Denny's in Japan??

Feeling revived from the Pocari sweat I had dumped into my body, I was now feeling the pangs of hunger, since I was on more than negative empty in my stomach tank. Brenda had not returned from her plans of a more efficiently used day, and Robin and I felt we needed a story to tell, to make better use of our first days in Japan. I retold my story of the Nagoya stalker and mentioned, that on the bright side out of that whole experience, I did see a Denny's.

Denny's what we craved!

Denny's is a low budget American chain restaurant, that always has to have either a drunk group of people or a group of hangover people present. The quality of food is only acceptable for people in that state, or people that it's obvious eat just as poorly at home. Everything is usually covered in some sort of greasy slim that somehow helps, or  at least you think it does at the time, the condition you find yourself in.  A comfort from home, was what we were craving, so we set off on our mission to make our way to Denny's.

Robin and my mission to Denny's

The pace was slow, as the humidity and heat was not helping the still recovering and fragile states we were in. Ahead of us we saw the sign shinning on our faces, and we smiled comically at each other. We had reached our destination and stalker-free this time around! On the walk there, we had discussed thoroughly what we usually would eat, when faced with Denny missions in our past and what we wanted then. I was craving the works: eggs, toast, mushrooms and maybe a pancake or two. It felt like we were "Harold and Kumar," reaching our destination (Denny's vs. White Castle) and having the feeling of accomplishment in satisfying our cravings and getting exactly what we wanted.

We pushed open the door and entered into a similar layout to Denny's, we were used to at home. A Japanese lady greeted us and we both looked at each other unsure of what she said, but held up our two fingers, which seemed to be the correct code, because she grabbed two menus and took us to a table. We open up the menus and turned the page, and turned the page, and turned the page. Our grins began to fade. "What?! Where is all the crap food?" I blurted out, as several Japanese tables turned to look at the scruffy looking foreign girl making a scene. Robin shared the same sentiments. It was an unnerving experience to have something wrapped up disguised as something you wanted, to discover it was nothing at all that you wanted. The menu consisted of rice, miso soup, fish and other healthy, but somewhat boring and meat-filled Japanese dishes. "Noooo" I wanted to cry and revert back to my two-year old self! The heat outside was another mission to face, but the fact was we were hungry and decided we didn't have the energy to try to hunt down another restaurant-so sulkily we stayed. We searched every crevasse of the menu for just one unhealthy item and eventually we found you could order a side of pancakes. I was set, I'll have five sets of side pancakes please. We ordered a couple black cups of coffee and waited for our food.

We felt betrayed at what Denny's was advertising. Of course it makes sense to cater a business the culture it's based in, but aside from the layout, nothing about this place was Denny's! Even the waiting staff were attractive and not overweight-it was like entering into a twilight zone. So a word of caution to those craving a specific restaurant or type of food you enjoy back home- be warned that even though it may be covered in the same wrapping, nothing within it will be the same.