There are so many good and interesting things in Japan, but probably you don't know much about them if you cannot speak or read Japanese easily. I will give you tidbits of information on Japanese custom,life and food. 
Winter is the best season
to enjoy Japanese Nabe (Nabe-Ryori). 
Nabe is a Japanese steamboat. There are so many kinds of Nabe in Japan and everyone is delicious
and you can eat lots of vegetable together. 
Nabe is a very healthy food and it makes you warm mentally and physically. 
Here’s a bit about Japanese Nabe.
Cooking typesThere are three types of Nabe cooking.
1. Stew fish or meat and vegetables with hot water or Dashi soup, then take them in small bawl with sauce…..for example, Yudofu, etc. 2. Stew them with light taste soup, then take them with soup...for example, Oden, etc.
3. Stew them with rich taste soup …for example, Sukiyaki.
Cooking potsThere are two popular cooking pots, one is made of iron
and one of mud
. The iron pot keeps a constant high temperature and is good for oil cooking like a Sukiyaki. 
The iron pot gets rusty easily, so you have to wipe up the water after washing. 
The mud pot is popular for Japanese Nabe and it keeps a high temperature for a long time and gently 
and it keeps the good taste of foods. How to handle the mud pot
Remove any water from the pot and put on the stove. 
When put on the table after boiling, use dry material pot stand under pot. 
Warm under a low flame. 
Don’t cool it quickly. When the mud pot is broken, you stew rice or starch with water in the pot and leave it for a while. The rice or starch work like a glue to fix it. 
VegetablesYou can put any vegetables you choose with Nabe, but here are the typical Japanese vegetables we eat with Nabe. These three vegetable are also good for treating cold.
Shungiku 春菊…..It’s high in β-carotene, vitamin B2, C, fiber, iron, calcium, Don’t boil them for long time.
Hakusai 白菜…..It’s high in VitaminC, calcium, carotene, iron, etc. Compare with cabbage, lower in sugar and lower in calories. Mitsuba みつば…. It’s high in carotene, vitamin C, iron, calcium. Put them in the pot after turning off the flame.
Kelp (Kombu) 昆布 It’s popular to make soup with kelps.
Put kelps in water and heat up. Just before the water is boiled, pick out the kelps. Kelps make good Japanese taste. 
DippingIt’s popular to dip meats or fish and vegetables in Nabe with Ponzu ポン酢, grated Japanese radish大根おろし, red pepper唐辛子,
but there are so many kinds of sauce in stores and you can put any spices 薬味 to make the taste even better.
Enjoy your original Nabe tonight
and make your body warm!