Nabe means cooking pot.  Nabe is a popular Japanese dish that is shared at the dining table.  It is a great dish for the cold winter season and creates warm relations between diners who eat together from a shared pot.
I love nabe as it is delicious and no cooking is required.  You simply just wash and cut the ingredients and place it on a plate.  Cooking is be done by the diners sitting around the hot pot.  There are so many different ingredients and sauces to choose from!

The common ingredients for nabe:
Protein:  Beef, pork, chicken
Vegetables: Green onion, spinach, Chinese cabbage, mushroom, carrot, etc. 
Other common ingredients: tofu, konnyaku, shirataki noodles.
Broth/sauces: Dashi broth or add sauce (miso, kimchi, tomato, etc.)
Dipping sauce: Ponzu (soy sauce with lemon or vinegar) 
Rice or noodle: After we finish those ingredients, we put rice to make porridge or put noodle.

What you need to cook nabe:
Donabe (clay pot): $38 up
Portable tabletop cooking stove: Iwatani brand is the most popular.
Electric all in one pot:

Where to buy:
Visit Japanese grocery stores or search online “buy Japanese hot pot”

Marukai Market: (California) http://www.marukai.com/store-eng.html
Mitsuwa Market:  (California, Illinois, New Jersey) http://www.mitsuwa.com/tenpo/eindex.html

Variety of Nabe by core ingredients (Vegetable, tofu accompanied those nabe)
Anko Nabe: Monk fish
Botan Nabe: Wild boar meat
Chanko Nabe：Chicken, fish, and meatball.
Chige Nabe:　Meat and fish with red pepper soup stock.
Chiri Nabe:  Cod fish
Hakusai Nabe: Chinese lettuce, chicken, and fish.
Houto Nabe: Noodle made from flour.
Ishikari Nabe: Salmon with miso based stock.
Kaki Nabe:  Oyster
Kamo Nabe: Duck meat
Kimuchi Nabe: Kimchi
Kiritanpo Nabe: Rice cake
Mizutaki: Chicken cooked in water (Mizu)
Mizore Nabe: Grained radish
Motsu Nabe: Beef or pork offal
Oden:  Variety of fish cakes
Shabu Shabu: Thin sliced beef quickly poached with vegetables in a water-based broth
Sukiyaki: Beef with sukiyaki sauce (soy sauce, sugar and dashi)
Tomato Nabe:  Anything with tomato sauce
Yose Nabe: Chicken and fish
Yudofu: Tofu

Skinny Girls’ Sushi

Sushi is a healthy food, it is high in protein and low in fat but it contains some calories. The calories mainly come from vinegared rice. Sushi rolls with tempura/deep fried contents and also sauces that contain mayonnaise and sweetness have a lot of calories.

Sticking to sashimi (just fish) is a great idea. Nigiri sushi (plain fish on rice) is easy to keep track of calories.  About 7 oz. of rice contains 32 calories. The calories of raw fish vary. Non-fish toppings such as shrimp, squid, octopus, and shellfish are low in calories. White meat fish are also low in calories but red meat fish such as tuna, fatty tuna, and eel are high in calories.

1. Order white meat fish and shell fish.
2. Eat a lot of ginger. Gingerol in ginger activate rapid metabolism..    
3. Drink green tea. Catechin in green tea accelerates to dissolve fat.

Please refer to the table below.

Calories: Sushi Topping (One piece without rice)

In 2011 and 2012, Salmon has been the most requested type of sushi in Japan followed by Salmon Roe.

The ranking below is the result of 300 interviews with female shoppers at Shibuya.

The most popular sushi in March 2012 (Unit: the number of respondents)

1.     Salmon (Sake)59

2.     Shrimp (Ebi)31

3.     Salmon Roe (Ikura)29

4.     Fluke Fin (Engawa)21

5.     Tuna (Maguro)19

6.     Fatty Tuna (Chu-Toro)14

7.     Conger Eel (Anago)13

8.     Fatty Tuna w/ Onion (Negi Toro)11

9.     Sea Urchin (Uni)10

10.  Whelk (Tsubugai) 9

Source: Ranking Kingdom of Tokyo Broadcasting System

Tri color salad with Wasabi Mayonnaise

Trader Joe’s product: Wasabi Mayonnaise

Serve:4

Cooking time: 5-6 minutes 

1.     1) 2 boiled eggs, 2 Japanese cucumbers (washed and dried with paper towel), 1 bunch of red radish (washed and dried with paper towel)

2) Chop those ingredients into one bite size pieces.

3.          3)  Mix those ingredients with wasabi mayonnaise

Special Japanese tip: If you have a time, rubbing cucumber with salt on a cutting board and leave it for 10 minutes.  It will make color of cucumber  vivid, make skin softer and add salty flavor.

Japan’s Tourism Agency will provide 10,000 foreigners free air tickets to visit Japan.

This program would begin in April of 2012 if it’s approved by the Japanese government.  It is expected to cost the country $150 million.

The program, which will require travelers to cover other costs such as accommodation.

The Japan Tourism Agency plans to ask would-be travelers to submit online applications for the free flights, detailing which areas of the country they would like to visit, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

The agency will select the successful entrants and ask them to write a report about their trip which will be published on the Internet.

Tourism authorities hope that positive reports from travelers about their experiences in Japan will help ease international worries about visiting the country, the newspaper said.

The number of foreign tourists to Japan fell more than 50 per cent year-on-year during the three months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

No information about this program has posted yet either Japan’s Tourism Agency and Japan National Tourist Organization.

http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/en/index.html

http://www.jnto.go.jp/

Source:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111012006453.htm

http://www.tofugu.com/2011/10/11/travel-to-japan-for-free-really