We plan to visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo next month. Afterwards, we are thinking of going to a Chanko restaurant. Has anyone had this kind of dining experience? We don't speak or read Japanese. Would that be a problem with ordering? For two people, do you order one pot? How expensive would it be at lunch time?

Anyone?

It's been a few years, and I don't have my notes in front of me, but I've eaten at a chanko nabe restaurant near the Sumo Museum. I remember the cost as reasonable (and lunch tends to be far cheaper in Japan than dinner anyway), and there was one big pot between several of us. I've never found a lack of Japanese to be much of a problem when ordering in Japan, where people are remarkably helpful and there's always someone who drags out a few words of English if things get desperate (I returned from rural Japan only yesterday afternoon, so my experience of this helpfulness is particularly fresh, even if what little chanko nabe information I can provide is stale).

Peter N-H

Thanks, Peter.

Some years ago, I too ate at a chanko restaurant after attending a day of sumo bouts at the National Sumo Stadium. I don't remember the name of the place, but I do remember it as being delicious. A book I used to rely on when I was traveling on business to Tokyo quite a bit was "Good Tokyo Restaurants" by Rick Kennedy, then a writer for the English language Japan Times. The book is unfortunately now out of print, but the chanko place he recommended in the book is called Tomoegata. It still exists and you can google to find its location near the stadium.

Thank you, Zainib. We also read favorable things about Tomoegata on another website, so I think that is where we will go.

Just a follow up.....we ate at Tomoegata Chanko Restaurant and it was delicious! We went for lunch and there was only one thing on the menu....Chanko with beef and vegetables. Price was about 870 Yen per person and we each had individual bowls of chanko. The restaurant is a little hard to find but we asked a man-on-the-street for the location. Highly recommended. Because this is in the Sumo area, we saw a couple of Sumo wrestlers on the street in their kimonos.