In Japan, eating and drinking is an art form. Pick up a pair of chopsticks and get ready for a culinary journey of discovery featuring everything from sushi and ramen to premium Kobe beef.

From Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu and Okinawa in the south, you can expect to find a highly seasonal menu serving regional specialties and dishes as delicious as they are photogenic. While sushi is arguably Japan’s most famous dish, there are plenty of meat and vegetable alternatives to choose from.

Complement traditional and modern takes on Japanese cuisine with sake from a local brewery, sip on sweet potato shochu in Kagoshima, or for something more familiar, try one of Japan’s highly-acclaimed whiskies, trendy craft gins or micro-brews. Explore, discover, taste and enjoy.

Japan’s rich food culture

Over the years, washoku, or traditional Japanese cuisine, has gained international recognition for its subtle but diverse flavors, as well as aesthetics. Washoku has such a long, rich history that UNESCO listed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.
Washoku’s defining characteristic is seasonality—ingredients are chosen to match and to celebrate the season or occasion. As it is rooted in the concept of ichiju-sansai (one soup, three dishes), a typical meal is a balanced, healthy combination of rice, soup, meat and/or seafood, and vegetables.
Due to globalization and changing times, Japanese cuisine as we know it today has evolved to cover not only washoku, but also yoshoku (Japanese adaptations of foreign food) such as curry and omurice (“omelet rice,” or rice wrapped in an omelet). Even washoku itself now denotes a broad range of food, from the high-end kaiseki (multi-course fine dining), to home cooking, to unpretentiously delicious street food such as takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (a savory Japanese pancake).

Japanese cuisine

You can find restaurants serving iconic Japanese dishes such as sushi, ramen noodles and tempura throughout the city, but certain neighborhoods have reputations as hot spots for particular types of cuisine. For the very freshest fish, try one of the sushi restaurants in Tsukiji, Ginza or anywhere else near the Tsukiji Fish Market.

The bustling business district of Shinjuku is scattered with ramen restaurants. Otakibashi-dori, the street running from the west exit of JR Shinjuku Station toward JR Okubo Station has a particularly large selection and is well-known among ramen fans. Other popular areas include Ikebukuro, Takadanobaba and Tokyo Station for its Ramen Street which extends underground from the Yaesu south exit.

In Tokyo’s more traditional areas like Kanda, Nihonbashi and Asakusa, you can find family-run restaurants that have been in business for multiple generations. These are great places to go for lightly battered tempura delicacies and soba buckwheat noodles. Although making noises while eating is generally considered a bad manner, slurping noodles of soba is considered as a way of enjoying the flavor in japan.

Once you’ve sampled sushi and feasted on ramen, explore some of the other Japanese cuisine options which include udon noodles, yakitori and kushikatsu—skewered items grilled or fried—and fun, cook-at-your-table okonomiyaki (sometimes described as Japanese pizza) and yakiniku barbecue.

Gourmet dining

With over 200 Michelin-starred restaurants, Tokyo is one of the world’s reigning champions for gourmet fare. And while you can try one of these award-winning eateries, there are an endless number of undiscovered fine dining options—some in the least expected of places. For swanky high-rise dining, the skyscraper districts of Otemachi and Marunouchi around Tokyo Station have plenty of options.

Only in Tokyo

While food from all corners of Japan—and the world—can be found in Tokyo, the city has its own local specialties hard to find anywhere else. These include monjayaki, fukugawa-meshi, dojo-nabe and chanko-nabe.

Monjayaki can be considered a kind of comfort food somewhat similar to okonomiyaki. Like okonomiyaki, it is a multi-ingredient flour-based batter cooked on a hot plate, but it differs considerably in appearance and consistency. Tsukishima is packed full of local restaurants serving both monjayaki and okonomiyaki.

Head to Ryogoku for hot pot chanko-nabe, the food of sumo wrestlers; Fukagawa for the local fukagawa-meshi rice dish topped with a miso-based stew of clams and leek; and Asakusa for dojo-nabe, a freshwater fish dish topped with chopped leeks and spices.

Apart from unique local dishes, Tokyo also has a wide range of one-of-a-kind dinner entertainment venues. Many of these are themed like Alice in Magical Land, an Alice in Wonderland-themed restaurant in Shinjuku, and Ninja Akasaka. Some like Kaguwa involves singing, dancing and theatrical flair.

Eat and drink like a local

Follow the suited masses as they clock off work and you will stumble upon drinking districts under train tracks and labyrinth-like alleys, called “yokocho,” lined with hole-in-the-wall bars and eateries and lit with paper lanterns and retro neon signs. The areas around Yurakucho and Ueno stations are popular spots for old-school izakaya under the railway arches. In recent years, trendy new train-track venues have popped up in up-and-coming areas like Nakameguro.

Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ebisu are among the top areas for exploring yokocho. Some of the best are Golden-Gai, Omoide Yokocho, Shibuya Nombei Yokocho and Ebisu Yokocho. The atmosphere is generally very laid-back and friendly and the alleys are a fun way to experience Tokyo drinking culture together with locals. To really fit in, try sake, a distilled spirit called “shochu” or a fruity mixed drink called “chuhai.”

Bars and late-night drinks

From specialist mixology bars and sky-view cocktail lounges to taprooms, standing bars and night clubs, you can stay entertained until the very earliest hours of the morning in much of downtown Tokyo. The hottest nightlife areas include Roppongi, Shinjuku and Shibuya. Among them, Roppongi has the most international scene and is particularly popular with expats and overseas visitors; Shibuya is hip and trendy with a slightly more underground scene; and Shinjuku, home to Tokyo’s gay district Nichome, has a little bit of everything.