It sounds like you mostly tried to compare the food in Japan with the food you have at home (obviously as you need a frame of reference), but I think the food the Japanese excel at really just doesn't have an equivalent in Romanian cuisine, so it's hard to compare.

Bread just isn't eaten that much in Japan, so obviously it's not as good as in Romania (which is once again far behind bread from Germany or France). Cheese is another product that just isn't quite as popular in Japan (in most of Asia for that matter, which is probably due to an overall much higher percentage of people with lactose intolerance) and doesn't have the same history and cultural significance cheese and other milk products have in Europe.

The sushi you get in Japan (and many other fish dishes for that matter) is far and beyond anything you could find in Romania for comparison, which is once again because fish just hasn't played the same important role in the history of Romanian food.

Yakitori is maybe something you can compare, because you find a lot of grilled goods at corner bistros in Romania as well and usually the quality in Japan is far beyond what you can get in Romania.

Ultimately what I'm getting at is that most countries probably excel at some foods and not at others. The further they are apart geographically and culturally the harder it gets to compare them I think.

Unless you go very much out of your way, it is hard to find European style bread of any kind of quality in Japan. Cheese is the same (although Hokkaido produces some very nice camembert style cheeses). Japanese wine, as you say, is almost uniformly horrible. The main problem, I think, is that they only started planting vinifera grapes about 10 years ago. There are a couple of decent wine producers in Yamanashi prefecture, but their good wines are very expensive (and the ones I've managed to try are not that good).

It is very unfortunate that you found sake (nihonshu is what it is normally called -- sake just refers to any alcohol in Japan) not to be of your liking. There are thousands of nihonshu producers in Japan and the flavours range really dramatically. It can be sweet or dry, fruity or flowery. Not everybody likes it though.

I've never had Romanian beer, but I have heard that it is excellent. Japanese mainstream lagers are better than most mainstream Euro lagers, but not by any great margin. The higher quality mainstream lagers (Suntory The Premium Malts, Ebisu, and Kirin Ichiban Shibori) are all decent versions of German lager styles. Suntory has a cheaper "Malts" brand which is actually quite a good Munchner Helles IMHO. But as you say, it's nothing to write home about. Ji-beeru (micro brewery beer) is where it is at, but the movement is still in its infancy. There are many, many really excellent hefeweizen beers, but microbreweries are mostly concentrating on crazy styles.

Pickles... Don't get me started on pickles :-) Japanese pickles are awesome. They are also really regional, so if you are interested in pickles it pays to travel around to many small cities to try them. It's kind of unfortunate that many of the best pickles are quite hard to buy, but you should be able to get a decent variety at various omiyage shops.

If you come back again, it helps quite a bit to travel outside of the big cities. For example, it is really unusual to spend more than about 700 yen (7 US dollars) on a meal at a restaurant around where I live. And there is no tipping. Like many places in Europe, the best food is often found in the izakayas (bar/pub). In these places you eat otsumami (finger food???) while you are drinking. Apart from formal meals, this epitomises Japanese cuisine in my mind. The main things you will find are sashimi, yakitori, grilled fish, deep fried everything, and various kinds of stews.

It's really unfortunate, but it's quite difficult for travellers to experience the cuisine of Japan without having a guide who knows the area. I suppose this might also be true of Romania!

For beer, what about Hitachino Nest? They are generally very good, if not a great value here in the States.

Yes. That's one of the ji-biiru brands. To be honest, I've never had it because I've never seen it in Shizuoka. I always find it funny that they sell outside of the country, but not everywhere in Japan. Because I like ale my go to small breweries are Yo-Ho in Nagano (truly awesome) and Coedo. In Shizuoka there is Baird Beer, which was started by an American -- their beers are too big for me, but they are nice. For German style beers, Gotemba Kogen Beer is very nice, though some of their better beers are seasonal and often not available. In Fujinomia there is a brewery set up by a German guy which is really, really good, but his beers are harder to get than hen's teeth. Unfortunately, living as I do in the countryside, ji-biiru is impossible to get on tap and I have to make do with whatever the super markets and convenience stores bring in.

Way to represent Japanese food mikekchar. In what countryside are you residing. I could point you to some fantastic wine producers here. But, like everything, quality comes at a price.

I'm in Shizuoka. I would be eternally grateful for pointers to good wine producers. Hoping to do a wine tour in the next few months, so getting an idea of places to visit that are likely to produce good wine would be fantastic.