Japan

Watch anime and then form opinions if you like it or not. Then look up director and the studio. Google those two things. Pick new movies and TV shows.

op here. i like that animation style, but a lot of these things- like dragonball, are like 5 minutes of story development and 25 minutes of absolutely nothing happening at all. i don't want to be whacked off like that. I want action. Tell me a story. Show me something amazing.

Can you suggest somewhere to start?

>Can you suggest somewhere to start?

Watch movies. These are usually short and sharp. As you are new to the scene, try not to pigeon-hole yourself yet.

Anyhow there's:
Nausicaä by studio Ghibli
Paprika by director Satoshi Kon
Summer Wars by director Mamoru Hosoda
Totoro by studio Ghibli

Alternativelyt google " standalone anime movie " and check those out.

Thanks anon

I recommend watching Psycho-Pass, Steins;Gate, Mirai Nikki, and Koi Kaze.

read dog nigga

Play jap games & draw jap art
https://youtu.be/y9NU10a-pgI
https://twitter.com/TrinketEric/status/1145183942028533761#m

I always prefer eating out locally; it creates a comforting illusion of village living and it makes getting home so much more affordable after a few glasses of wine - or sake, as the case may be. So crossing the bridge for a meal is not taken lightly. But, encouraged by friends' rave reviews of this long-standing Mosman restaurant, we take the plunge and head north.

The door opens to an unpretentious room; it is a warm, comfortable space, with soft-yellow walls and perfect lighting, accentuated by flickering tea lights. There are wooden tables and chairs - with padded seats - and a hanging wooden grid on the ceiling.

We are here for the house speciality, the six-course set menu or kaiseki, a food experience that embodies Japanese culture and is traditionally served at tea ceremonies. In essence a tasting menu, each course is made up of several small dishes that balance flavour, texture and appearance.

One of the joys of kaiseki is it speeds up ordering when dining with a group. There are two kaiseki menus: mino (regular) or goshu (seasonal), with a choice of mains and dessert flavours. Many of the kaiseki dishes are available a la carte in larger servings.

The restaurant is full at 7pm but our friendly waitress seats us quickly, takes orders and delivers the sake, along with a basket of sake cups for us to make a selection.

Then the parade of lacquered trays begins. The opening salvo is an aperitif or amuse - a shot glass of plum wine, surprisingly delicious, and not at all cloyingly sweet, offset by a mouthful of tart pickled mackerel.

An appetiser follows on a green-glazed plate with a bonsai serving of octopus and cuttlefish salad sitting in a puddle of sweet miso. Just enough to whet the appetite, it gives a false sense of what lies ahead.

The waitress delivers a third tray, a knockout presentation of three pieces of plump sashimi - tuna, salmon and kingfish -

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plus two pieces of sushi with a stripe of addictive Japanese mayo and a fresh Pacific oyster raised on a pedestal and bathed in a bright vinaigrette. All four diners agree the kingfish sashimi is a knockout.

When tray No.4 arrives, I start to worry. There are five entrees in individual pottery bowls and plates, all presented like edible art. Included is a strip of grilled ocean perch with a dash of citrusy ponzu sauce, a zucchini flower stuffed with minced prawn and lotus root, and a piece of crunchy deep-fried soft-shell crab beside a tiny mound of green-tea salt.

As the tray is cleared away, I notice the growing pile of small dishes waiting to be hand washed at the far end of the room. Exquisite ceramic plates are not dishwasher friendly.

My main is a piece of Atlantic salmon, grilled to succulent pinkness, with a sweet walnut teriyaki sauce and salad. Others choose the light-as-feather assorted tempura and a spicy miso hotpot of mixed seafoods.

No one thinks there could possibly be room for dessert. Of course, we are wrong. Tray No.6 bears a small dish of ice-cream or sorbet chosen from a range of knockout flavours (blood orange is the table favourite), alongside slices of kiwi fruit and rockmelon. There is also a pot of green-tea panna cotta - comforting and addictive - and a square of soft, dark chocolate dusted with a nutty soybean powder.

Definitely worth crossing the bridge for.

Menu Japanese, specialising in kaiseki, but also a la carte.

Value Very good. Entrees, $14; mains, $24; dessert, $8, six-course kaiseki, $59.

Recommended dishes Kingfish sashimi, grilled salmon with walnut dressing; blood-orange sorbet.

