I did a lot of research online before coming to Japan. I checked out travel guides, blogs, forums, anything I could find. One strange piece of advice that was always popping up was the necessity of peanut butter.
This sort of baffled me. However, it’s true that peanut butter is rare and expensive in Japan. A lot of the time, you can come across a product called peanut cream that looks like it would be a suitable substitute for peanut butter. But really, it’s got the sweetness and texture of peanut butter flavored cake frosting. The real stuff comes in very small jars that cost around five dollars. Now, I’m not really much of a fan of peanut butter, but who am I to go against the expert opinions of people on the internet? And so, I made room in my suitcase for the biggest jar of Walmart Great Value brand peanut butter that I could find.
On my very first trip to Aoki supermarket, I bought some sliced bread and jelly as well, since I figured if I ever needed a quick lunch one day, I could whip up a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Soon enough, that moment came.
I don’t know what it was about this sandwich that made it so freaking delicious. Maybe it was the taste of home and childhood and comfort. Or maybe it had something to do with the tender, cloudy Japanese bread. Supposedly Japanese bread is made to be moister than Western bread because they have less salivary glands (source: Yakitate Japan).
Something about being in this new place made something so simple become fresh and new and amazing all over again.
Same thing goes for Japan Naps. Japan Naps are amazing.
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