363 Best Restaurants in Japan

Charcoal-broiled unagi (eel) is an acquired taste, but there's no better place in Nikko to acquire it than at this small, unpretentious place with only five plain-wood tables. Service can be lukewarm, but Sawamoto is reliable for a light lunch or very early dinner of unagi served on a bed of rice in an elegant lacquered box. Eel is considered a stamina builder: just right for the weary visitor on a hot summer day.

This narrow, brick-lined café serves aromatic coffee sourced from all over the world. The best seats are in front of the lab, where coffee bubbles in a siphon. They also serve creamy hot chocolate, coffee jelly, and milkshakes.

If you're feeling adventurous, check out this izakaya's seafood-focused dishes, which pair nicely a cup of sake and which do not disappoint. The daily menu is often hand-written, though, so unless you read Japanese, be nice to the wait staff, and trust them to help you make a selection. On weekends, reservations are a good idea.

Peppery tebasaki (deep-fried chicken wings) are the specialty at the main branch of Nagoya's best-known izakaya chain, though you can also order sashimi, fried noodles, and other favorites. The prices are affordable, and it always attracts a lively crowd. If it's full, don't worry: staff can direct you to one of another half-dozen Yama-chan (as it's familiarly called) nearby. The picture menu makes ordering easy.

On Kappabashi-dori, just north of the Kama-Asa knife store, this café has a very hipster feel thanks to its stark concrete walls and occasional in-store art exhibitions. The menu includes specialty coffees as well as organic matcha and ginger lemonade.

The hallmarks of this restaurant—in business since 1973—are ishiyaki steak, which is grilled on a hot stone, and shabu-shabu—thin slices of beef cooked in boiling water at your table and dipped in one of several sauces (sesame, vinegar, or soy). Fresh vegetables, noodles, and tofu are also dipped into the seasoned broth for a filling yet healthful meal.

Chef Daniel Calvert has been awarded two Michelin stars for the creative French cuisine served at this elegant restaurant on the seventh floor of the Four Seasons Hotel at Marunouchi. The 12-course dinner changes with the seasons, but leans heavily into Japanese produce and could include Akkeshi sea oyster with koshihikari rice and wild sorrel or shamo chicken from Bizen poached in yellow wine. While some tables offer kitchen views, there's also a chef's table where you can watch Calvert and his team at work—a rare opportunity to study some of Tokyo's most talented chefs.

Inside Shibuya's underground Shibuchika shopping area is this huge array of stalls selling all kinds of foods. In addition to enjoying a snack or buying a bento to enjoy on a picnic, you can shop for gifts galore.

Connected to a small gallery a few doors down from the I ♥ Yu baths in Miyanoura, this rickety looking restaurant serves up traditional, simple teishoku set meals for lunch. With the classic combo of rice, miso soup, and pickles, expect super-fresh sashimi and other seafood options. When the weather is nice, enjoy your meal on the restaurant's wooden terrace. The restaurant is often closed on weekdays (except for Friday), but it sometimes opens on other days.

This 1950s-style café serves hot dogs, sandwiches, and whatever else the friendly owners feel like making that day. Next to the bathhouse in Miyanoura, it's a perfect stop for a post-bath beer. Shioya is sometimes closed for dinner, so in the evening it's wise to call before coming.

Yamagata is famous for soba, and Shojiya is the oldest soba restaurant in Yamagata. Go for lunch and then wander around the neighborhood. The immediate area is interesting, with restored irrigation channels where five dams were built in 1623 to control flooding, as well as kimono and tea shops, and the historic city hall building.

Located in one of the rustic old houses of the historic Kawaramachi district, this intimate restaurant offers an affordable, varying daily menu. You can go à la carte, but opting for one of the omakase courses is easiest. These typically feature eight or so small dishes that could include creative takes on izakaya staples, in-season mountain vegetables, and high-quality sashimi. The restaurant also serves local sake that goes well with the dinner.

The area of Motomachi is known as the wealthy, posh part of Yokohama, so restaurants here tend to be exclusive and expensive, with service and quality justifying the price. This restaurant in an old-style Japanese house—complete with a Japanese garden and five private tatami rooms—serves dinners that are more akin to a banquet, with dishes that (depending on the season) could include traditional Japanese delicacies such as sashimi, shiitake mushrooms, and chicken in white sauce; deep-fried burdock; or broiled sea bream.

This elegant French restaurant on the 37th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel has wonderful views of the Tokyo skyline as well an open kitchen, where you can see the masterful chefs at work. Inspired by Japanese kaiseki, the menu changes with the seasons. There is also a fine wine list here that includes biodynamic and organic selections.

