I recently got back from a trip to Japan, and I found so many incredible food finds along the way. This is the first post in a new series on Japanese food and travel. If a trip to Japan is on your list, we hope this helps.
Japan has an overwhelming number of incredible places to eat. Before the trip, I saved dozens of spots on Google Maps, only to realize that in a week-long trip, hitting every famous or social-media-viral restaurant just isn’t possible. So instead of handing you a list of specific places, we wanted to share the general strategies we use to find amazing, local food wherever we travel. That way, no matter where your itinerary takes you, you’ll know how to land a great meal.
1. Use Tabelog, Not Just Google Maps
Google Maps gives you plenty of options, but when you’re figuring out where to eat in Japan, download Tabelog. It’s Japan’s go-to restaurant rating app — essentially the Yelp of Japan — and it gives you a much clearer sense of what locals actually think. Tabelog even runs its own Top 100 awards across different food categories.
Visiting the Top 100 list can take some real planning to fit into a trip, since many of those restaurants require a reservation. We actually prefer using the map feature instead; it’s great for turning up hidden gems wherever you happen to be that day.
One thing worth knowing: Japanese reviewers on Tabelog are strict, and 5-star ratings are rare. Unlike Google Maps, where ratings run high across the board, on Tabelog anything above a 3.0 is a reliably good sign.
2. Follow the Foot Traffic
Tabelog is great for searching on your phone, but we also have a couple of low-tech tricks for finding where locals actually eat.
Check the food courts. Whenever we’re exploring urban areas in Asia, we like to head into the food court of a shopping center and see which restaurants are pulling higher-than-average foot traffic. These places depend on repeat, local customers rather than one-time tourists, and the competition inside a mall food court is fierce, so a spot that manages to stay packed is almost guaranteed to be good.
Watch where the salarymen go. If you’re near a business district, pay attention to where the office workers in white shirts head for lunch or dinner. They eat in these neighborhoods every single day, so they know the best spots for a quick, cheap, delicious meal.
3. Sushi Strategy
Sushi is the dish Japan does better than almost anywhere else, and there’s more than one way to eat it well.
Conveyor belt sushi is a completely different value proposition in Japan. Our main reference point back is Kura Sushi, which is a famous Japanese chain that has locations all over the US. In US Kura Sushi, plates run about $4.15 each (price based on Aug 2026), and between plates, drinks, and dessert, a meal can easily run $50 a person.
In Japan, I tried two different conveyor belt spots. At one near Kyoto Station, 6 plates (at 2–3 pieces of sushi each) came to just $12.85 total, around $2 USD per plate. At a regional chain inside a Shibuya mall, the menu had more interesting items, like charcoal-grilled chicken served over steamed egg, full of smoky flavor. Order from the iPad and your food arrives via a mini bullet train. Fresh fish, great flavor, more upscale, and still only about $18.80 per person.
At sit-down sushi restaurants, consider skipping regular nigiri for a kaisen-don or chirashi-don. You still get fresh, high-quality sashimi over sushi rice, but served in a bowl instead of individual pieces. It’s often a better value, and it gives you full control over how much soy sauce and wasabi you use, plus the exact fish-to-rice ratio in every bite.
4. Ramen — But Learn to Customize It
The first three bowls of ramen on the trip were from Fuji Rock, one of the largest music festivals in Asia and known for excellent festival food. Almost everything else at the festival was great, but two of the three ramen bowls were way too salty.
There’s a reason for that: some ramen broths in Japan are intentionally rich and concentrated, so that when you slurp the noodles, enough flavor coats each strand to taste balanced by the time it hits your mouth.
At proper sit-down ramen shops, sometimes you can customize your bowl. Ask for “aji-usume” (味薄め) for lighter seasoning, or simply ask the staff for extra broth to dilute it.
That early disappointment with soy-sauce-based ramen led to one of the best discoveries of the trip: tsukemen, or dipping ramen. The set arrives in parts, noodles, protein, and a concentrated hot dipping broth, and you dip the noodles bite by bite. The best part comes at the end: a small kettle of soup-wari (スープ割り) on the counter lets you pour more stock into the leftover dipping sauce, turning it into a drinkable soup. It became one of the favorite broths of the whole trip.
One more ramen spot worth calling out: Ginza Kagari (銀座 篝), a Michelin-recommended restaurant that’s also been featured on Sam Smith’s food accounts. The original Ginza location always has a long line, but the branch inside Narita Airport Terminal 2 (past security) had almost no wait, order and you’ll have noodles in under five minutes. Their specialty is chicken paitan: a rich, creamy white chicken broth that’s silky without being overly salty, paired with chewy noodles, perfectly cooked chashu, and a soft-boiled egg. A wonderful last meal before boarding!
There’s still so much more to cover on Japanese food, hopefully we’ll be back with more soon. If you’ve got tips or favorite spots of your own, let us know in the comments!
Restaurants that mentioned in the video:
🍦
Japanese Green Tea and Gelato Kame Usagi
日本茶とジェラート かめうさぎ
Monmae-26-26 Todo, Uji, Kyoto
🍣 🍢
Gyoichi
漁一
〒261-0021 Chiba, Mihama Ward, Hibino, 1 Chome−9 スーク海浜幕張 3F
🍢
おでん屋たけし
Takeshi – Japanese Oden & Sake Bar
〒104-0028 Tokyo, Chuo City, Yaesu, 2 Chome−11−1 地下街南 1号
🍣
Mawashi Sushi Katsu 回し寿司活
〒150-0042 Tokyo, Shibuya, Udagawacho, 21−1 8階 SEIBU Shibuya Store
🐟
Uomi-tei
魚見亭
2 Chome-5-7 Enoshima, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-0036, Japan
🍣
Tsukiji Sushiko
築地すし好
Narita Airport Terminal 2 (before security)
🍜
Mensho Takamatsu
麺匠 たか松
312 Ichirenshacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8146, Japan
🍜
Ginza Kagari
銀座 篝
Narita Airport Terminal 2 (after security)
