Outstanding food for apres-snowboarding in Japan

I know it's hard to believe, but people in Japan don't eat sushi and sashimi 3 meals a day, 24X7. Actually, Japanese food is quite varied and very, very tasty. Here's a link to an introduction to udon and soba noodles, including a miniature menu you can bring to soba/udon shops and order by pointing.

A few quick tips - udon and soba are not ramen. Ramen is also good (it has a pork broth) but I don't eat meat so I can't give detailed advice. I do eat fish...so no soba/udon noodle is safe around me. BTW, some soba and udon meals have meat in them also. Some restaurants have English menus - you can ask by saying "A go menu, koo de sai". The words are spelled phonetically with the first A being long. Finally, many restaurants have pictures of the food on the menu and plastic replicas of the food in the window outside the restaurant. It's okay to point at the plastic replicas to order.

Another story on food options is here and here's a bit more on adult beverages and a healthy snack.

When not snowboarding in Japan, what will you eat?

Hopefully, you like sushi and sashimi. They're kind of a litmus test for Americans coming over. Something to try in the sushi bars is Aburi Salmon. This is salmon on the top of rice. However, the salmon is cooked on one side and raw on the other...giving you the best of both worlds. Cooking causes the sugars to crystalize, making the salmon sweet. The raw side has the depth of taste and buttery-ness of great sashimi. Never had this offered to me in the states but it's common here.

Another great thing to eat is inarizushi. Normally, this has no meat or fish and is rice wrapped in a tofu-skin. It's sweet and popular with kids and Americans.

Noodles, particularly soba and udon, are essential and make the snowboarding experience so much better. We've got a nice story on this coming in a week or two - with a cutout menu you can use almost anywhere.