How to cook Japanese-like food in Carbondale

We can cook delicious Japanese-like food in Carbondale.

First, we have to get some Japanese seasonings. It is inevitable. What we have to get are soy-sauce, "Hondashi"(a kind of stock made of fish), "Mirin" (a kind of rice wine and it seasons food sweet), and "Miso" (a kind of soybean paste, and it is salty.) They are all Japanese traditional seasonings, but we can get them at the international grocery in Carbondale. The shop is not near from Southern Illinois University, so we have to walk about 40 minutes to get there. Second, we must search for similar materials to make dishes that we want to eat. We can find some materials similar to that of Japan, at some stores near from SIU. Some materials are very similar to that of Japan, for example, "Enoki" mushrooms and green onions which I found at "Schnucks" are quite similar. Some materials are not available, but if we use our imagination, we may choose a similar one. For example, American eggplant is bigger than that of Japan, but the taste is similar. Third, we should try to put together the materials above. We can make variable Japanese-like dishes in this way. Of course, we need some more seasonings if we want to make varied dishes, but the combination of soy-sauce, Hondashi, Mirin, Miso and other basic seasonings like salt are almost enough, I think. I succeeded to make "Udon", "Soba", and miso soup. They are not the same as I wanted to make or that in a recipe, but it tasted fairly good. They were more delicious than the food of American-Japanese restaurant, I believe.
We have to get some materials to make Japanese-like food, but if we got them, we can make Japanese-like food that we wanted to have. Food is not a trouble for us to live in Carbondale now. We can enjoy American life!