Food in Japan Japanese food is as refined as any of the great cuisines of the world, but alongside the elegant fare is the humble bowl of rice and the heritage of simple country cooking. The traditional Japanese diet is no doubt one of the healthiest in the world and thankfully tofu, miso, sushi, green tea, and soba are now familiar to many people outside of Japan. Back to home page

Japanese Dishes The Japanese cuisine offers a great variety of dishes and regional specialties: Rice dishes – Fried rice, onigiri (rice balls), etc. Seafood Dishes – Sushi, Sashimi (raw seafood) Noodle Dishes – Soba, Ramen Nabe Dishes – Oden, Sukiyaki Meat Dishes – Yakitori, Tonkatsu Soya Bean Dishes – Miso Soup, Agedashi Tofu Yoshoku Dishes – Hamubagu, Omiraisu Other Dishes – consists of a mix of different types Sushi Oden Back to home page

Restaurants Specialized Restaurants – specialize in one type of food (ex. Sushi) General Restaurants - offer a broader range of dishes than specialized stores Foreign - Korean, Chinese and Italian cooking, as well as American style fast food are all popular Other – such as coffee places, high cuisine, and moveable stalls Kaiten-zushi are sushi restaurants, where the sushi dishes are presented to the customers on a conveyor belt Traditional tonkatsu restaurant Back to home page

Eating Out The majority of restaurants in Japan have Western style tables and chairs, restaurants with low traditional tables are also common. A glass of water or tea will be served for free. You also receive a wet towel (oshibori) for cleaning your hands. If chopsticks are not already set, you can usually find some in a box on the table. In restaurants in Japan, it is not common to pay a tip. When leaving, it is polite to say "gochisosama deshita" ("thank you for the meal"). Show windows display food replicas Restaurant with meal ticket vending machines Back to home page

Vending Machines In Japan there is one vending machine per 23 people The majority of machines sell non-alcoholic beverages such as soft drinks, juice, vitamin drinks, tea and coffee for reasonable 110 to 120 Yen Vending machines that sell alcoholic beverages and cigarettes are also numerous Others sell goods such as ice cream, rice, instant cameras, cup noodles and even omikuji (small fortune telling slips of paper sold at shrines and temples). These vending machines sell 10 kg bags of various kinds of rice. Omikuji vending machines Back to home page

Table Manners Blowing your nose in public, and especially at the table, is considered bad manner. It is considered good manner to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice. Talking about toilet related and similarly disappetizing topics during or before a meal is not appreciated by most people. Unlike in some other parts of East Asia, it is considered bad manner to burp After finishing eating, try to place all your dishes in the same way as they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lid of dishes which came with a lid and replacing your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or into their paper slip. Back to home page

Chopsticks Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third. When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left. Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. Do not point with your chopsticks to something or somebody. Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks. If you have already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end of your chopsticks in order to move food from a shared plate to your own plate. Knife and fork are used for Western food only. Spoons are sometimes used to eat Japanese dishes that are difficult to eat with chopsticks. Back to home page

Sitting Technique and Rules In Japan, sitting upright on the floor is common in various situations The formal way of sitting for both genders is kneeling (seiza) In casual situations, men usually sit cross-legged, while women sit on their knees laying both legs to one side The most important guest sits on the honored seat (kamiza) which is located farthest from the entrance The host or least important person is supposed to sit next to the entrance (shimoza). seiza Men only Women only Back to home page

Alcohol Alcohol can be bought in supermarkets, department stores, convenience stores, specialized alcohol stores and at vending machines. The minimum legal age is 20. Popular drinks: Beer – most popular alcohol in Japan Happoshu - It looks like beer, contains the same amount of alcohol as beer, but is made with less malt than beer, giving it a different, lighter taste. Rice Wine - Nihonshu or sake (sake is the general Japanese term for alcohol) is basically made of rice and water. Wine - very popular in Japan, especially among women. Most wines are imported from overseas. Shochu - a distilled spirit with high alcohol content. Rice, sweet potatoes, wheat and sugar cane are some of the most common bases for shochu. Chuhai - flavored alcoholic drinks with a low alcohol content. They come in different flavors such as lemon, grapefruit and pineapple. Western liqueur - Whisky, in particular, is very popular in Japan Back to home page

Tea Tea (ocha) is one of the most popular beverages in Japan. The following is a list of some of the most popular kinds of tea drunken in Japan: Gyokuro, Sencha, Bancha: Common Japanese green tea made of dried tea leaves Houjicha: Common green tea made of roasted tea leaves Matcha: quite bitter green tea made out of tea leaf powder Chinese Tea: Oolong tea, Jasmine tea, etc. Kocha: English tea Back to home page