East Tokyo has some serious artisanal coffee credentials, owing to the cafés of the Kiyosumi and Kiba neighborhoods, and now—thanks to this Aussie-run roastery—the Ryogoku neighborhood as well. You'll find this spot in a battered old warehouse, a few minutes northeast of the Sumida Hokusai Museum.

Stop for lunch at the wonderful soba shop run by Sayoko Kojima. The delicious soba and soup are served with different kinds of tempura and other dishes made with Kojima's own organic vegetables. Evening meals are possible if you call in advance and make a reservation, including a Japanese kaiseki course menu.

Colorful local characters come to this casual restaurant for beer and sake and seiro-soba (thin buckwheat noodles served in steaming-hot baskets) and hot tempura served on fragrant handmade cypress trays. The restaurant is usually open by 11 am (or when the noodles are ready), but it closes at 3 (or when all the noodles are gone).

Keema curry, pizzas, burgers, and burrito bowls are staples at this trendy vegan café in Tenjin. Also a great place to get coffee and a slice of cake when you're taking a break from the shops of west Fukuoka.

In a city with no shortage of soup-curry restaurants, the long lines outside this place just south of Odori Park tell you how much the locals rate Garaku. There are six basic soup curries on the menu to which you can add more toppings and tweak spice levels. The way to eat them is the same: the soup curry comes in a bowl with rice on the side that many people mix in as they go.

What's a soup curry? You'll find out here when you choose your curry (a wide variety with vegetables); your soup base (tomato, shrimp, or the base that's used to make many soupy Japanese dishes); your spice level (from 0 to 7); your toppings (perhaps avocados, an egg, or fried mushrooms); and, finally, the amount of rice you'd like. 

This microbrewery in Daikanyama produces a core lineup of six ales and lagers, as well as seasonal and limited releases, such as an 8% Belgian “gran cru,” Jazzberry made with raspberries and wine yeast, or a 6.5% hop-heavy IPA. But Spring Valley isn't just a place to drink—the menu also lists a good range of burgers, pizzas, and grilled meats, all with beer-pairing suggestions. If you're a fan of this place, note that it has a sister location in Kyoto.

If you need a break from shopping for electronics and games, stopping to enjoy a spicy kebab sandwich from Star Kebab should do the trick. This and other outlets in the area offer beef, lamb, or chicken strips, as well as lettuce and tomatoes, in pita pockets.

Famous for its kamameshi, or rice casseroles, this restaurant serves the freshest fish from the Seto Nai-kai—fugu, or puffer fish, oysters, and eel, to name but a few. If you prefer your fish cooked, try the rockfish grilled with soy sauce. English menus (and Japanese-style rooms with horikotatsu pits to hang your legs in) are available.

Specializing in fish from the Seto Inland Sea, this sushi restaurant is the place to mingle with food-loving locals or to enjoy an intimate dinner for two, but bring cash because they take only the JCB credit card. The ingredients are top quality, and everyone here wants to make sure you enjoy your experience. Sit at the long counter and order à la carte, or dine upstairs on a prix-fixe meal in a quiet booth. There's no English menu, but some people on staff speak English. Sushi Kappo Komatsu can be hard to spot, but look for the bamboo screens and miniature rock garden out front. Reservations are recommended for the prix-fixe dinners.

Here you need a dose of luck—there are only seven counter seats and reservations book up fast (ask your hotel concierge to make one for you)—and a full wallet, as high-end sushi comes at a pretty price. The interior is unpretentious, putting the focus squarely on the gorgeous presentations for each course, but what really makes a meal here subline is the extreme quality of the cuts of fish and garnishes featuring such rare ingredients as zha cai (pickled stem of the mustard plant).

Hokkaido sushi is famed throughout Japan, and this is probably the best of the best. It's where locals take guests when they want to impress them with a pure sushi experience. The main branch in Maruyama is the best of the four scattered around the city, while the one next to JR Sapporo Station (Daimaru 8F, Kita 5 Nishi 5) is cheaper and more welcoming to families (and where you won't need reservations).

This restaurant's recipes have been passed down over several generations—the house specialty is the superb and inexpensive sansai-ryori, as well as more expensive dishes using highly rated Hida beef. Suzuya is in a traditional Hida-style house, and the wood-beamed dining room has an intimate feel. There's an English menu, and the staff is used to serving foreign guests. From the station turn onto Kokubunji-dori and take a right after five blocks. Lunch is served until 2 pm, and dinner begins at 5.

It can be hard to find a vegan restaurant in Tokyo, but T's thick and tasty, meat-free ramen is a great option. Choose your soup base, from sesame to citrus flavors, and get a side of the vegetable dumplings—not to be missed. The restaurant is behind the barriers of Tokyo Station, so you'll need to be in transit to try.