Having said this, there is one aspect of Japanese culture I have experienced…the cuisine. My love affair with Japanese cuisine began in a most unlikely fashion. There was no mysterious Asian lover who seduced me or a Japanese exchange student eager to introduce me to food from their home. My auspicious beginning involved a large group of Latinos in that most American of cities, Los Angeles. I had been working as a receptionist at a Spanish language cable sports channel.

I was the only native English-speaker working there amidst people from every Spanish-speaking country in the western hemisphere. They taught me, among other things, to make a great cup of espresso, to answer the phone in a Latin accent so authentic that most callers assumed I was Spanish-speaking, and that the varied cuisines of Latin and South America were so much more than my previous taco/burrito experiences.

Lunchtime was a celebration for my former colleagues, no American-style hurried desktop lunch for them. They usually went out en masse for a sit down meal that lasted up to two hours. After I got over my initial inhibition, I began accepting their invitations to join. One day we ended up at this jewel box of a Japanese restaurant. It was immediately apparent that I had never seen or tasted Japanese cuisine. So they all took me in hand and began ordering 2 of each of their favourite dishes.

This parade of dishes began to arrive at our table: delicate pieces of raw fish topped with glistening orange eggs, fried vegetables in tempura batter, fresh seaweed salad, aromatic miso soup with tofu, pork-filled gyoza (dumplings) – it was seemingly endless.

They explained what everything was and how it was to be eaten. Holding my first pair of chopsticks, I slowly began tasting the riot of flavours. They, and all of the staff, cheered as they saw my eyes light up. I had been duly inducted into the savoury world of Japanese cuisine.

To most people, sushi and sashimi are synonymous with Japanese cuisine. But that school of thought leaves out the vast universe of Japanese possibilities. Sushi began as a method of preserving fish, centuries ago. Dried fish was placed between layers of rice and vinegar, pressed and left to ferment for months. When it was eaten, the rice was discarded. From its ancient roots, it has since evolved into an artful, unique dining experience.

Sushi is bite-sized pieces of fresh, raw fish, served on top of a ball of rice flavoured with vinegar. Sashimi is fresh, raw fish served alone, without rice. The two most commonly ordered sushi are: Nigirii, hand-pressed sushi and maki, rolled sushi. The reason that these two kinds of sushi are much loved is that they are quite easy to eat if you love fresh, tasty fish.

I remember the moment that I broke out of the sushi mold by trying the monkfish liver sushi. This dish is a faintly-sweet, silky revelation that tastes like fish foie gras - I swear I felt the ocean was lapping at my toes! My other sushi favourites include butter-soft toro sushi (cut from the fatty tuna belly), barbequed eel served on a bed of rice and temaki (hand-rolled cones of nori seaweed filled with vegetables and fish). But I cannot survive on sushi alone.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese-style large, savoury “pancake” with different ingredients such as seafood, meat, or vegetables mixed in the dough and also put on as a topping. It is up to you to decide what favourite ingredients you would like to add, but my preference is cabbage, scallions, ground pork and shrimp.

I loved the way one talented Japanese chef served a half-dozen tiny Kumamoto oysters bathed in rice vinegar and topped with tobiko (flying fish caviar) and a tangle of seaweed – simple, yet divine! Soba noodles are native to Japan and made of buckwheat flour and wheat flour. They resemble greyish-brown spaghetti and are used in various hot and cold dishes. I prefer the basic soba dish, zaru. Boiled, then chilled noodles are eaten with a soya-based dipping sauce – tasty and refreshing.

Ramen is an inexpensive noodle soup dish that originated in China, but has gained major popularity in Japan as a quick nutritious meal. There are many toppings for these thin noodles, but barbeque pork ramen is my favourite to eat on the go. The instant packaged variety has also gained popularity outside of Japan ; unfortunately this is the only type that most people are familiar with and it bears little resemblance to the real thing.

Shabu Shabu is a lovely winter dish to eat, flavoursome and entertaining for a group. Thinly sliced pork or beef are submerged by dinner guests into a boiling pot of broth, and then eaten along with rice and accompaniments such as tofu, onions, mushrooms and Chinese cabbage. After all of the meat has been cooked and eaten the resulting tasty broth is consumed with rice.

Agedashi tofu is a very simple dish – fried tofu served in a savoury broth; but the taste is anything but simple. The outer layer of the tofu becomes golden brown from the frying while the inside remains silken and firm. Dipping this treasure into the soya-based broth/sauce elevates this humble dish to sublime.

There are many beverages that can be paired with Japanese cuisine. Sake, rice wine, is the obvious choice for many dishes, but a fresh, cold bottle of Kirin or Asahi beer is a welcome companion to sushi. Generally I prefer to sip sencha green tea with Japanese meals as it sooths the stomach and allows me to fully savour all of the tastes.

In all of my Japanese meals over the years, I have come to the conclusion that this cuisine is not a list of well-known dishes, but a particular outlook on food and the delicate handling of ingredients. I can't wait to visit Japan and continue my culinary journey.