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I would say "Hai, sugoi!!" It means, yes, amazing!
What I ate in Japan 2020
- Thread starter Raymond Lin
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I would say "Hai, sugoi!!" It means, yes, amazing!
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Btw, if you are cross country, Osaka to Tokyo or vice versa, 1 way is about £100 on the Shinkasen. If you use it more than a return, say go to Hiroshima too, it is cheaper to get the Japan Rail Pass. You can get 7-14 or 21 days.
Or get cheap internal flight. I once took a 1 way flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka for about £75.
Soldato
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Looks amazing. I'm very jealous.
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There are so many things I have since learned of that I want to try. One thing I wasn't aware of at the time was the regional culinary variety and specialisations, and how proud each region is of their own signature food.
This presents a dilemma for when we go back. We don't want to make it just a culinary tour, but we've only visited two cities on the main island and one on Okinawa, so where to go is something already on my mind.
Tokyo is a must to do again, obviously. I don't feel we got the most out of Kyoto either due to having a toddler with us at the time, but we did spend a week there. Last time we ruled out visiting Osaka because we thought it was going to be just a large industrial city and less interesting, but your photos make Osaka look great!
It's going to be tough deciding on an itinerary for when we go again...
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Osaka’s nickname in Japan is “The Nation’s Kitchen”. So for a foodie, it is great. Quite a few things originate from Osaka, such as Takoyaki, Kushikatsu, their version of the Okinomyaki to name a few. Also, each region has their own ramen flavours too. As you probably realise, the Ramen scene in Japan is huge (There is a Ramen Database website that is in Japanese which ranks the best ones) and to stand out you need to either be REALLY good (which most of them are) or offer something really unique, like the fire Ramen in Kyoto, or the Blue broth in Tokyo, or get yourself a Michelin Star. That’s besides the differences in style of ramen, types of noodles and toppings.
The Japanese, as a workforce, don’t get as many holidays as we do in a year, a week is the most one would take in 1 go in a year so a lot of them going on holiday means going within Japan locally. This may be the reason why the local identity is really strong within each Prefecture. At the local train station of each place, you will find Omiyage stores, souvenir stores, it is a custom when returning from holiday to bring a souvenir to the people at work or family. And the popular thing to buy is snacks, this goes hand in hand with the local specialty. So this is how you end up with lots of like Hokkaido milk cookies as they are famous for their cows or down south in Fukuoka with their mentaiko packets (fish eggs you put on ramen). At the airport, you will find most of these come together at one place if you look carefully too.
So yes, a foodie tour of Japan would be absolutely FANTASTIC, like the best wagyu beef in Japan (which probably means the world) can only be found mainly in 1 prefecture, and they do not export it. These are the cows you hear about that the farmer feeds them beer and treat them really nicely, lots of fields and they have only like 3 cows or something at any one time. So the meat is very limited. It's in Matsusaka.
Having been to both KL and Tokyo, Tokyo is definitely more expensive but I wouldn't say overly so. Alcohol is generally cheaper in Tokyo though (when comparing run of the mill restuarants and bars - there are some very good, very expensive cocktail bars in Tokyo). Attractions I found better priced in Tokyo, but we did a lot of free stuff (be it temples, arcades, or just walking around). Accommodation is the biggest cost, but we were pretty happy with more basic hotels. We stayed here for 4 nights when we arrived and it was fine:
https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/e-higashi-shinjuku.en-gb.html
It cost £83 a night, the room was very small but it was fine for us. Just round the corner from an underground station, coffee shop below and walkable to Golden Gai.
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For hotel, I’ve stayed in 2 in Tokyo. One is a more expensive near Ginza, very nice room but it’s in Shimbashi district, the area where a LOT of the salary men go out drinking after work. The other hotel is the Hotel Metropolitan in Ikebukuro which I prefer. It’s like half the price but Ikebukuro is like the baby version of Shinjuku. Most foreigner would never go there or even heard of it but it has the 3rd busiest station in Tokyo I think, it has everything, and it’s only 2 stops north from Shinjuku. Also, the lobby of the hotel has a bus shuttle service to both airports. I literally got out of my room 5 mins before the bus left and was in the bus 5mins later.
