Do you know which country has the most Michelin stars? It’s Japan.
If you include the number of one starred restaurants, Japan has more than twice as many as Italy (2nd) and the United States (3rd).
(433 restaurants in Japan, 190 in Italy, 168 in the U.S., according to the 2019 Michelin stars rankings of cities around the world)
And Japan has the highest number of restaurants per capita of any countries.
Japan has seven restaurants per 1,000 people. New York and Singapore have 1.5 restaurants per 1,000 people.
In other words, Japan is the best country for food in the world with a wide variety of delicious restaurants, cuisines, and choices.
It would be a shame if you don’t try some of these when you come to Japan! I’ll introduce them in the order of “must try”.
Sushi in Japan is a Japanese dish consisting of rice (vinegared rice) and ingredients or toppings(mainly seafood), and is called sushi. In addition to fresh seafood, it is not uncommon for ingredients such as meat, vegetables, and eggs to be used as ingredients. There are many types of sushi, including nigiri zushi, maki zushi, oshi zushi, chirashi zushi, bo zushi, inari zushi, temaki zushi, and gunkan.
If you want to enjoy sushi as a part of Japanese culture, I recommend you to try nigiri zushi.
It is also to recommend to go to a sushi restaurant where the sushi chef, known as the “Taisyo(head chef)”, makes the sushi over the counter.
If you don’t know how to use chopsticks well, don’t worry. You can grab sushi by hand. Many sushi chefs can delicately adjusted to the amount of air inside rice so that it melts just right when you put it in your mouth. Therefore, if you are not familiar with how to use chopsticks, it will not keep its shape and you might miss the opportunity to enjoy the special taste. The way of eating is a personal preference, but I urge you to pick it up directly and taste it whenever you have a chance to eat sushi in Japan.
Like the one-spoon in Europe and America, sushi is supposed to be eaten in one bite. Some sushi chefs will change the size of the rice depending on the customer, such as making it smaller for children or women, so I recommend ordering that.
In sushi restaurants, it is said that it is good manners to put soy sauce only on the neta to prevent the neta from becoming overly seasoned or misshapen, which can happen if you put soy sauce on the rice.
This is the reason why at sushi restaurants where the sushi chef prepares the sushi in front of you, the ingredients are served with the sauce already put on.
Each country and region has its own sushi culture, but why don’t you try to remember and practice a little of the etiquette and manners of eating sushi in Japan?
Tempura is a Japanese dish in which ingredients such as seafood and vegetables are wrapped in a flour-based batter and deep-fried. When you come to Japan, please enjoy the tempura restaurants where professional chefs carefully fry in front of you. The sound of your tempura deep-frying will make you fun, and the freshly fried, hot tempura will be served. Some tempura is served with sauce or tentsuyu, but tempura served with salt is definately worth trying. You can enjoy it for both dinner and lunch, whether you want to have a little as a snack with your drinks, or eat it as a set meal like “kakiage teisyoku”.
Ramen is a noodle dish consisting mainly of Chinese noodles and soup, combined with a variety of ingredients. It is also known as Chinese soba and Shina soba, or Nanking soba. It is said to have originated as a wheat noodle soup imported from China. There are more than 30,000 ramen stores in Japan, and you can eat it anywhere in the country. It is one of the national foods that can be eaten inexpensively at any time. There are various kinds of ramen in different areas.
One of the characteristics of ramen is that it is eaten by slurping up the noodles and making a lot of slurping sounds . If you don’t usually make a lot of noise like that, you may feel confused, but don’t hesitate to slurp it up. Also, don’t wait too long after your ramen comes out.
It is said that gyoza originated in China and spread to Japan after World War II. Gyoza is eaten in many forms all over the world, but what makes Japanese gyoza unique is its thin skin, small size, and it is baked. In Japan, rice is eaten as a staple food, so the skin has been made thinner to match the rice, and the baked skin to provide a crunchy texture and chewiness. By doing that, the juicy ingredients wrapped in the skin have been improved to be eaten with rice.
It can be found as a side dish at most of the ramen shops mentioned above. It is also available at specialty shops and izakaya. When you go to a ramen shop, you must try it with your ramen.
Yakitori is chicken cut into bite-sized pieces, skewered, and grilled over an open fire. Sometimes other ingredients are used, or skewers of meat other than chicken are called “yakitori” as well.
There are many yakitori restaurants from reasonable ones to expensive ones, but try to find a place like a messy food stall with the smoke from grilling. Then, try to eat yakitori while it is still on the skewer. I recommend eating yakitori that has been slightly charred by the charcoal fire with the restaurant’s special sweet sauce.
Of course, yakitori eaten at specialty restaurants is also delicious, but I recommend eating a couple of yakitori at a food stall.
