori and grilled fish.
If you go into a neighbourhood supermarket the seafood section will be quite large, with a huge variety of fresh fish, sushi, sashimi, cooked fish, frozen fish. By comparison the meat section is quite small.
The cuts of meat are smaller and have more fat on them (than the UK for instance) It mostly seems to be pork or chicken. beef and lamb are rarer. That said some of the best beef I've eaten was in Japan. In a waste not want not fashion offal is more popular as well. I think meat is more expensive than fish.
I don't think most of Japan is very suitable for livestock farming. (Maybe Hokkaido)
Yakiniku cooked at the table is a special occasion dish at my in-laws. Fish would be eaten almost daily.
I never saw whole chickens or turkeys or joints of meat for roasting. This may be because a lot of households probably don't have ovens (or don't use them), doing most of their cooking on the stovetop (and in the microwave and rice cooker)
I don't know about magic. It would surprise me if there wasn't a magic culture somewhere. There's definitely a performing culture. The Japanese seem to be the most enthusiastic hobbyists, if it can made into a hobby there will be Japanese into it, and a TV show segment and magazine about it.
I found these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFKvmYPZ8Q
I think this is Cyril Takayama who grew up in the US
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Takayama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUxHSQS9g5c
a small stunt but funny.
