Officially booked flights for October...
in the hopes of being specific, I will post each question I have individually...

So-for our frequent Tokyo visitors, what is the standard breakfast? What can I expect culturally? Coffee/tea? I dont know a thing so specific answers are helpful.

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3075.html

Happy Travels!

You might want to get breakfast included in your room rate at you hotels. The you will get huge and varied buffet to choose form.

Sushi and sashimi are the way to go. Anytime in Tokyo.

A full traditional Japanese breakfast is one of the top reasons to include a ryokan stay.
On our last trip, we noticed that our "breakfast included" stays were not as enjoyable as in the past.
If the hotel is at 90% occupancy which is more common these days get there early or be prepared for a near standing room only scrum.
We started shopping the night before at a good department store food floor and collecting bakery goods, yogurt, fruit, tea and pour over single-serve coffee packs for a leisurely in-room breakfast.
Be sure to give Natto a chance, better with grated daikon....
The linked video below shows a lot of the options available from Japanology Plus NHK show

You can often choose to eat western style or Japanese style. Perhaps the most surprising feature is how much Japanese eat salads for breakfast.

I thought the routine provision of spaghetti more surprising than that.

The quality and quantity of breakfast options depend on where you stay. The breakfast you get that is included in the rate of a business hotel is going to be different from the additional-cost buffet at a 4 or 5-star hotel. You can expect coffee and tea in any case. The Japanese version of scrambled eggs is orange and runny, IME.

Coffee or tea are always an option at all the breakfasts I've had anywhere in Japan. At ryokan there are the American breakfast and Japanese breakfast options. Breakfast is a time to try natto

Aloha!

We had gorgeous breakfast buffets the Hyatt in Kyoto.

As stated above and also in your post about transportation from NRT to Tokyo, we need more information about the area in which you are staying to answer specifically...
I often stay in business hotels such as Toyoko Inn or Comfort Inn where there are buffet breakfasts included. Depending also on where you stay there can be nearby restaurants with breakfast options starting at 500 JPY or less depending on how much you eat....;-)
Welcome back HT, long time no see....

Besides hotel breakfast buffets, many coffee shops (not Starbucks) offer morning service or morning sets. These are reasonably priced, a bit more than a regular cup of coffee and could include a small salad, toast, egg, perhaps a breakfast sandwich plus coffee and sometimes a free refill. A nice alternative to a heavier buffet offering.

I did, too and will be back at that hotel very soon. Really good food. And the breakfast buffet at the Four Seasons-Kyoto was really great and I can't wait for that one again. They make their tofu from scratch and there was a lot of variety in food items. I like having cooked fish early in the day as that's what I've been doing here at home for decades and I also like eating vegetables for my first meal of the day. I'm not a sausage/bacon/sandwich meat person.

In Japan, many times at hotels I will have Japanese breakfast with grilled fish, rice, miso soup and tofu, vegetable and pickles as that's quite normal to me. Boy, am I counting down the days to get back to that type of breakfast although I can make it here at home.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/tradit...akfast-2030063

I'm one to eat my main meal toward the end of breakfast time as I'm not big on eating dinner. So, I'm always looking for a really good hotel, breakfast buffet and then I'm out and about and don't need to think about food for many hours later. I basically eat the same way when I'm here at home, but usually eat my main and first meal at around lunch time.

Happy Travels!

​​​​​HT: You're back to Fodorland!!! Great!!!

Happy Travels!

I really loooove the traditional Japanese breakfasts we enjoyed in ryokans and some hotels. Lots of delicious savoury items from grilled or roasted fish to tamagoyaki (rolled egg) to pickles to salads to fruit to fresh tofu and all sorts.

That said, when we are travelling for longer, we don't mind that not every meal is classic Japanese, so in Kyoto, we also really enjoyed the Western breakfast sets many of the local coffee shops served. These still have a Japanese sensibility to them, they are not carbon copies of what we are familiar with in the UK. Here's a short post I wrote about them https://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/ky...fast-sets.html

Nice post and pictures Kavey. While we also love Japanese breakfast buffets, they usually fill us up for the day. Morning sets allow us to stop for lunch and enjoy some soba, ramen, donburi or perhaps a bento and the price is so reasonable.

Thank you all! This has been helfpful. I enjoyed how they call it a "morning set".

Hi Kavey! Saving your Kyoto breakfast recs. You probably don't remember that we went to Japan last year for the first time. And...we're going back this fall. That's how much we loved our time there. Great photo of you and Michael in the kaveyeats link.

It's hard not to fall on love with Japan isn't it? We are hoping to take trip 4 next year!
Did you mean Pete? Yes the coffee shop owner saw me taking a photo of the exterior and suggested be take one of both of us standing there! 👍👍

Trip 4! I'm envious!
Oops, yes Pete. I knew Michael didn't sound correct. My apologies.