Japanese Food To Try While You Are in Japan!

Japanese foods are known well due to their unique and intricate flavors.  Satisfy your cravings for food in Japan with delicate flavors and beautiful presentation.

With tender chicken, carrots, and potatoes cooked in a rich savory curry sauce, Japanese Chicken Curry with rice is a classic weeknight dinner.

CURRY RICE -is a dish that is hugely popular in Japan. It is readily available at various restaurants, and many households cook it at home too. As the curry is usually served with rice, you would hear the term "curry rice" mentioned often.

Edamame are young soybeans that are harvested before they fully mature, giving them a sweet taste.

EDAMAME  -are young soybeans harvested before they have ripened or hardened. They are nutrient-rich and may offer a range of health benefits. It is an East Asian dish which are boiled or steamed, and may be served with salt or other condiments.

Gyudon bowl - steamed rice topped with beef and onions simmered in sake and soy sauce—is a quick, easy meal.

GYU- DON - is a Japanese beef bowl consisting of thinly sliced fatty beef and onions in a lightly sweet mixture of mirin and soy sauce, served over rice.

Also known as pot stickers, gyoza originated in China (where they are called jiaozi), but have become a very popular dish in Japan.

GYOZA - are dumplings filled with ground meat and vegetables and wrapped in a thin dough. Also known as pot stickers, gyoza originated in China (where they are called jiaozi), but have become a very popular dish in Japan. The typical gyoza filling consists of ground pork, nira chives, green onion, cabbage, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil, but some creative gyoza shops have also come up with a range of other fillings.

Kaiseki is a traditional style of Japanese cuisine, you'll find lots of seafood and shellfish, plenty of vegetables, and the all-important rice.

KAISEKI - is a traditional Japanese meal with a soup, three main dishes, sides, and a dessert. In Kyoto, known as Japan's cultural heart, this becomes Kyo-Kaiseki.

Katsudon is Tonkatsu (deep-fried pork) and eggs cooked in a sweet and salty broth and placed over rice.

KATSUDON - is a fried, panko-breaded pork cutlet with egg over rice and a favorite of Japanese. It has become a modern ritual tradition for Japanese students to eat katsudon the night before taking a major test or school entrance exam. This is because ``katsu'' is a homophone of the verb katsu, meaning ``to win'' or ``to be victorious''

Kochi's most famous dish is katsuo no tataki , lightly broiled, sliced bonito (also know as skipjack tuna).

KATSUO NO TATAKI - is a traditional Japanese dish of seared bonito, or skipjack tuna, with a charred exterior and a silky, raw interior.

To make a kattedon, you head into the market and first purchase a bowl of rice, then make the rounds and pick out whatever cuts of sashimi or other seafood.

KATTE- DON -is a Kushiro original kaizen-don (raw seafood served atop a bed of rice) where you select your favorite toppings on the spot.

There are many regional variations of miso soup, with different types of miso, broths, and ingredients.

MISO SOUP   - is a traditional Japanese soup consisting of miso paste mixed with a dashi stock.

A staple at any Japanese table, miso soup combines the sharp, distinct flavor of miso paste with the rich, subtle depth of dashi stock.

Okonomiyaki are traditionally served squeezed with a generous criss-cross of Japanese mayonnaise and an okonomiyaki sauce.

OKONOMIYAKI -is a popular pan-fried dish that consists of batter and cabbage. Selected toppings and ingredients are added which can vary greatly (anything from meat and seafood to wasabi and cheese). This variability is reflected in the dish's name; "okonomi" literally means "to one's liking". The dish is available all over Japan, but is particularly popular in the cities of Hiroshima and Osaka.

You can get them anywhere you look, from packaged at convenience stores to handmade at grocery stores and often eaten as a fast meal or portable snack in Japan.

ONIGIRI -are Japanese rice balls made of steamed rice that you compress into a triangular, ball, or cylinder shape and are usually wrapped in a nori.

This one deserves a spot on everyone's food map in Japan! Rice balls

Ramen is a noodle soup dish that was originally imported from China and has become one of the most popular dishes in Japan.

RAMEN - is a type of Japanese noodle soup. Once a simple street food, it’s now become a gourmet phenomenon around the world. Every bowl of ramen has three main components:

Broth: A good bowl of ramen begins with a hearty, flavorful broth. Most broths begin with a combination of Japanese soup stock, or “dashi,” and chicken or pork stock. Each ramen chef uses a different “tare,” or flavoring base, that they add to each bowl of broth before serving.

