My Way Surviving in Japan

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Hey peeps! Thanks for coming, ya! 

Actually I’m thinking to write a post on this title as a guide for my bestie who is going to further her studies in Japan. She’s kinda lost it on how to survive there, in MAKAN part. Heee ;P. Which I faced the same thing too back then. Cuak kowtt bayangkan nak hidup sensorang kat tempat asing kan? With Muslims being its minority. Of course lack of halal food. So I hope this post will assist her and you on living in Japan!

The ones who helped me a lot for first 2 months ^^

Okay first lemme brief you, I’ve stayed in Japan for around 3 months ++ while doing my internship in an institute as a visiting researcher. I went there alone. Yep alone. I even lost my way and took different train too goshh hahahah. Lucky I arrived Komatsu safely.

The first 2,3 days I kinda got miserable life in terms of daily life management. As I didn’t have any cooking utensils tho I brought food stock from Malaysia. Well, you’ll need hot water for the instant noodles at least, hellooo~~ haha. Then I’ve met Malaysian students there thru a contact from sensei’s previous student. So they kindly cooked for me until I got to borrow some cooking utensils from one of them who is the permanent student.

Okay taknak cakap panjang2, below are some tips to survive in Japan for a student, specialized in MAKAN! Terutama bagi tekak melayu pekat macam ambe. Luls XD

We’ll start with things-to-bring.

1.            The most important thing to survive is to get a contact of fellow Malaysian, especially a Muslim to assist you on living in Japan. He/she will be the information fella for you. Ask as much as you want, every single curiosity that you have, ask em. It will help you a lot in preparing your mental. For example, ask em on how to find halal chicken and meat, also other ingredients. Of course you nak makan ayam juga kan? Tak mampu nak jadi vegetarian. Uhuk3

2.            You will have a very busy life and may get a little time to cook in some days. So it is advisable to bring a lot of ready-to-eat food. I suggest you to bring serunding daging/ayam banyak2, and also sambal bilis tempe pedas. MasyaAllah tu lah benda paling sayang masa kat sana. Hahhaha. Pack banyak2. Then all left is to cook rice. Ada orang suggest bawa lauk Brahim’s tu. Macam gulai ayam, rendang, sambal bilis. But personally it is not so advisable as for me. Unless you memang suka makan lauk2 dia tu takpe la. Huhuhu. Sikit2 okay la kut. Tapi lauk je tau. Bukan nasi goreng tu. :P

3.            Harta paling berharga when staying in Japan were kicap and sos. Sebab kicap dengan sos jepun tak sesuai dengan tekak ambe. Seriously. Plus ambe ni setiap kali makan nasi memang kicap tu wajib ada. So make sure bawak stok banyak2. Then, bawa juga segala rempah2 perencah2 untuk masak. Perencah nasi goreng, tomyam, gulai, kari, sup, belacan, gula Melaka, santan tu make sure bawak. Pendek cerita rencah2 masakan melayu la. Sebab kat Jepun payah nak cari. Senang nak masak. Reti tak reti masak itu lain cerita. Jangan risau.

4.            Cili api jangan lupa oiiiii seyes nak menangis takde cili api kat Jepunnn! They only got dried chillis. Memang la pedas juga tapi tak kaww macam cili api lah. Kempunan sambal belacan wehhh. Haaa kalo dapat angkut stok sambal belacan best gak tuh. Serius.

5.            Stok megi, mihun instant. Haa bawak lah. Bawak bermacam2 perisa. Kadang mmg tak sempat nak masak langsung sebab occupied dengan labworks. Huhu. But I didn’t eat much instant noodles back then. Penangan thesis MSG curry instant noodles. Bau je dah lari jejauh. Haha. Ada juga instant noodles Jepun yang halal tapi berganda la harga sebab dia import dr Malaysia juga. LOL. Nak selamat bawa la sbb basically ada beef stock kan. Huhu

Okay done with yang perlu dibawa. Now yang tak perlu dibawa plak. Sebab semua boleh beli kat sana. Awal2 sampai sana memang banyak la juga duit habis untuk stok permulaan. Tapi besenya sekali beli tu memang tahan sampai 3,4 minggu. Kena testing la dulu sebulan pertama tu stok banyak mana yg korg ngap. Then dah boleh agak la.

6. No need to bring any drink sachets whatever. Milo ke nescafe ke susu ke takyah bawak. Those can be bought at supermarkets. No need to worry on Halal status coz usually they didn’t put any alcohol in drinks. And those drinks come from plants. Wink3. Buat berat beg je bawa semua tu nanti. Banyak benda lain lebih perlu untuk di bawa. Tapi kalo nak bawa Nestum 3 in 1 tu haaa that one is advisable to bring. For me lah. Sebab dedua makan ngan minum dah tercampur sekali. Haha bijak takk..XD

7. No need to bring beras huhuhu. Sebab nasi Jepun sedap sesangatttttt hahahah. I got 5 kgs up by eating Japanese rice everyday luls. Tapi beras Jepun mahal gak ahh. Dah la dua kali masak nasi sehari. Sebab species suka makan nasi fresh baru masak. Thehehehhe

After 2 weeks pun pipi dah mengepauuu XD

8. Takyah bawak bawang, sayur, ikan bilis sebab semua bawang mentah boleh dapat kat market je. Atau dekat van jual sayur murah2. Murah as in murahhhhh. Memang takleh tahan muka excited masa borong barang masakan dekat pakcik Jepun tu. Cuma ikan bilis Jepun takde la sedap sangat. Haha.

