Japanese cuisine is one of the most popular and beloved cuisines in the world: think a warm bowl of ramen on a cold day, sushi on a romantic night out, or chicken karaage when you want something juicy and crispy. There’s also a wide variety of Japanese dining experiences that everyone must try, from social pubs like izakaya to kaiseki communal meals.
Here’s a breakdown of the multiple ways to dine in Japan, fun facts, plus what to eat in Japan during your trip (if you’re visiting for the first time, here’s the best Japan itinerary for first-time visitors).
Japan offers a variety of dining experiences, from sharing small plates in a communal setting to lively izakaya pubs.
Kaiseki is a traditional, multi-course meal shared in a communal setting, usually in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inns). The dishes consist of small plates of fresh, seasonal food.
An izakaya means “stay-drink-place”, and is like a tavern: a social pub, usually noisy and casual, where you can enjoy small plates and drinks.
A teppanyaki restaurant offers an interactive dining experience where the chef cooks fresh ingredients in front of the customers on a teppan (a flat iron griddle), while putting on a show using their impressive knife skills.
Yakiniku is Japanese table-top style barbecue (similar to Korean barbecue) where you grill bite-sized and thinly sliced meat.
When you hear shabu-shabu or sukiyaki, think hot pot, a communal dining experience where you cook raw ingredients in a shared simmering pot containing broth. Shabu-shabu uses a light, savoury broth while sukiyaki uses a rich, soy-based sauce.
Omakase means “I leave it up to you”, and is a Japanese dining experience where you let the chef choose and prepare a special seasonal menu with multiple courses. It’s often associated with sushi and nigiri dishes.
Tachigui means “eating standing up” and indicates casual restaurants where people can grab a quick meal. These are typically affordable and are often found at busy places like train stations. The types of meals you’d find at a tachigui are sushi, noodle dishes like soba, curry, and rice bowls.
Depa means department store, and chika means basement. A depachika is a food hall located on the basement floor of department stores, but don’t be fooled: these are high-end, lavish gourmet meals.
Gyoza are dumplings filled with meat or vegetables (or both) wrapped in a thin dough. They can be pan-fried or steamed, and are usually consumed as a snack or appetiser.
There are 3 types of noodles in Japan:
Soba noodles are thick, buckwheat-flour noodles with a nutty flavour and can be served either hot (in soup or broth) or cold, without broth. Yakisoba is a stir-fried noodle dish made with soba noodles.
Udon are thick wheat-flour noodles that are generally mild and chewy. They’re usually served hot (in soup) or cold without soup, and are quite filling.
Ramen is perhaps the most popular type of noodle in Japan and worldwide. Ramen noodles originated from China, and they are aromatic wheat noodles topped with meat or seafood, served hot in broth.
Teriyaki is not a sauce but rather a traditional Japanese cooking style, where the food (usually meat) is grilled or broiled with a mix of soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin (rice wine) for a sweet, savoury flavour.
Tempura is a deep-frying cooking style using flour and eggs, resulting in a very crispy dough. Influenced by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century, tempura is usually used for seafood (shrimp) and vegetables.
Yakitori are grilled chicken skewers, usually grilled over charcoal, and then dipped in a sauce made of soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and sake. It’s an affordable, quick snack or appetiser.
Katsu means meat coated with panko breadcrumbs and deep-fried until crispy and golden. Tonkatsu uses pork cutlets, while torikatsu uses chicken.
Japanese curry is a thick and mild curry, usually served with rice, carrots, potatoes, and meat, and is considered a comfort food. It’s different from Indian and Thai curries, is not spicy, and is dark brown in colour.
Sushi means vinegared seasoned rice, not raw seafood or seafood-rice meals. However, it’s been widely accepted that when people say “sushi”, they mean the seafood dishes. Here are the varieties of dishes to expect when going out for sushi.
No matter the type of seafood dish from the sushi restaurant, they’re all accompanied by soy sauce for dipping, pickled ginger to clear the palate between varieties of fish, and wasabi for a bit of spiciness.
Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake prepared in a teppan (flat iron griddle), containing meat and vegetables, and topped with sauce like Japanese mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce.
A sando is a sandwich, usually made with shokupan (soft milk bread) and can be sweet or savoury, filled with meat, eggs, or fruits. The most famous sando is the katsu sando, made with deep-fried pork or chicken cutlets.
Takoyaki is a ball-shaped snack usually made with octopus (though the filling can vary) and cooked in a special pan to maintain its shape. After cooking, it’s usually brushed with takoyaki sauce and sprinkled with toppings like seaweed flakes and bonito flakes (dried fish filets)
Donburi is a comforting Japanese dish and consists of savoury ingredients (meat, seafood, vegetables) over steamed rice and covered in a soy-based sauce. The ingredients can be cooked in a variety of ways (e.g tempura).
Karaage is a Japanese cooking technique where a bite-sized ingredient is marinated in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, then coated in potato starch or flour, then deep-fried. The end result is a crispy and juicy snack. The most popular ingredient for karaage is chicken.
The perfect to-go snack, onigiri is made of steamed white rice filled with ingredients like tuna, salmon, or vegetables, shaped in a triangle or circle, and wrapped in seaweed. They’re usually found in convenience stores like Family Mart, 7-11, or Lawson.
Mochi is a chewy dessert made of glutinous rice, traditionally containing red bean paste (anko), though these days there are all kinds of fillings like chocolate.
Dango are chewy dumplings served on a stick, covered in sweet sticky sauce like sweetened soy glaze. There are several varieties of dango.
Anmitsu is the perfect summer treat and is made of jelly cubes, red bean paste, and fruits, and is topped with black syrup. It’s sweet and refreshing, and is sometimes served with icecream.
Matcha is a powder made from the Camellia sinensis tea plant, found in China and Japan. It became popular due to its health benefits like lowering stress, and is widely consumed as a drink, though there are many sweets and cakes made with matcha.
Taiyaki is a crispy pancake shaped like a fish (sea bream), and is usually filled with red bean paste, though newer Westernised variations include chocolate and custard.
On my trip to Japan, I was surprised to find that pudding is a popular dessert in Japan. Similar to flan, it’s a creamy custard topped with caramel sauce, and is jiggly, smooth, and silky.
Japanese cheesecake is quite different from Western cheesecake in that it’s jiggly, sponge-like, and not as sweet, but still very delicious.
It can be considered impolite to leave food in Japan. Japanese meals are usually small compared to the West (especially compared to the US), so leaving food on your plate implies you didn’t enjoy it. It’s, however, normal to not consume all the broth from noodle dishes like ramen.
It’s ok to slurp food in Japan, though not in an overly performative or exaggerated way.
Japanese food is diverse, delicious, and comforting. Popular Japanese dishes include noodle dishes like ramen, rice dishes like donburi, snacks like onigiri, and raw fish like sashimi.
Japanese people usually eat 3 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks in between when needed.
Japanese food is not generally spicy, and fresh flavours are usually prioritised over spiciness.
While many dishes in Japan include meat and seafood, you can find many vegetarian options, like veggie tempura, okonomiyaki (omelette) without meat, etc.
Muslims can eat Japanese food, especially seafood and vegetarian meals, but keep in mind that many popular Japanese dishes, especially noodle dishes, contain pork broth, even if the meat is chicken or beef or seafood. It’s important to ask what broth is used in restaurants, and check ingredients thoroughly when buying ready-made meals in supermarkets.
The good news is that there are quite a few halal restaurants in main cities like Tokyo, allowing Muslims to try popular dishes like ramen with peace of mind.
