Typical Japanese Breakfast: At the heart of a typical Japanese breakfast lies a bowl of steamed rice, often accompanied by miso soup. Miso soup, made from fermented soybean paste and dashi (a broth made from dried bonito fish flakes and kelp), is a cornerstone of Japanese cuisine and adds depth and umami to the meal.

The smorgasbord of rice, soup, protein, vegetables and preserves that make up Japanese breakfasts means both that the eater will be satisfied until lunch and that the eater will be gaining a lot of important nutrients. Best of all, Japanese breakfasts are as tasty as they are nutritionally beneficial.

That it is delicious, seasonal cooking (seasonal means better flavour, but you're also often paying less for the ripest produce and cooking food that you feel like eating — cold slippery, cucumber and sesame noodles in the summer, or warming hot pots full of root vegetables in the winter).

A universal shorthand for the word "meal" in Japanese is gohan—"rice." What you eat in the morning is called asagohan ("morning rice"); in the evening, it's bangohan ("evening rice").