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10 Amazing Foods In Japan That Are A Must Try
There’s no question there’s a ton of unique attractions and sights to see while visiting Japan. It’s a truly beautiful, bustling country which never ceases to amaze me. One of the biggest draws of the country for myself is the food. To say the food in Japan is delicious would be an understatement. It’s absolutely amazing.
Here are some of the standouts that anyone visiting Japan must try!
Table of Contents
Mochi
Mochi is certainly one of the most 10 amazing foods in Japan. A traditional rice cake, mochi is chewy and has a chewy texture and can be either savory or sweet. It’s a versatile rice cake which can be filled with various fillings like red bean paste and have different types of toppings like fruit on top. The freshness, and how soft and chewy the mochi is in Japan really stands out. While mochi can be found worldwide, the mochi in Japan is on a different level!
Ramen
Ramen is easily one of the top 10 amazing foods in Japan. Everyone knows ramen, let’s be honest. Ramen is everywhere in the world but it’s something that absolutely must be tried in Japan. The number of ramen places and different types of ramen are insane. The atmosphere itself, with many ramen shops just being a counter that seats 15 or less is a pretty cool experience. The ordering process, with the ordering machines in the front of some ramen restaurants is certainly an experience as well.
Sushi / Sashimi / Chirashi
Without a doubt, sushi in all it’s variations is one of the 10 amazing foods in Japan that you must have. Japan has some of the best quaility seafood in the world and the quality of the sushi / sashimi / chirashi certainly reflects this. Whenever I go to Japan I eat as much tuna as I possibly can. It’s the best tuna I’ve ever had. The crab, scallop, uni, it’s all outstanding. Whatever your fish of choice is, you will not be disappointed by the quality.
Fruit
Speaking of high quality, the fruit in Japan is on another level from what I’ve ever had in the United States. Quality takes precedence over quanity when it comes to Japanese fruit. Farmers are very attentive and closely monitor their crops to insure their fruit meets lofty standards in association with the fruit texture, sweetness, size, and shape.
These high standards, along with the country being smaller, which leads to less time for the fruit to make it from the farm to the store, leads to some exceptionally high quality fruit.
The melons and strawberries I had were the juiciest and sweetest I’ve ever experienced. With quality comes higher prices though. The fruit is definitely more expensive, but it’s well worth it. Fruit may not be on the radar as one the 10 amazing foods in Japan, but it certainly deserves to be!
Japanese Curry
Japanese curry is a very popular food in the country and is considered a comfort food and is one of the 10 amazing foods in Japan. Japanese curry is its own unique curry and different from other types of curry found in the world. It’s a little bit thicker and is more sweet and savory. Commonly made with both a protein (beef, chicken, or with tonkatsu) and vegtables, it’s more in the vein of curry stew. Served with Japanese short grain rice which is stickier than basmati rice, the rice also really soaks up the curry.
Outside of rice curry, there’s other ways to enjoy Japanese curry as well. One of those “other” dishes is curry soup. A staple in Hokkaido, this is Japanese curry in soup form. While I’ve had curry rice many times, I’d never heard of curry soup before. If you’re a curry fan than this is a must try while traveling through Japan. I actually enjoyed it more than the curry rice. Very tasty with different vegetables and fall- off-the-bone chicken, this was one delicious dish!
Kobe Beef / Wagyu
Kobe beef is a worldwide delicacy renowned for its flavor, tenderness, and fatty, well-marbled texture which easily places it amongst 10 amazing foods in Japan. As the name implies, Kobe beef is cultivated from Japanese Black cattle which is raised in the Hyogo Prefecture region of Japan, near Kobe. It’s considered the highest quality beef that Japanese cattle can produce and is a must try! There’s various cuts of this and obviously the higher the price the better the cut and quality. So the experience can certainly vary upon how much you’re willing to spend.
But it’s an experience that must be tried!
Omurice
Omurice includes ketchup fried rice, yes ketchup fried rice, wrapped in a very thin omlette with ketchup drizzled over the egg. The egg is very crepe like, it’s a very thin layer. The ketchup fried rice is generally mixed with chicken and vegetables. It’s an all-around unique looking and tasty dish that must be tried while in Japan! It’s a very common and popular breakfast item which is why I’m including it on the list of 10 amazing foods in Japan.
Tempura
Another food on the 10 amazing foods in Japan is tempura. Tempura is very famous in Japan and you’ll be able to find it thorughout the country. Tempura, for those who haven’t had it before, consists of seafood (shrimp is a staple) and vegetables coated in a thin batter and deep fried. The quality can differ, but the outer batter should be light and crispy and not saturated in oil. It definitely makes a big difference while enjoying this classic meal.
Tonkatsu
A classic food in Japan, tonkatsu, is certainly on the list for 10 amazing foods in Japan. Tonkatsu is a breaded pork cutlet that’s deep fried in oil. The breaded exterior is nice and crunchy, while the pork, which is generally a pork fillet or tenderloin, is juicy and tender. Served with a side of cabbage and a thick Worcestershire-style sauce, this is a must have while in Japan. Certainly do your research and find a quality spot to enjoy this Japanese comfort food.
Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki is a popular, savory pancake dish that is found throughout Japan. Consisting of a flour batter and cooked on a teppan, common ingredients include cabbage, meat, and seafood, with toppings including a thicker worcestershire type sauce, dried seaweed flakes (aonori), bonito flakes, Japanese mayonnaise, and ginger. There’s two distinct types, one hailing from Osaka and one from Hiroshima. The Hiroshima version is layered instead of mixed and uses 3-4x more cabbage.
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How Expensive Is A Three Week Trip To Japan?
When thinking of traveling to a new destination one of the first things people are going to look at is how expensive is it to travel there? Japan has always been a very popular destination for travelers and was often looked at as being a very expensive trip. This may have been the case years ago but with the yen struggling, it’s made a vacation to Japan very affordable. How affordable? That’s totally dependent on what country you’re coming from, how you want to travel, where you want to stay, and what you want to eat.
I went during a non-peak season – during December – which made the three week trip to Japan more affordable as well. I went with the intent on having fun but not looking to spend gobs of cash so I’d say I was looking at a mid-level budget.
Transportation
The most expensive cost, of course, will be the flight to Japan. But since everyone is flying out of a different location I’ll leave that out and just breakdown the total I spent during my three week trip to Japan.
Withouth the flight I spent a total of $526 USD. That amount includes the two week Japan Rail (JR) Pass I bought (pre-Oct 2023 price increase) for $318, and the Pasmo card and all the money I loaded onto it (used for subways, buses, street cars, etc) for $101 and one domestic flight from Sapporo to Osaka ($107).
The JR Pass dramatically increased in price in October 2023 and will most likely not be worth getting at this point, unless you plan to take a LOT of Shinkansen (bullet) trains over the course of your trip. Public transportation is very cheap and is the best bet to get around efficiently and cheaply. There are taxis available and Uber works as well, so those are viable options but will be much more expensive. Also, domestic flights are pretty cheap as well so they’re something to consider if Shinkansen prices seem high.
Accommodations
For my three week trip to Japan I spent $1178 on lodging. I stayed at budget hotels essentially the entire time. I didn’t stay at any hostels or capsule hotels nor any five-star hotels. I stayed at all three-star hotels which are quite affordable, clean, and nice. Sure, the rooms are the size of a closet but I didn’t spend much time in the room so it really didn’t matter. What did matter was the price point for me during this particular trip.
APA Hotel in Taito City in Tokyo 
Another typical hotel room, this one in Sapporo The cheapest options will be hostels and the capsules. The 3 star hotels are a nice middle ground option which you can grab for $45-$65 a night.
Food
Outside of accommodations, food is likely to be the highest price point on the trip. I spent about $1017 on food on my three week trip to Japan. The food pricing for Japan is well-rounded. If you want to go cheap you can easily find a meal for under $10. A bowl of ramen is like $8 in a lot of places. I had a bowl of tempura for about $3.50. Grabbing food at one of the local convenient stores like 7-11, Family Mart, and Lawson’s will be very affordable and the food at these places is actually quite good.
Of course it’s very easy to get high quality, delicious food, that will be more expensive. Think exquisite cuts of sushi and mouth-watering wagyu. I pretty much straddled the line when it came to food expenditure, splurging here and there for some more expensive meals but mainly getting meals that were between around $8-15.
Attractions
There’s a million things to see and do in Japan. A lot of things, like most temples and shrines, parks, are free which is great. Of course other attractions – museums, observatory points, ropeways, Tokyo teamLab Planets – have an entrance fee. Over my three week trip to Japan I spent $184 on attractions. A large chunk of this was due to Tokyo Disneyland ($63). The other notable expenses were Tokyo teamLabs Planets ($25), and the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan ($18). All the other attractions (a lot of museums, a couple castles, ropeways, observatory points) I went to were $10 and less, usually about $5. So depending on what you’re interested in, attractions can be very cheap.
Tokyo teamLab Planets 
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan 
Tokyo National Museum Souvenirs
It’s easy to go overboard with souvenirs, either getting things for yourself or loved ones. I spent a total of $217 on souvenirs in my three week trip to Japan. Pretty much all t-shirts and a couple of hats. Souvenirs will always be at the individual’s discretion. Some people will buy a lot of souvenirs, others won’t buy anything. I bought a little more here than I generally do, I couldn’t help myself at the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters team store!
Total Expenses For My Three Week Trip To Japan
In total I spent $3224 over a three week span, excluding the flight. With the flight the total was $3930. If I add up the accommodations, food, and attractions, I averaged about $113 per day. Not too bad. There’s definitely areas where I could have cut costs like accommodations and food, to get to $100 per day if I was really tracking my expenditures.
So yes, traveling through Japan on a $100 per day is VERY doable if that’s the goal. Depending on your accommodations, let’s say you paid around $55 on average for hotels and had $45 to play around with the rest of the day, it would be fairly easy to do.
There’s a ton of cheap good food that you can find throughout Japan and plenty of attractions that are free or around $5. I mean just walking around Tokyo in itself is memorable since there city is so vibrant. If $100 or less per day is the goal, you can definitely do that in Japan and still have a very enjoyable experience!