Noodles: Ramen noodles contain wheat flour, salt, water and a special alkaline water called “kansui.” “Kansui” is what gives the noodles their unique flavor and springy texture. Noodle shape and thickness often change depending on the type of ramen you’re eating.

Toppings: Ramen chefs artfully arrange each bowl with toppings like fried veggies, sliced meat and sheets of seaweed before serving.

Sashimi is one of the most famous dishes in the Japanese cuisine.

SASHIMI- is thinly sliced, raw food. It is one of the most famous dishes in the Japanese cuisine. Seafood is most commonly eaten as sashimi.

Sashimi dishes are available at many types of restaurants and at most izakaya. Most types of sashimi are seasoned with soy sauce by dipping each piece into a small dish of soy sauce before eating it. Depending on the type of sashimi, a little bit of wasabi or ground ginger may be added to the sashimi piece.

Japanese Buckwheat Noodles with Tempura shrimp.

SOBA -are Japanese noodles made primarily from buckwheat flour, with a small amount of wheat flour mixed in. Winter's answer in a bowl—udon. Udon is a delicious type of thick wheat noodle regularly prepared in soup with kakejiru - a mild broth of dashi, soy sauce (dark in west Japan, light in the east) and marin (rice wine). Toppings range from tempura to tofu pocket and often a thin slice of kamaboko (fish cake).  Like pasta, soba noodles are available in dried form in supermarkets, but they taste best if freshly made by hand from flour and water.

The most basic kind of chilled soba served on a tray with a simple chilled dipping sauce (tsuyu) served on the side. The dipping sauce is usually a mixture of soup stock, water and mirin.

Sushi consists of prepared rice accompanied by seafood (often raw) and different vegetables, although its style of preparation varies widely.

SUSHI -is the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan, and one of the most popular dishes among the Japanese. In Japan, sushi is usually enjoyed on special occasions, such as a celebration. Some people confuse sashimi with sushi. Unlike sashimi, sushi includes vinegared rice. Depending on the shape and ingredients that are used, sushi can be called different names: Nigiri sushi, Maki sushi, Oshi sushi, Temaki sushi, etc.

Takoyaki is grilled in pans with small half-dome compartments and then flipped to give them their round shape.

TAKOYAKI -which literally translates to grilled octopus, refers to the savory dish of grilled balls of batter made with flour and eggs filled with octopus chunks and other ingredients like pickled ginger (beni shoga) and leftover fried tempura batter (tenkasu). Each takoyaki ball is approximately the size of a golf ball.

Tempura is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep fried.

TEMPURA -are pieces of lightly battered, deep fried seafood and vegetables. Introduced to Japan during the 16th century by the Portuguese in Nagasaki, tempura has developed over the centuries into a popular Japanese dish both inside and outside of Japan. Tempura can be found in many types of restaurants across the country, where it is commonly served as a main dish, side dish or as a topping for tendon rice bowls, or udon and soba noodle dishes.

This pork dish is a loved by people of all ages in Japan.

TONKATSU - Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside! Tonkatsu are pork cutlets (usually fillet or loin) covered in panko breadcrumbs, fried to a choice golden brown.  They are thick slices of pork that are breaded and deep fried in a manner similar to German schnitzel. They are typically made from two cuts of pork: the lean and tender hire, tenderloin or filet and the fattier rosu. While tonkatsu is by far the most popular katsu dish, there are other variations made of chicken (chikinkatsu), beef (gyukatsu), ham (hamukatsu) and ground meat

They are thicker than soba noodles, white and chewier.

UDON - are thick Japanese noodles made of wheat flour. They are thicker than soba noodles, white and chewier. Udon is widely available at restaurants across Japan and prepared in various hot and cold dishes.

Yakitori is a Japanese skewered chicken, cooked on a griller with either sweet soy sauce or just salt.

YAKITORI -are grilled chicken skewers made from bite sized pieces of meat from all different parts of the chicken, such as the breasts, thighs, skin, liver and other innards. Usually made to order and cooked over charcoal, yakitori is a popular, inexpensive dish commonly enjoyed together with a glass of beer.