Not sushi

I am a great lover of almost everything else japanese, but I am not overly fond of raw fish etc, seaweed is okay and some sushi like spicy tuna is great.

I am looking for recommendations for meals to introduce my pallette to the style so that eventually I may enjoy sushi.

I absolutely love my meats, curries, chilli dishes and stirfrys, so what would you recommend?

domo

8thsinner,

This very site is a good a place as any to start...
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e620.html

a lot of people like ceviche. that might get you use to the texture and thought of eating raw seafood and its kind of zesty.

I am looking for recommendations for meals to introduce my palette to the style so that eventually I may enjoy sushi.
Go to a kaiten sushi restaurant where it is easy to pick yourself and focus on the ones you like and experiment a little. If you would like to experiment with different Japanese dishes in general, a visit to an izakaya-style restaurant is a good idea.

I hope you mean your palate (in the mouth)rather than a painter's palette?

If you're meatlover like me, i can highly recommend yakitori. (all sorts of BBQ-meat on sticks with the special sauce on). Other than that, Sukiyaki is an all-time favourite. (But you have to find a decent izakaya to get it.)
Good luck.

Yakitori and Sukiyaki are good, but not sushi, and won't introduce your palate to the tastes and textures.

I'd recommend some of the salmon sushi available at most kaiten sushi. They are very similar in taste to smoked salmon with a sushi texture. Should be a good intermediate dish.

BBQ meats sound great and I am sure the sauces are wonderfully rich and full of flavour, the problem is theres really only two places in belfast that are japanese, Ones a sushi train bar and the others something I have not tried yet cause it's a bit more expensive. Thanks for all the advice though. I very much appreciate it.

8th