Photos

Next to the fish sticks were these grilled dango (pronounced "Dahn Goh"), great for a healthy, fast snack.

Dango are dough balls made from rice flour and water. The balls are boiled until cooked and then skewered. Toasting them around a fire is not necessary but it adds a nice flavor as well as good appeal to the eye.

As you can see there are various flavors. Going from left to right... The green one is called kusa-dango ("grass dango") which contains a green herb called yomogi (mugwort or sagebrush according to my dictionary). The white one is just plain with no added flavors. But usually it would be covered in mitarashi (soy & carmelized sugar) sauce just before serving. The one coated with a light powder is called kinako-dango -- kinako is soybean flour. Next to that looks like a combination kinako-kusa-dango. The brown one is a shouyu (soy sauce) dango, coated with soy sauce for a nice salty taste. It has also been dipped in dried nori, a kind of seaweed commonly used in sushi and other Japanese dishes. And, finally, the one on the far right could be shouyu-dango but it looks like miso-dango, it has been coated with miso (soy bean paste).
Taste ranges from salty to sweet depending on what kind you get. You will also see dango at convenience stores. If you ever get a chance, try one! The sweetest one -- mitarashi dango -- will probably appeal to the western palate the most.