This is the time to have a chat with the concierge at the IC and ask for some signs to be written up.

Explain this request and ask which phrases you would need to ask to ensure that you do not eat raw meat or whatever else you want to avoid. The concierge will write this request down for you and you can show this message at the shops.

I know how to avoid raw meat because I know how to avoid most meats (only meat I eat is fish). Then again, I have spent the last 12 years or so learning about Japanese food. If you have a sign with you and you are polite, I am sure the supermarket staff will assist you.

Sushi is always meant to be eaten without cooking. Apart from sashimi, usually packed in small slices often with thin strips of white radishes, pieces of shiso leaves and sachets of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and soy sauce, most fish sold in supermarkets is meant to be cooked.

If you want to ask if something sold can be eaten without cooking or needs to be cooked you can ask:

このままで食べられますか?
Kono-mamade taberare-masuka?
Can it be eaten as it is? / Is it ready to eat?

or

調理が必要ですか?
Chōri-ga hitsuyō-desuka?
Does it need to be cooked?

If you want to avoid anything raw you can ask:

これは生ですか?
Kore-wa nama-desuka?
Is this raw?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...i_May-2012.JPG

Here are some sashimi (on the left) and sushi trays (on the right) as you may find in supermarkets. (I think this was from a supermaket in Hong Kong.) Almost everything (apart from cooked rice obviously) in this picture is raw with the exception of two pieces of prawn sushi (2nd row on the right) and three pieces of crab sushi (3rd row in the middle).

http://comics212.net/wp-content/uplo...37-600x450.jpg

More sashimi trays in a supermarket.

NewbieRunner....you bugger...now i am craving sashimi....and 599 for the tuna...F me....

This is more like it...

http://aikij.com/gyoyu/images/moritsuke/o_01_600.jpg

Can't quite read the label but it looks like it might be katsuo in katakana. That explains the low price. Although it looks more like mebachi maguro, which is also cheap.

....compared to what i pay for it here in YYZ...i'll live with that in a heart beat...it is, after all, from supermarket. i would pay that for two pieces, well, more than that, at a bloody restaurant...;)

in protest to this NewbieRunner, i think i will go and have a 22 oz bone in ribeye for dinner along with a bottle of saxum james berry 2007 that I will BYO.... :p

i was so disappointed when my meeting was pushed from tokyo to singapore...even though my mom is picking up a cruise there at the same time...shhh dont tell her.

Does anyone know a good dentist near my Hotel?
My gum is swollen and bleed. I try everything i could. Cleaning 2x, use Mouthwash and floss.
Maybe the Toothpaste is to old and have some bad bacteria?

You're at Intercontinental in Yokohama, aren't you? The concierge at your hotel will certainly be able to direct you to one of the places on this list or suggest a nearby dentist.
http://expatsguide.jp/ch12/yokohamalist

I had not remembered the name of the Bluff Clinic correctly. That was where I went to. Concierge put me in a taxi, explained the address to the driver and off I went.

I doubt it has anything to do with "old toothpaste", but what do I know?

I got a better one for you. Many years ago, I was traveling on the Shinkansen with an obnoxious Spaniard friend of mine, classic culturally-tone deaf peasant Gachupin PITA, a walking face-losing timebomb in Japan. Everything he did and everything he said was pretty much a continuous gaffe to the Japanese, so we were all in pins an needles seeing what the next thing would be that we'd have to apologize for.

So the girl who sells stuff on the train is walking by her cart. And PITA asks me what those "rice triangles" are called. I told him they were called "manko". So he went after the girl, loudly yelling "manko! manko!" while making a triangle shape with his fingers. I've never seen a Japanese train cart lady move to the next car so fast.

A close inspection reveals it is indeed katsuo (written in hiragana). I'd settle for Aji-no-tataki on the right which should be even cheaper. :)

Just imagine how much that would cost in Japan. ;)

Exactly. That's why I posted. More perspective. What costs lots in japan may not here. So I'll survive. The steak BTw was only CAD$45. And i Boyd a bottle of 96 hillside select from shafer instead of the Saxum...

Sorry, I meant hiragana. Actually non-Japanese origin steak in Japan is not particularly expensive on a retail level at least. Comparing apples-to-apples, a ribeye in the US is not wagyu, so it's not reasonable to even make a comparison.

I purchased tenderloin from NZ, US, Aus and even Mexico at Nissin in Azabu-Juban for less than what I pay in the US. And the quality was much better. The meat from NZ is grass fed and also hallal.

This thread started off with some active posting from the OP, health issues then caused alarm bells to ring... now there is silence.

Hope you're OK ToGo and not in too much pain.

Do please let us know how you're doing. I can't speak for others here but I am definitely concerned about you.

They were posting as late/early as 09:00 JST Thursday 23/11/2014 !