Japanese culinary is not only special for its delicious dishes but also for the decoration and service. In this Japanese food guide, you’ll find the list of 10+ Japanese food you should try when traveling to Japan.
1. Sushi (寿司)
Sushi is probably the first dish that people will mention about Japanese food. It has become a symbol of Japanese cuisine, and you can find sushi restaurants in many places around the world.
In Japan, you can try sushi from different prices, from Running sushi stores with 100 Yen to expensive sushi dishes in luxury restaurants. If you have a chance to visit Fish Market in Tokyo, you should try the freshest sushi with the ingredients taken directly from the market.
2. Ramen (ラーメン)
Ramen is a familiar dish to the ones who love Japanese culinary. It presents the beauty of Japanese cuisines and culture because it requires the patience in cooking, and also presenting the beauty of each region.
a) Ramen noodles
Ramen noodles are a combination of wheat flour, water, salt and salt water (Kansui). Depending on each region, ramen noodles have different size, color, and taste.
b) Ramen soup
Ramen soup is not only sophisticated but also varied according to the creativity of the region. Salt, water (Shio ramen), tunnel boned pork (tonkatsu ramen), Japanese soy sauce (Shouyu ramen) and miso (miso ramen) are important ingredients to make a delicious ramen broth. The sauces used in ramen vary based on region and type.
A bowl of ramen usually contains vegetables (green onion, bean sprout), Chashu pork, dried bamboo (Menma) and Japanese Marinated Soft Boiled Egg (Ajitsuke Tamago).
c) Ramen in different regions
You can try different Ramen type in each part of Japan: Sapporo Ramen, Hakata Ramen from Fukuoka, Hiroshima Ramen, Kitakata Ramen from Fukushima, and Toyama Ramen.
d) Service
The most common ramen restaurant have one long row of seats, so customers can eat freely even when they go there alone.
In some restaurants, customers don’t pay after eating but pay at the machine first. Then, they will bring the ticket to the waitress or a cook and get their meals.
Do you know that there is a Ramen theme park in Japan?
This park is Aqua City Odaiba and you can try different ramen in booth stands there.
3. Udon (うどん)
With Udon noodles, Japanese cook can make different types of Udon. The most popular Udon types are Cold Udon, Udon and Yaki Udon.
a) Cold Udon
With Cold Udon, Udon is put in cold water first and then in a bowl, served with sauce and chopped scallions. You can choose the topping to make your dish more delicious.
b) Udon
The simplest form of Udon (Kake Udon) is served hot with Udon noodles and broth (Kake Udon), with thinly chopped scallions. You can choose different toppings to eat with, such as Tempura or meat.
c) Yaki Udon
Yaki Udon, or Fried Udon, is stir-fried with vegetables, sauces, and different ingredients according to your choices (meat, eggs, etc.)
How to make Udon?
If you’re interested in making Udon at home, here is a great video!
4. Soba (そば)
Soba noodles can have yellow colors, or gray or green (if it’s made from broccoli).
You can eat soba with some toppings or try Yakisoba (Fried soba). Ingredients for Yakisoba are usually Soba noodles, cabbage, meat (chicken, pork or beef), and sauce. Although it’s so easy to make Yakisoba, its taste is amazing.
How to make Soba?
5. Sashimi (刺身)
Sashimi is one of the most famous Japanese dishes. Fresh raw meat or fish are sliced into thin pieces and served with delicate decoration.
Even though the most common sashimi are seafood (fish, octopus), there are other types of meat (horse, beef) as well. If you visit Kumamoto, you should try their specialty which is horse sashimi.
How to eat sashimi?
You can eat sashimi by dipping each one into a small dish of soy sauce. Sometimes people also add wasabi and ginger slide to eat with sashimi.
6. Miso Soup (味噌汁)
Miso soup is one of the most common dishes that you can find in Japan. It consists of “dashi” stock, wakame (a type of seaweed), 1/2-inch cube soft tofu, drained and sliced scallion greens.
Miso soup is very healthy as it improves digestion and provides beneficial probiotics.
Miso soup is usually served in a meal set
7. Takoyaki (たこ焼き)
Takoyaki is a Japanese octopus cake. It is normally served with fried fish, Takoyaki sauce and chopped green onion.
You can make your own Takoyaki with Takoyaki machine, by mixing Takoyaki flour, eggs, water, and octopus, and adding green onion and cheese according to your preferences.
Takoyaki topped with fried fish and Takoyaki sauce
Also, you can buy Takoyaki in Japanese restaurants or stands in the festival. It is recommended to try Takoyaki in Osaka.
8. Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)
Another Japanese food that you should try when visiting Japan is Okonomiyaki.
It’s a Japanese style of pancake and made of eggs, water, flour, cabbage, and meat. You can choose the topping as your preferences but the most common toppings are dried fish and okonomiyaki sauce.
9. Tempura (天ぷら)
Tempura is a common name for Japanese fried dishes of seafood or vegetables. Usually, Tempura is served with Udon, miso soup or in rice set.