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6 course menu

Including one drink of your choice from sake, beer, wine, Yuzu or plum wine or plum wine.

Sake shot and Amuse

Appetizer

Sashimi and Sushi (Assorted sashimi and sushi 2pc)

Assorted Entree (Four portions and Chawanmushi on one plate)

Main *Your choice of main course

Wagyu steak with *teriyaki miso or ponzu sauce (+$5)

Grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce

Grilled salmon with walnut teriyaki sauce

Steamed barramundi with spicy soy sauce

Crumbed pork loin

Sukiyaki hot pot (Wagyu beef)

Mix hot pot : light soy or spicy miso soup flavour (salmon, scallop, prawn, oyster, chicken, veges and tofu)

Eel hot pot : (eel, veges, and beaten egg)

Assorted tempura

Eel kabayaki served on rice

Chicken nanban

Dessert

The traditional fried sticky rice ($23.80) was quite good. I had never had anything like this before, which seems odd to me since I had thought that I had eaten most types of fried rice by my fourth decade in life. There was plenty of umami little shrimp and bits of sausage inside, and the stickiness helped it to achieve a crispy char on most of the rice. Actually delicious.

The sizzling bean curd beef brisket ($33.80) would’ve been good with some normal steamed white rice, rather than just the already-tasty fried sticky rice. It was a bit expensive in comparison to other restaurants, though the size and flavour was good. The beef came complete with a lot of tendon, and the texture of the meat was soft and juicy as well. I will note that the bean curd it came with was not what I had expected (I had thought it would be fried soft tofu), but ultimately did match well with the rest of the dish.

It is what it is.

Nathan Road Hong Kong Cafe
832 Bourke St, Waterloo

Mensho Tokyo

After being open for almost 2 years, you can now get in without any sort of wait, even on a weekend… as long as you show up within the first 20 minutes of opening time. As for the ramen itself, the signature is made with a rich chicken-based stock, which is a change from the pork-heavy offerings you see around Melbourne. The quality, as well as attention to detail, is truly outstanding. Whether this will be your holy grail depends on personal preferences, but this is easily one of the most nuanced and unique offerings in Melbourne, and on par with the best bowls I had in Japan.

Rating: 14.5/20 – japan level nuance and quality.
Must-have: toripaitan, of course. but I would love to come back and try their lighter lunchtime offerings.

The Toripaitan Ramen ($28) is a gorgeous bowl of noodles, no doubt about it. The stock is a thick, milky concoction, decanted from slow-cooked whole chickens that carries all the fatty umami of pork, without the cloying heaviness. I was a huge fan of the addition of dried kombu powder, which gave each sip a subtle briny smokiness. The toppings are equally as well-considered, with buttery charshu, tender sprigs of bamboo, and a crispy tangle of fried enoki. The standard bowl does not come with egg, but a gooey Ajitama Egg ($2.5ea) is a must. What I enjoyed the most though was the sparing use of lemon zest, which provided just the faintest hint of bright astringency that really elevates this beyond the usual.

Though the Toripaitan can hardly be called subtle, it is practically demure (and very mindful) compared to the Garlic Blaze Ramen ($24). Once named the Garlic KO, this is truly a punch of flavour to the face. The smoothness of the soup renders itself as a blank canvas, supporting the cacophony of garlic cooked 4 ways, aromatic black garlic coffee oil, and Mensho’s OG spicy sauce. The x-factor in this one is the crispy fried carrots, which adds a welcome earthy sweetness to the salt and spice.

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Mind you, despite the overwhelming boldness, this was still a very well-balanced bowl, and we had no trouble polishing off the lot.

Now, let’s talk about the noodles. Though they apparently make two separate types, both of the bowls here had the whole grain, medium-thick curly noodles, made with a combination of brown wheat, rye, and quinoa. The heft of these noodles was absolutely essential, as it was needed to counter the heaviness of the broth. What you end up with is a very hearty bite from noodles that were able to pick up the soup, rather than becoming soggy and overwhelmed.

I had high hopes for the Takoyaki ($12), but unfortunately they were no more than adequate. The best thing about them was the generous amount of octopus in the batter, and I appreciated the side of mentaiko mayo, even if I would’ve preferred your standard kewpie drizzled over the top.

The Corn Ribs ($9) fared a lot better. Though nothing groundbreaking, the lightly tempura-battered corn was crisp, juicy, and sweet, and went down a treat.