There are many good reasons to travel in Japan, but food has to be one of the most compelling. Japanese food has become increasingly popular around the world, with sushi leading the way as a healthy, convenient food. However, Japan has a wealth of regional cusines, focused on seasonal vegetables and the local seafood. Freshness and quality of the ingredients is the key to Japanese cuisine, and even if you have an eaten at the finest Japanese restaurants abroad, you are in for a culinary treat in Japan.

 

The Japanese themselves think of food whenever they travel, and if you peruse a Japanese travel brochure you are likely to see page after page of beautifully presented dishes from each accommodation with little mention of the rooms.

Indeed, Japanese ryokan compete on the quality of their meals. The quality, and the quantity will satisfy the most demanding guest!

We will take a look at the most common elements in Japanese cuisine.

 

Rice is not only the staple diet in Japan, it is the sacred food which is at the very heart of the Japanese identity. You will receive rice with every Japanese meal except when you get a simple bowl of noodles. Japanese rice is glutinous and sticky, making it easy to eat with chopsticks. It is served plain and often towards the end of meal if there are many courses. Resist the urge to pour soy sauce over it; this is frowned on in Japan and also stops the rice sticking together and thus much harder to eat.

 

Rice is also made into onigiri - rice balls - with a small pickle or dried fish in the middle to add flavour. You can find them in any convenience store and they are great for taking on walks or train journeys.

 

Probably Japan’s most famous food export, the word sushi actually refers to the vinegared rice that accompanies it. Sliced raw fish on its own is called sashimi.
Sushi chefs train for years to perfect their skills, and the preparation of sushi is actually quite tricky. Above all it is important that the fish be extremely fresh. The origins of sushi are hotly debated, but the vinegared rice was originally a way to preserve the fish. There are variants of sushi around Japan, but the nigiri style (the type common in the West, slices of raw fish on top of rice) is now found everywhere.

A few species more or less guaranteed to feature in every restaurant are maguro (tuna), sake (salmon), ika (squid), tako (octopus), and tamago (egg). More exotic options include uni (sea urchin roe), toro (fatty tuna belly, very expensive) and shirako (fish sperm).
Most Japanese people eat sushi only rarely, as it is relatively expensive compared to other restaurants.
You can eat sushi with chopsticks or alternatively with your fingers.

 

 

Literally mountain vegetables, are a type of vegetable that were originally found growing wild in mountain areas. Though some are now cultivated, many residents in rural areas still collect wild sansai. Common varieties are mitsuba (cryptotaenia - Japanese wild parsley), warabi (bracken), fukinoto (giant butterbur), kogomi (fern), udo (Aralia cordata - Japanese Spikenard). They are commonly boiled or blanched, and served in miso soup.

 

You will get the best sansai in smaller ryokan and minshuku where they may well have been collected that morning by your hosts.

 

 

 

 

 

Rather than heavy sauces and flavourings, Japanese cuisine relies more on the delicate flavours of the ingredients themselves. Amongst these flavours are plants such as shiso - a member of the mint family - which has a flavour said to be neither sweet nor savoury. Shiso is often eaten with sushi, and added to salads.

Miso, a paste made with soya beans, is another staple of Japanese cuisine. It's most common use is in miso soup, eaten with any meal. Like other Japanese foodstuffs, it varies greatly from region to region, from white to red to dark brown.

Pickles also play a large part in any Japanese meal. The most common is the famous umeboshi, a pickled Japanese plum (ume), often found in onigiri (rice balls). Any proper Japanese meal will have at least one or two types of delicately-flavoured pickles. Even Japanese curry rice, a thick sauce that has little in common with Indian curry, is usually served with pickles.

 

 

Particularly in the cold winter months various stews (nabe) are popular ways to warm up. Common types include:
Chankonabe — a hotchpotch hotpot much favored by sumo wrestlers
Oden — fish soup simmered for days on end, often sold on the street (and convenience stores) in the winter
Sukiyaki — a hotpot of beef, tofu, noodles and more, often somewhat sweet
Shabu-shabu — thinly-sliced beef dipped in a savoury broth and dipping sauces

Nabe (pronounced na-bay) refers to the pot used to cook the stew.

 

 

 

There are many types of noodles in Japan, but the two most common are udon (made from wheat) and soba (made from soba - buckwheat).

Restaurants selling soba and ramen usually

Ramen (Chinese-style noodles) are extremely popular and ramen shops can be found all over cities and towns and along major roads. The secret with ramen is the soup stock, and famous ramen shops get tv coverage and long lines of patient diners.

 

At Japanese ryokan or minshuku, you will normally be served a kaiseki-style multi-course meal, often with some sashimi (raw fish), soup, grilled or stewed meat, grilled fish, pickles, tempura, rice and desert.