Food in Japan

You can usually order at Japanese restaurants without speaking Japanese. Pointing at a menu photo, tapping a tablet or buying a meal ticket is usually enough. What confuses first-time visitors is rarely the language. It is the process, because some places seat you, some take payment before you eat, and others send you to a register afterwards.

Here is how to...

Shikuwasa drink is Okinawa’s everyday citrus beverage, made from a small green fruit called Citrus depressa. It tastes sharply sour with a green, faintly bitter edge, so almost nobody drinks it straight. Instead, locals dilute it with cold water, mix it with soda, or pour it over shaved ice on a hot afternoon.

In fact, you will meet it within hours ...

In general, a two-week trip to Japan gives you around forty opportunities to eat. That sounds like plenty, until you realize that all 47 prefectures have their own specialties and food traditions. This Japan food bucket list therefore narrows the field to fifteen essential Japanese food experiences, helping first-time visitors decide what deserves a place in their iti...

Tsu Gyoza (津ぎょうざ) is a giant deep-fried dumpling from Tsu City, the capital of Mie Prefecture. Each one uses a custom wrapper 15 centimeters across, so a single piece replaces about three ordinary gyoza. It began in school lunches rather than restaurants, which is unusual for a Japanese regional specialty.

Most gyoza in Japan arrive small, pan-fried, and lin...

In some major North American cities, a restaurant ramen meal can approach $30 once tax, tip, and maybe a side or a drink reach the check. In Japan, the same budget can stretch across a whole day. Breakfast, a proper restaurant lunch, an afternoon sweet, and a sit-down sushi dinner all fit inside it, if you choose carefully.

This is not a survival challenge o...