Little touches of Japan

I plan on writing a more detailed post about where I am and what I'm doing right now, but have that on hold until next month as sort of a one year from JET reflection. Channeling Orchid, however, just wanted to make a short post about something I didn't realize I missed until recently.

Some folks from Japan visited my office for a meeting, and they brought some omiyage with them. In Japan, airports and train stations and tourist spots usually carry a variety of foods and treats that are "unique" to a respective area. I say "unique" because they are often the same crackers, cookies, dumplings, etc, just with a particular ingredient or flavor that is a specialty of that region. It's a pretty ubiquitous practice when returning from a trip to bring some of these back for friends, family, and coworkers as souvenirs.

Anyway, as a I said, our visitors left behind some omiyage. A nice little reminder of Japan.

These little birds had some kind of filling inside, but honestly not sure what it was. Slightly sweet and bean-pastey, but yellow.