Trust anyone who welcomes you and shares of their home and life. Always show unto them the trust to share of yourself as they share unto you.
There is no more ample display of Japanese hospitality than what is known as the "kaiseki" meal. These multi-course meals are often reserved for special occasions and are a well-known staple of Japanese ryokan. The ingredients and flavors change with seasons. You might have items and special courses in winter that hint at the spring to come or the fall that is behind you. These beautiful meals come in exquisite packaging—ceramics, baskets, plates, decorations, etc.—that entice the imagination. You use all senses in this meal before you even taste anything.
Sometimes there are more "unusual" looking meals - things that might not appeal to the western pallate but definetely do the Japanese one. My advice for this with anything in Japan is to keep your mind open, close your eyes and forget what it looks like. Take at least a few bites, nod and make sounds like its delicious, then move onto something else.
Our hosts at Nikko Hoshino Yado ryokan were already very gracious, but the moment I shared what little Japanese I knew (not more than maybe a sentence worth of words, they opened up even more. They were delighted when I recognized a dish as Sakura Mochi—sweet rice that covers in red bean paste wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf. They deeply appreciated when I told them the food was oishi (delicious) and shared their own fractured English with us. Many spoke quite well, and we managed to communicate between ourselves.
I don't remember all the meals and conversations we had, but it was enough between us that the proprietess gave us her address to communicate, and a particular waitress apparently asked to be able to serve us every night because she enjoyed our presence. (This is what was told to us.) Even the main desk person took special notice to get us extra futons since the floor was not quite as comfortable. Indeed, I would say that was the hardest part of the stay. The hot spring bath was luxurious (I was the only one who partook) and it is communal bathing so it takes a lot of courage to do. Once I did it though it was as natural and relaxing as any hot tub. THe meals themselves were such a show, beautiful in presentation and absolutely delicious.
Our experiences at this in resolved in me that knowing about a culture is of the utmost importance. Taking a little time to learn about words, dishes, customs, and then using that knowledge with your hosts will give you such a better rounded experience. You aren't just "visiting" you are contributing and participating. That is the beauty of Japan in a nutshell.
This unusual dish is Yuba, its home made tofu. You start by boiling soybean milk with a special acid or casein, and the yuba itself is the skin that forms off the top. Then you enjoy the fresh tofu cooked right in front of you.
This next one might give many readers or observers pause. I recognized it immediatley as Fugu, poison pufferfish. It takes tremendous skill to be able to prepare it, and even a tiny amount of the toxins in the fish can kill several people. If you are wondering about the design, that's what clued me in. Pufferfish is arranged super thin in a "crysthanthemum" pattern traditionally. As to trying it, I had my doubts, but I trusted them to know what they were doing. The taste was nothing special and I would never eat it again because of the risk - but it was a cool one time thing.
As to all these other dishes, what they were escapes me, but you can see the sheer variety. These are some of the various meals and courses tried over the days we were there. Somehow we managed to eat it all, and for the price of our room, the variety and quality were unmatched. At least in my opinion.
