As someone who eats a whole lot of garlic, I have to ask why you buy these plastic tubs. Is the garlic (and ginger) sealed air-tight? Or stored in water or oil? In either case, I would think the garlic would lose some flavor and potency. Plus, these must be pretty expensive.

Since you're nearly a famous chef in your own home these days , why not just buy heads of garlic that you crush with the side of a knife as you need it? You crush it with the peel on, and then it comes right off - takes 2 seconds per clove - then continue to chop as much as you want.

Also, thanks for mentioning shabu shabu. The only time I've had it was in Kyoto quite a few years ago. I believe they used water as you said. I recall two things - first we had no idea what we were doing and didn't want to stand out as dumb tourists, and second that even if we didn't know the shabu shabu rules, we enjoyed it.