Gaijin Jump

By Craig Chapin. First published in February 1988.

I stayed with a Japanese family during my first weekend in Japan. That brief period of time was packed with so many many new cultural experiences and so many gaffes on my part that I look back on it as a treasure house of Gaijin Jump material.

The dish that is featured in this episode is called natto. It is loved by millions in many parts of Japan and reviled in other parts. For breakfast I was presented with a large bowl of it. Determined to eat and like everything set before me, I had managed to get down most of it when my hosts explained how they add various things to it.

My wife loves the stuff, but to this day I have never warmed up to natto.