Tasty tempura rice set
10. Karaage (からあげ)
Karaaage is a Japanese version of fried chicken. There are various types of Karaage with different ways of cooking, but commonly is marinated and then coated in potato starch.
Biting a piece of Karaage, you can feel the crispiness outside and soft, juicy and yummy chicken inside.
Crispy Karaage
11. Yakitori (焼き鳥)
Another chicken dish in Japanese culinary is Yakitori. Yakitori is the combination of Yaki (Grilled) and Tori (Chicken), so Yakitori is grilled chicken.
Yakitori is a common name for all grilled parts of chicken: skin, leg meat, heart, etc. It’s common to eat Yakitori in Izakaya and drinking.
12. Gyoza (餃子)
Gyoza is a Japanese dumpling which is filled with vegetables and ground meat, then wrapped in a thin dough. People usually eat Gyoza as a side dish.
13. Yakiniku (焼肉)
Yakiniku, which is a combination of 2 words: Yaki (Grilled) and Niku (Meat), is generally used for grilled meat in Japan.
If you visit Japan, you can try Yakiniku buffet where you pay for the buffet according to the amount of time such as 1 hour, 1.5 hours or 2 hours.
In Yakiniku All you can eat, you can choose your favorite meats and vegetables based on your favorite choices. Sometimes in Yakiniku buffet, there are sushi, udon, ramen, soba, and free drinks as well. Eating the grilled meat in cold weather is one of the best experience in the winter in Japan.
14. Sukiyaki (すき焼き)
The best thing to do in Japan in the winter is having Sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is a name for Japanese hotpot (Nabemono style)
In a shallow iron pot, meat is slowly cooked or simmered together with vegetables and other ingredients.
15. Japanese curry
Japanese curry is really tasty!
You can find curry in almost every restaurant in Japan. There are three main forms of curry: curry rice, curry udon, and curry bread. You can try curry ramen as well.
The most common ingredients in Japanese curry are meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions. It’s really easy to buy curry base at the supermarket, so it will be a nice gift to remind you about Japan.
Japanese curry rice
16. Takikomi Gohan (炊き込みご飯)
Takikomi Gohan is made of Japanese rice dish, dashi (Japanese fish stock), soy sauce. You can try with different vegetables, meat or fish.
17. Tonkatsu (豚カツ) & Katsudon (カツ丼)
Tonkatsu (Japanese deep-fried pork cutlet) consists of a breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet. It can be served alone with sliced cabbage or in rice bowl – Katsudon.
Katsudon (Japanese pork cutlet rice bowl) is a bowl of rice topped with Tonkatsu, egg, vegetables, and spices. It’s a very common Japanese food and can be found in several restaurants.
18. Mochi (餅)
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake which is not only delicious but also cute. There are various forms of Mochi such as strawberry mochi, matcha mochi, mochi ice-cream, but the most popular ones are with red bean.
Have you ever tried mochi ice-cream?
19. Matcha related products (抹茶)
As a healthy and delicious green tea powder, Matcha is used in various products in Japan. There are matcha tea, matcha ice-cream, matcha cake, matcha caramel, matcha mochi, etc.
20. Japanese Cheesecake
You can find cheesecake in every supermarket, restaurant or souvenir shop. Japanese cotton cheesecake is so soft that you can feel it melted in your tongue in your first bite.
My favorite cheesecake brand in Japan is Pablo
I went on a Pablo cheese hunt during my first trip in Tokyo too!
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*This article was updated on May 6th, 2018.
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I’m so hungry now! Love this list of food – I’d be happy to try all of them in Japan!
You definitely should!
One of my favorite things about traveling is trying the local foods – sadly, I have yet to try authentic Japanese cuisine but it all looks soooo good.
I think you can also try Japanese food around your place as well. There are Japanese restaurants everywhere.
I’m proud to say I’ve tried everything on this list! Love Japanese food, my favorite has to be udon (because it reminds me of banh canh haha). Do you have your own takoyaki machine?? Jealous!
I have one haha! My favorite is Udon as well :)
Yaki Udon and Gyoza are my go to meals. My know and trusted meals especially if I am in a new Japanese resturant and dont know what to order. Now all I have to do is finally purchase a ticket and visit Japan seeing as I love the food.
Yes! Best way is to visit Japan and try all of these :D!
Awesome list! I’ve tried the first three but I don’t know the rest. I’d like to visit Japan next year so hopefully I’ll get a change to try these different foods!
Normally people try the first three only, so don’t worry! You can try the rest in many Japanese restaurants around the world :)
Reading this post brought back a few memories. Like you, I spent some time living in Japan and I have grown to appreciate the cuisine very much. Aside from tasting so good, it is usually very healthy and is presented so well. The eyes enjoy the feast as much as the tongue and stomach! Lovely post, great list of choices and photos.
Thank you. I totally agree that Japanese foods are very healthy :)
I have yet to find a Japanese food I didn’t like. I’ve tried most of these with the exception of 2 or 3, however I’m sure they are much better in Japan than elsewhere. All of these foods look incredible!
