Silly as it sounds... have you tried using smaller plates? I find having a small plate stacked high seems more like a "real meal" than the same amount of food

Silly as it sounds... have you tried using smaller plates? I find having a small plate stacked high seems more like a "real meal" than the same amount of food spread thinly on a larger plate. Then again, if you're in Japan, I guess you've been exposed to that trick a fair bit.