I thought I could try making ramen today. I quickly changed my mind after discovering it's a rocket science.

I finally got my hands on some chicken, so I actually made some chicken carcass stock for my miso soups. I didn't trust its taste at first, but when the whole miso soup was made, it did taste really good.
As it can already be inferred, I haven't given up on my Japanese cuisine month and probably will extend it, since I won't be able to use up all the ingredients I bought. So far it has been an adventure. I have no health problems to report and absolutely everything I made was either edible or tasted plain awesome. Now that I`m a bit more familiar with the recipes, I can conclude, that many dishes I previously thought to be japanese delicacies are actually what they eat on daily basis (I still don't really understand why daikon radish is so popular among the Japanese?)
Regarding availability...well, that's quite a bother here in Latvia. While most ingredients are inexpensive, especially if you aren't just buying them for one meal, there are several ingredients that are quite costy or hard to obtain, especially with regards to spices. I still haven't tried tofu as it's so damn expensive and finding ingredients for dashi is such a pain in the ass (why do shops even sell miso pasta if they don't sell anything to make dashi out of?). I can't say I have paid for food much more than I do other months, BUT i usually buy all kinds of crap to eat while watching movies/anime. This month I only bought what was necessary for 2 decent meals a day. As far as I can understand, everything I bought is much cheaper and tastier in Japan.
Would I jump to the opportunity to successfully live in Japan because of their cuisine alone? Yes, yes I would!

Cheap chopsticks

Sweet as fuck wine.

It has started. I haven't gotten down all the recipes I require yet, but I don't think that it will be a problem, because, judging by how much money I just wasted in RIMI, I can't really afford to eat 3 meals a day. And even that is not a real problem. I just made my first meal, that didn't taste all THAT good, due to lack of spices, but it was edible. The important thing is, it had so many nutrients and vitamins that I could live with one such meal a day. In fact, I did start noticing that I feel much better right after finishing it. I guess my body really needed those vitamins.
There are still several rare but important ingredients I need. I think I will need to scour the city a bit. I just wish I had the time for it.
Wish me luck. Wish me fortune.