Most people’s first time going to Tokyo they want to stay central and naturally they think Shinjuku is central or they think Shibuya (crossing) is central but in actual fact that’s not strictly correct. Tokyo has a circle line like London call the Yamanote line, and the middle of that is Raponggi Hills, a popular ex-pat area since there are lots of Embassy there. But in actual fact, most of the popular districts to visit in Tokyo is on the Yamanote Line, so if you stay on a station near the Yamanote Line, you are fine. Shinjuku is on the west side, Akihabara is on the East side, as is Asakuka also on the east side. Tokyo Skytree is north east, Ginza is south east, the fish market too is on the east side. There are actually more interesting things on the east side (IMO) than the west side where Shinjuku is. Also, if you are getting on the Shinkasen, they all starts at Tokyo Station, which is on the east side, and if you go to Osaka, it goes south for a little bit on the same line as the Yamanote line before leaving the centra Tokyo area. Meaning it is more convenient really to stay on the east side. Ueno is a nice place, Asakusa is a more old school Tokyo area and accommodation there is cheaper.
Most people’s first time going to Tokyo they want to stay central and naturally they think Shinjuku is central or they think Shibuya (crossing) is central but in actual fact that’s not strictly correct. Tokyo has a circle line like London call the Yamanote line, and the middle of that is Raponggi Hills, a popular ex-pat area since there are lots of Embassy there. But in actual fact, most of the popular districts to visit in Tokyo is on the Yamanote Line, so if you stay on a station near the Yamanote Line, you are fine. Shinjuku is on the west side, Akihabara is on the East side, as is Asakuka also on the east side. Tokyo Skytree is north east, Ginza is south east, the fish market too is on the east side. There are actually more interesting things on the east side (IMO) than the west side where Shinjuku is. Also, if you are getting on the Shinkasen, they all starts at Tokyo Station, which is on the east side, and if you go to Osaka, it goes south for a little bit on the same line as the Yamanote line before leaving the centra Tokyo area. Meaning it is more convenient really to stay on the east side. Ueno is a nice place, Asakusa is a more old school Tokyo area and accommodation there is cheaper.
Soldato
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Speaking of train stations/airports, we were blown away by Kyoto station. The food there was actually really good and the whole station felt like a mini-town in itself.
I think our trip will have to be a combined foodie-culture-tech exploration. Very exciting!
We stayed in the Shibadaimon area when we went, which was pretty convenient and somewhere we'd look at again. It has two stations in easy reach, with one on the Yamanote line and the other on two of the main underground lines. Not as crazy busy as some parts of the city, either.
Will have to have a look at Asakusa and Ueno as well, though.
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Yeah, a lot of stations in Japan have great food. The reason being they are the hub of the commuters so they know there are foot traffic meaning it’s a great place to put in a restaurant. Did you know the No.1 ranked Ramen place in Japan has a branch in a building near the Tokyo Station (their original store is like 45mins outside the city).
So, whilst it is a strange concept at first coming from the UK, you’d think, Station food? Yuck! Not really, not in Japan. Same thing with convenient store food, Lawsons' fried chicken? amazing!
I will do another thread (or 2) on the food I had in the other 2 trips, and perhaps more info on hotels and location too.
Soldato
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Great! Will look out for those. This thread has redoubled my determination to make sure we all go as a family before the kids get too old to want to come away with us anymore.
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I will go into more detail in another thread but in case I forget, taking kids to Japan is great. They have 2 Disney them parks. Disneyland and the world’s only Disney Sea. And depends when you go, and if it will still be there, I found Teamlabs borderless, interactive digital art thing that is great for both adult and kids. There is a room for drawing and painting too, I see lots of kids there colouring. p.s. I've yet been to either Disney in Japan. I was going to go to Universial Studio in Osaka last trip but I opted for Himeji Castle instead.
But be mindful of food with kids, depends where you go, for a ramen place you are expected to order food per person. As most ramen shops have very limited seating, so each seat counts and they rely on high turnover of customers. So that means your 4 year old sitting there would really need to order her own bowl of ramen or it will be a loss to the restaurant when they could have made money. In a table sitting restaurant perhaps this is less of a problem like a Yakiniku but if its a small place, look out for that little unwritten rule.
Soldato
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Oh yeah, you're absolutely right! We've taken the kids to quite a lot of countries in their lives, and despite the fact that our (at the time only) kid was only 18 months old at the time and I was getting by on phrasebook Japanese at best, Japan was by far the most pleasant and stress-free place we've been with them. He was doted on by everyone, and so were we by extension.
We did go to Tokyo Disneyland, which was... well, it was Disneyland, so the little'un was captivated by everything (except the Mr Toads ride, or whatever it was that he screamed the whole way around).
Next time, if we manage to go in 2022 they will be 15 and 13, so a different proposition. They won't be followed around with cries of "kawaiiii!" this time, that's for sure. I'm thinking they'll love Akihabara, but hopefully also some of the Japanese history and culture. Food certainly shouldn't be a problem.