Street food at Heikenji temple in Kawasaki Daishi. I wish I took a video of this lady assembly-line producing these Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki. From the back, she lays down a layer of batter and creates a nest of cabbage and dried Sakura shrimp. Then she drops a raw egg in the center. Once that’s nice cooked, she flips them and organizes them into perfectly square pancakes, that are then (with a single metal spatula) tucked in a crepe-like fashion to fit into the plastic tray. Then… it is doused in Japanese barbecue sauce, generous heap of bonito flakes, “Aonori” seaweed flakes… and most importantly Japanese mayo. What’s marvelous about this lady is that during the assembly line process, I had whispered into her ear asking if she could make one without shrimps, and excluding the bonito flakes as well as the glorious douse of Japanese mayo for my ovo-vegetarian friend. She generously accepted the disruption of her perfect production line and made us a custom design. Thats what I call perfecting the craft. So indulge in Japanese street food, my vegetable-oriented readers (do you even exist) Warning to Celiac readers (again, do you even exist) for the high gluten content. Perhaps in the future I will write an article on gluten in Japanese food.









