[Lonthego]

what do people think about western food in japan?
i looove japanese food, but sometimes i will get cravings, and a lot of times people i'm with will want "western" food..and i can't help but notice that anywhere in japan I go there are millions of italian places, some english pubs, korean/chinese places, but not a whole lot else..generally speaking. i found a mexican place, with great food and service, and every single time i've gone everyone else there has also been a foreigner (and this is in an area where it's normally somewhat rare to see one). most of the italian places are average..a little surprised that it's acceptable to use ketchup as a topping for pasta in restaurants but other than that ok fine..
McDs and KFC, although I don't consider them real food, do taste better in Japan than in the US for some perverse reason

it's worse when i get japanese food cravings in the US though, because most of the japanese restaurants etc. are run by chinese, and the food quality is very poor and non-authentic BUT most people have not lived in japan so they can't tell the food isn't that great by comparison, hell it's pretty good by american standards, add on to the fact that most people can't tell japanese/chinese apart..there are some great noodle shops and restaurants in new york though, a few inside boston as well