[samurai007]

First, you definitely should speak up if a bunch of friends want to go someplace where you know you'll have little that you want to eat. At least chime in with "Hey, how about this other place instead, I'm really in the mood for donburi instead..."

Next, there are tons of Chinese restaurants in Japan, so you'll have no trouble finding fried rice. And if you like chow mein too, try the Japanese version called yakisoba.

I'm not a fan of sushi myself, and I was able to live there 2 years and only ate it on a very few occassions. There are just so many other choices, many of which are FAR more common than sushi (such as ramen or donburi), you won't have any problem finding other things to eat.

And be sure to try some new things when you get a chance... you won't like everything you try (I didn't, nobody does), but you may find some incredible new restaurant to eat at, or some great new food you'd never heard of before, and that will be more than worth the times you didn't care for something, in the long run.

For instance, I was telling a Japanese friend one very cold winter's day that I missed my mom's homemade chicken soup on a day like that. He said he knew of a place nearby that made great Kashiwa zosui, a kind of chicken and rice soup. It was only about 3 or 4 block from my apartment, but I'd never stopped in there because there was no sign out front, no red lanterns, no plastic food, nothing. (I guess they got all their business by word of mouth?) All the signs were in Japanese, but my friend explained that this place specialized in zosui, and had 24 different kinds, everything from shimp to chicken to mountain vegetable etc. So I ordered the chicken style. They make each batch fresh, in a small iron pot, adding the fresh meat, veggies, etc, bring it to a boil, and then bring the iron pot from the stove to your table! You dish it out into your bowl and eat. It was incredibly good, not very expensive at all ($6-7 for an iron pot, which is enough for about 2 bowls. 2 people can eat a light meal, or 1 person can eat it all if they are really hungry). I went back there many times after that, especially on cold days. I wonder if they are still in business? Just 1 old man and his wife ran the place...