9. Biskut2, keropok, snek segala tu pun tak payah bawak. Kat Jepun berlambak2 biskut. Sedap2 pastu murah2 semua. Ugh dah meleleh ayaq liuq teringat kat snek depa. Hahaha

Okay done part ingredients. Now I’m gonna guide on cooking! Tak reti masak? No worries. Tapi kalo tak reti masak langsung tu, bawak2 la belajar basic things in cooking. At least bab goreng, tumis, rebus, potong2 semua tu. Coz from basic things then you can work with your creativity. Tapi takyah la complicated sangat. Bantai je potong tak sama ke apa. Yang penting bila masak boleh makan and sedap pastu kenyang. Ehehehe

1.  Do list of menu that you can cook before you fly. Anything. So takde la takut sangat fikir nak masak apa nanti.

2. Amalkan tengok video recipe simple macam Tasty tu. It helped me a lot tho!

3. Rajin2 usha recipe kalo terasa nak masak sesuatu. Mr. Google kan adaaaaaa. Follow twitter account Tasty tu, Facebook pun sama. Bear this in mind : Anything can be cooked if you know the recipes. And have the ingredients opkosss. Just anything. So no need to worry.

4. Awal2 kat Jepun masa takde cooking utensils sangat, I cooked with rice cooker jea. Seyes rasa tak reti gilaaa masak pakai rice cooker sebab selalu masak dengan peralatan lengkap kat rumah. Pastu kat universiti tak pernah bawa peralatan terlarang masuk hostel. LOL. Tapi rice cooker ni sangat membantu. Especially untuk masak sup2, tomyam semua tu. Masuk je segala ayam bawang macaroni ke buh garam gula pepper semua pastu tunggu je rebus. Siapppppp!! Memang nak menangis bila makan sebab boleh tahan la juga rasa dia walau masak sekadar dengan kekurangan. Haha. Then bila dah dapat electric cooker tu baru terasa hidup skit boleh goreng2, tumis2, buat breakfast french toast bagai. Huhu

5. Work with your own creativity. Bila kat tempat orang, memang duk teringat macam2 makanan Malaysia. hahaha. Creativity will accomplish em. Well, I pernah buat projek nasi kerabu, nasi lemak dengan member kowttt. Bahan2 takde la cukup pun tp menjadi la jugekkk. haha. Penat experimenting dalam lab, sambung experiment dekat dapur la pulak. Seyes enjoy ngat. Part paling enjoy bila makan tu rasa dia sedap walau mula2 macam tak yakin menjadi.

Awal2 hidup kat tempat orang memang la rasa down juga. Lagi2 nak survive sensorang. Tapi JANGAN LAYAN PERASAAN TU SANGAT. BE TOUGH! Jiwa mau sado banggg. Cuba untuk tak menangis. Bertenang, figure out things. InsyaAllah things will get better day by day.

Yet I’ve got questioned by some people. “Kalo dah kau duduk kat tempat orang, belajar la makan makanan depa. Sampai bila nak bergantung dengan makanan melayu?”

Pehh deep. Tapi tak dalam mana pung. Okay camni, ada ke I cakap tak makan makanan Jepun tu? Makannnnn lahhhhh. Banyak species masakan, snek, kueh, masakan tradisional yg kita boleh makan. Siap jadi fav lagi. Tapi tu lah, nak beli sokmo setiap kali waktu makan, bankrap la cik oiii. Kalo masak sendiri ni tersangatlah jimatnya haa. Terjamin halal lagi.. Kan? ;)

Sensei belanja sushiiiii aummmm!!!

Ahh yes Japan is a heaven of snacksssss!!! Seriously Japanese snacks berhantu sehhh. Banyak pilihan and sedappppp. Tapi AMARAN KERAS! Make sure check the ingredients. Hafal at least perkataan ‘buta niku’ (pork)豚肉, ‘niku’ (meat)肉 dengan alcoholアルコール. At least 3 perkataan ni. Kalo dpt hafal perkataan ‘nyukazai' (emulsifier) tu lagi bagus. Basically perkataan kanji ni memang wajib hafal, then senang nak gi shopping. Jangan risau, bila dah berkali2 tengok tu, sepintas lalu dah boleh detect perkataan tu bila tengok ingredients. Complicated? Tak lah. Sebab dah jadi tanggungjawab kita untuk cari makanan bebas benda tak halal. Wink3 ;)

All in all, living in Japan was just great. Not so much hard effort on surviving, insyaAllah.

Maybe that’s all for now. If there’s any add ons, will give ya later naa. All the best in Japan! Have fun! Ahh missing Japan so much.

Love,

Amoy.