natto is a pretty individual thing.. I like it, but a lot of westerners and japanese don't. Personally i like it as a quick breakfast/lunch thing I can whip up a batch in about 10 minutes (or less if i defrost the night before) and serve over rice. My favroute is to toss out the mustard and seasoning packet and mix up with a little shoyu and katsuo in a bowl with chopsticks and serve over rice. I reccomend that one packet is enough for 2 meals due to the somethat strong flavor. It does have a weird texture, and i'll go along with reccomending nattomaki as a good first place to try this. If this is somthing you enjoy, you get the added bonus of suprising your japanese friends by actually eating natto. :-)

Bonitio Flakes/Katsuo -f- this s a dried fish that is shaved and stored dried. I like it over plain rice at times or served in things. It's one of the ingredients for homeade dashi along with the thick seaweed kombu. It dosent really have a "fishy" flavour per-se.. more like morning at the seaside. :-) I had a girlfriend that would break a fresh egg into a bowl of rice with some katsuo and mix. it made a nice breakfast.

miso -v- a fermented bean paste used in soups and in broilng fish and veggies. i wouldnt go into the different types of miso except to say that they range from very light to very dark misos. i tend to get the yellow colored ones as they seem to be less salty and more mild to my taste. there are plenty of miso soup recipies out there.. find one you like, but the gist of it is this.. make your dashi (out of a packet is fine).. add miso to taste (be careful not to make the soup salty).. add what you like.. tofu cubes, tiny clams, veggies, mushrooms, potato, etc... (you may need to parboil some vegtables to precook them).. let the whole thing cook for about 6 minutes and serve. Make sure you dont boil the miso as this changes the flavour (and not for the better).

umeboshi -v- pickled plums (not pitted). i like these just out of the jar, but then again i'll eat a half jar of olives in one sitting.. These normally have a very tart flavour, but some can be more mild and sweet while others more salty. these are great to impart flavouring to dressings and are nice in onigiri (molded rice balls). mix some of these up in some rice and katsuo for a quick breakfast. Add hot green tea to that and you have a quick and dirty "ochazuke" or "tea soup". you can also get just the "plum paste" if all you want is quick flavoring without the pits.