Things to do in Japan

food.md

Tokyo

Types of food to eat in Tokyo

• ramen
  • This should not be super fancy. There are lots of places. My favourite is Basanova in Setagaya
• yakitori
  • Lots of good places abound. Fancy ones in Ginza, cheap ones all over. One I really liked was this place
• tonkatsu
  • This is one that's good to have at a fancy place. This place is pretty good, but any fancy place in a mall is generally good
• Western food
  • especially pizza and pasta (mentaiko-spaghetti in particular)
  • no particular recommendations, but I do recommend finding mentaiko spaghetti somewhere.
• Japanese curry
  • No specific recommendations, but the experience is good. I love Japanese curry, even the fast food places like CC Curry.
• yakiniku (Japanese style Korean BBQ)
  • I'm sure there are better places, but Gyukaku is a pretty reliable chain.
• izayaka
  • See if you can wander around Golden Gai at some point in the evening and get into an izakaya there. There is usually a cover charge, and they usually only seat 4—8 people in each bar.
• sushi
  • I don't really have any recommendations :-(, but this would be a good thing to have in Tokyo.
• depatchika
  • If you go to any fancy department stores in Ginza, be sure to check out the food basement and try all the free samples. Take a look at the crazy expensive fruit (e.g., £30 for a single mango or £50 for a melon).

Specific mentions

• Bear Pond Espresso - The best coffee. I love this place.
• Sunday Brunch - my favourite place for an early lunch
• This soba place is amazing. Authentic old salary-man soba restaurant.
• This place has a very traditional Japanese set menu lunch.
• St. Bernardus (a Belgian brewery) has a pub in Kanda that is surreal but also wonderful.

Kyoto

Specific places

• Yuzu-gen (yuzu-themed Izakaya)
• Gion Komori (wagashi/dessert place specialising in matcha)

Osaka

Osaka special foods:

• Kushikatsu - We liked this place
• Okonomiyaki - Osaka and Hiroshima are the most famous places for it. Yamamoto had the best Osaka-style Okonomiyaki that we tried.
• Takoyaki - We didn't have any amazing takoyaki, but we only went to two places and didn't try hard enough. Osaka is the place to get takoyaki anyways.

Specific mentions

• This horse sashimi izakaya was a highlight of our trip. The horse nigiri sushi was amazing and quite memorable.
• A really nice coffee and wine store

visit.md

Tokyo

Neighbourhoods

• Shimokitazawa
  • Hipster neighbourhood, off the beaten tracks. Really nice, a bit like a really laid back Shoreditch.
• Shibuya
  • Full of contradictions. This neighbourhood has a lot of the Japan weirdness that Westerners see.

Activities

• Tsukiji
  • This is an early morning activity. You can try to see the tuna auction (around 4 am, I think), but I've never made it. Even if you miss that, it's fun to wander around the highly-specialised sellers, and then eat morning sushi at one of the many stands nearby or sushi bars in the neighbourhood around.
• Parks:
  • If you like parks, Ueno is really nice, and Yoyogi is not bad either. Ueno park has a really nice small inari shrine, if you can find it.

Kyoto

Lists better than mine abound, but I loved:

• Fushimi Inari - the largest Inari shrine in Japan. If you're going to go, it's worth the hike up, but you have to spend a few hours there.
• Kiyomizu-dera - this is a fairly awe-inspiring temple, made from the largest tree trunks I've seen
• Arashiyama - there is something great about this place
• Kinkaku-ji - too crowded, but still worth seeing. I feel bad that I never read the Mishima novel