Okonomiyaki is a type of grilled dishes called teppan-yaki made with flour, eggs, cabbage, etc. It is a popular and signature food that has been eaten by the common people for centuries. Okonomiyaki is cooked with flour, eggs, vegetables, meat, seafood, noodles, other ingredients of your like and some water. Then, mix all of them and grill. There are also places that serve an already cooked okonomiyaki, but I recommend going for the okonomiyaki that you cook and eat yourself. The whole process from cooking to eating is one of the fun parts of okonomiyaki.
Udon is a noodle or a dish made of wheat flour that is kneaded and cut into long strips of a certain width and thickness. Udon has been eaten all throughout Japan since ancient times as an easy, common food and substitute for rice. It is characterized by its slippery texture and chewy texture called “koshi”, making it a slightly different food from ramen. Udon can be enjoyed in different ways, such as Kake Udon, Zaru Udon, Bukkake Udon, and Tsuke-shiru Udon. If you want to enjoy udon in Japan, try to order the udon without any ingredients and choose some ingredients you like as toppings.
Soba is a Japanese noodle dish processed using buckwheat flour, which is made from the grain buckwheat. It is sometimes called Japanese soba in contrast to Chinese soba, and Japanese soba in contrast to Okinawa soba. Because of the use of buckwheat flour, soba is also known to be very healthy. Just like udon, soba can be served in hot soup or as tsuke-soba, making it a delicious, healthy, and reasonable meal any time of the year.
Ramen, Udon, and Soba are Japan’s three most popular noodle dishes, and I highly recommend eating them when you visit Japan.
Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish cooked in a shallow iron pot with thinly sliced beef, green onion, mushrooms, tofu, Chinese cabbage, shungiku, shiitake mushrooms, etc., grilled or boiled. The seasonings used are soy sauce, sugar, sake, or “warishita”, a mixture of these ingredients in advance. After the ingredients are cooked, the meat and vegetables are dipped into raw egg and eaten. This dish goes well with rice, so it is a must for those who like white rice.
Miso soup is one of the soup dishes in Japanese cuisine. It is a soup dish made by adding vegetables, tofu, fu or seafood to a broth seasoned with miso. Miso soup is common nowadays, but please try to drink after drinking, or on the morning of a hangover like those situations as well because Japanese miso soup is the easiest soup on your stomach in the world.
Contents
Sushi
Sushi in Japan is a Japanese dish consisting of rice (vinegared rice) and ingredients or toppings(mainly seafood), and is called sushi. In addition to fresh seafood, it is not uncommon for ingredients such as meat, vegetables, and eggs to be used as ingredients. There are many types of sushi, including nigiri zushi, maki zushi, oshi zushi, chirashi zushi, bo zushi, inari zushi, temaki zushi, and gunkan.
If you want to enjoy sushi as a part of Japanese culture, I recommend you to try nigiri zushi.
It is also to recommend to go to a sushi restaurant where the sushi chef, known as the “Taisyo(head chef)”, makes the sushi over the counter.
Tips on how to enjoy nigirizushi: 1 Eat nigirizushi with your hands, not with chopsticks
If you don’t know how to use chopsticks well, don’t worry. You can grab sushi by hand. Many sushi chefs can delicately adjusted to the amount of air inside rice so that it melts just right when you put it in your mouth. Therefore, if you are not familiar with how to use chopsticks, it will not keep its shape and you might miss the opportunity to enjoy the special taste. The way of eating is a personal preference, but I urge you to pick it up directly and taste it whenever you have a chance to eat sushi in Japan.
Tasteful eating point 2: Eat nigiri sushi in one bite
Like the one-spoon in Europe and America, sushi is supposed to be eaten in one bite. Some sushi chefs will change the size of the rice depending on the customer, such as making it smaller for children or women, so I recommend ordering that.
Tips for a good meal 3 Put soy sauce on the neta, not the rice
In sushi restaurants, it is said that it is good manners to put soy sauce only on the neta to prevent the neta from becoming overly seasoned or misshapen, which can happen if you put soy sauce on the rice.
This is the reason why at sushi restaurants where the sushi chef prepares the sushi in front of you, the ingredients are served with the sauce already put on.
Each country and region has its own sushi culture, but why don’t you try to remember and practice a little of the etiquette and manners of eating sushi in Japan?
A masterpiece of the sea, the skill of a craftsman. Sushi is the ultimate charm of each piece.
Tempura
Tempura is a Japanese dish in which ingredients such as seafood and vegetables are wrapped in a flour-based batter and deep-fried. When you come to Japan, please enjoy the tempura restaurants where professional chefs carefully fry in front of you. The sound of your tempura deep-frying will make you fun, and the freshly fried, hot tempura will be served. Some tempura is served with sauce or tentsuyu, but tempura served with salt is definately worth trying. You can enjoy it for both dinner and lunch, whether you want to have a little as a snack with your drinks, or eat it as a set meal like “kakiage teisyoku”.