You should try Ramen and Udon. They are really yummy xD
You’ve made everything sound so delicious. I’m such a fussy eater though so I struggle with food when I’m travelling. Lovely post!
Thank you :)
Yummilicious post. I am feeling hungry watching beautiful food pics :-)
It’s so nice to hear that!
Ahhh I love Japanese food so much! How good is all the dairy there? But I can never understand why they don’t make cheese! I live in Hokkaido for the winter every year. I can’t wait to get back there. What a great summary of all the delicious Japanese delights you have put together!!!
They made cheese too. I saw some brands in the supermarket. However, I personally think Japanese cheeses are terrible :o
Yes! Ohhhh this is making me want to go to Japan! YUM :))
You should go and try all of them :)
I love sushi, tempura, and ramen. Ramen is always so comforting in the winter!
I know, right :)
omg I love all of the above especially sushi, udon noodles, soba. but for something new I would absolutely love to try the takoyaki. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. actually had sushi yesterday haha
Haha I was eating sushi and thought about writing this post!
I am absolutely in love with Japanese food, and this post has just made me so hungry! I have only recently found my love for ramen, and I am starting to realise how many different varieties there actually is! I have also grown a love for cold soba – I find it fascinating that they actually put ice into it!
It’s interesting to see how different types they have for the same food, right?
I can try Japanese rice and Japanese bakery. As I am vegetarian I have to customize the dishes if any hotel wants to help me on that. Very few choices for me. All your food pictures make me hungry.
You can try veggie tempura as well :)
This post made me really hungry! The juicy crispy chicken looks delicious and now I really want to go get it haha. Yum! Looks like Japan has more to offer foodwise than I thought!
This list only contains popular ones, and I think you can find more Japanese foods than you’ve ever thought!
I’m vegetarian and I don’t eat fish. When I went to Japan I ate a lot of Indian food & veg tempura. I loved my visit but the food not so much!
There’re not many choices for vegetarian, but it’s true that you can try veggie tempura there :)
I love the Japanese culture and your food has made me hungry, can’t wait to try these out on a Japanese food theme night although would be better in Japan.
You should try all of them :)
Yum! It wasn’t a good idea to read this while I’m hungry haha! I LOVE Japanese food and have tried most of these things. My favourites are ramen and sushi and I’m also a big fan of gyoza and pork katsu. I’ve had some great Japanese style curries too! Japan is one of the top places I want to visit so I can’t wait to try all the food there!
Japanese foods are really good! That’s why I wrote this post haha. I hope you can visit Japan one day :)
what a lovely list that takes me back! I love Japanese food and just when I think I’ve eaten all that I can eat I find more to try. And the standards of quality in these foods are just astounding. Ramen and soba are such favourites!
The quality of Japanese foods is amazing! I like to make Ramen and Soba when I have free time :D
Being a vegetarian, Japan has always been a scary thought for me when it comes to food. LOL . Would love to know whether one can easily find vegetarian food in Japan.
There’s not many vegetarian choice in Japan, but you can try veggie tempura :)
We love Udon – can’t decide if we love the cold or in hot broth more, need to have some now to decide haha! Takoyaki is our other favorite as well. Tempura.. well who hates tempura really? :P
It’s so true! No one can hate tempura ;)! They have veggie ones and also meat related ones, so everyone can try it!
Yum! Japanese food is one of my fav. Actually been to Japan two weeks ago, and it was amazing. And had some ramen yesterday at a local restaurant. It was pretty good, but not the same of course. I tried most of these, but not everyone – so have to go back I guess!
I’m glad to hear that you had good time in Japan :)
I love Japanese foodd!!! In fact I love everything on this list – takoyaki is my favourite! :)
You should try to make Takoyaki ! It’s really fun to do with your friends/ family :)
Oh my gosh, I love Japanese food! This made my tummy rumble so much! I visited just over a year ago and can’t wait to go back again some day. The British imitation of sushi in particular in NOT the same!
I tried Japanese food in some countries in Europe, and they are not the same for sure. You should go back Japan for the food haha!
Wow, I love sweets and I had no idea that there is such thing as a Japanese Cheesecake! The description is so tasty that I cannot wait to try it. I am going immediately online to find a Japanese restaurant so that I can feel this taste myself!
You should try Japanese cheesecake! It’s so yummy and tastety :)
It took me awhile to get used to mochi, but now I adore it. Aw man now I’m craving it too! haha. Having lived in Japan before, this is really bringing back so many memories. Ah delicious nostalgia!
Mochi was quite strange at first I would say, but it is so yummy when you get used to it. I still live in Japan as an expat, and wow I love food here <3
Great guide. Japanese food in particular Sushi is one of my favorite things to eat! I haven’t heard of all the foods you have suggested so will have to try some next time I go to a Japanese restaurant or if I make it to Japan!
Thank you! I’m glad that you like it.
I’m going to japan for the first time at the end of this year and cannot wait to try as many of these as possible! They all sound delicious!
Hope you will have a great trip to Japan :)