If you ever find yourself in Japan and you need a snack...

...go to a konbini and get an ONIGIRI!

So you may have seen some very random pictures on my shutterfly of onigiri, so I thought they needed further explanation:

I love onigiri. My students think it is hilarious that I love onigiri, I am not sure why, but every time I tell them that I love onigiri, they look at each other and giggle. For those of you who do not know, an onigiri is a rice ball and it is DELICIOUS. You can get them at any konbini in Japan and also at most of the grocery stores. Essentially, it is rice wrapped in seaweed (nori) often with something in the rice. Some types of onigiri include: tuna mayonnaise, salmon, salmon eggs, and some sort of vegetables. My favorite is tuna mayonnaise (its like tuna salad). However, opening the onigiri can be a challenge! In fact, when I took Japanese in the US, we watched a video in my class about onigiri. The video was essentially Japanese people making fun of tourists who could not open the onigiri correctly. My first onigiri was a bit of a disaster, but I have the hang of it now! Here are some pictures to show you how to correctly open and an onigiri so you can avoid the typical tourist frustration, in case you ever find yourself in Japan and need a quick snack!

First, read the directions! Not that they are helpful. They look sort of like origami instructions, and I don't know about you, but many a time I have set out to make a beautiful crane and ended up with a crumpled ball due to frustration from unspecific instructions.




Step 1: peel from the top all the way around to the other side.






Step 2: carefully pull the right side, leaving the nori but getting all the plastic off.








Step 3: Same as step 2 but with the left side of the plastic.

Voila! Onigiri!!!!!!!!!

Last step: ENJOY the AMAZINGNESS of your onigiri!!!

You are correct, this post had no point, but at least you know what the random pictures are now!