Ramen
Ramen is a noodle dish consisting mainly of Chinese noodles and soup, combined with a variety of ingredients. It is also known as Chinese soba and Shina soba, or Nanking soba. It is said to have originated as a wheat noodle soup imported from China. There are more than 30,000 ramen stores in Japan, and you can eat it anywhere in the country. It is one of the national foods that can be eaten inexpensively at any time. There are various kinds of ramen in different areas.
One of the characteristics of ramen is that it is eaten by slurping up the noodles and making a lot of slurping sounds . If you don’t usually make a lot of noise like that, you may feel confused, but don’t hesitate to slurp it up. Also, don’t wait too long after your ramen comes out.
What is ramen that is very popular in Japan?
Gyoza
It is said that gyoza originated in China and spread to Japan after World War II. Gyoza is eaten in many forms all over the world, but what makes Japanese gyoza unique is its thin skin, small size, and it is baked. In Japan, rice is eaten as a staple food, so the skin has been made thinner to match the rice, and the baked skin to provide a crunchy texture and chewiness. By doing that, the juicy ingredients wrapped in the skin have been improved to be eaten with rice.
It can be found as a side dish at most of the ramen shops mentioned above. It is also available at specialty shops and izakaya. When you go to a ramen shop, you must try it with your ramen.
What is gyoza, a delicious food that travels in one bite, set in the harmony of Asia?
Yakitori
Yakitori is chicken cut into bite-sized pieces, skewered, and grilled over an open fire. Sometimes other ingredients are used, or skewers of meat other than chicken are called “yakitori” as well.
There are many yakitori restaurants from reasonable ones to expensive ones, but try to find a place like a messy food stall with the smoke from grilling. Then, try to eat yakitori while it is still on the skewer. I recommend eating yakitori that has been slightly charred by the charcoal fire with the restaurant’s special sweet sauce.
Of course, yakitori eaten at specialty restaurants is also delicious, but I recommend eating a couple of yakitori at a food stall.
Introducing the charm of yakitori, a bite of bliss on a skewer
Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki is a type of grilled dishes called teppan-yaki made with flour, eggs, cabbage, etc. It is a popular and signature food that has been eaten by the common people for centuries. Okonomiyaki is cooked with flour, eggs, vegetables, meat, seafood, noodles, other ingredients of your like and some water. Then, mix all of them and grill. There are also places that serve an already cooked okonomiyaki, but I recommend going for the okonomiyaki that you cook and eat yourself. The whole process from cooking to eating is one of the fun parts of okonomiyaki.
What kind of food is okonomiyaki? Introducing the charm and how to make it!
Udon
Udon is a noodle or a dish made of wheat flour that is kneaded and cut into long strips of a certain width and thickness. Udon has been eaten all throughout Japan since ancient times as an easy, common food and substitute for rice. It is characterized by its slippery texture and chewy texture called “koshi”, making it a slightly different food from ramen. Udon can be enjoyed in different ways, such as Kake Udon, Zaru Udon, Bukkake Udon, and Tsuke-shiru Udon. If you want to enjoy udon in Japan, try to order the udon without any ingredients and choose some ingredients you like as toppings.
Introducing the charm of udon, the ultimate Japanese food.
Soba
Soba is a Japanese noodle dish processed using buckwheat flour, which is made from the grain buckwheat. It is sometimes called Japanese soba in contrast to Chinese soba, and Japanese soba in contrast to Okinawa soba. Because of the use of buckwheat flour, soba is also known to be very healthy. Just like udon, soba can be served in hot soup or as tsuke-soba, making it a delicious, healthy, and reasonable meal any time of the year.
Ramen, Udon, and Soba are Japan’s three most popular noodle dishes, and I highly recommend eating them when you visit Japan.
We will introduce you to the charm of Japan’s beloved food “Soba”!
Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish cooked in a shallow iron pot with thinly sliced beef, green onion, mushrooms, tofu, Chinese cabbage, shungiku, shiitake mushrooms, etc., grilled or boiled. The seasonings used are soy sauce, sugar, sake, or “warishita”, a mixture of these ingredients in advance. After the ingredients are cooked, the meat and vegetables are dipped into raw egg and eaten. This dish goes well with rice, so it is a must for those who like white rice.
Miso soup
Miso soup is one of the soup dishes in Japanese cuisine. It is a soup dish made by adding vegetables, tofu, fu or seafood to a broth seasoned with miso. Miso soup is common nowadays, but please try to drink after drinking, or on the morning of a hangover like those situations as well because Japanese miso soup is the easiest soup on your stomach in the world.
