What to eat in Japan, one counter at a time.

The checklist

Twenty dishes for a first trip.

Tick them off in any order. The first ten are easy to find in every big city; the rest reward a little hunting.

• ☐ Tonkotsu ramen — the milky pork-bone bowl, best in Fukuoka.
• ☐ Shoyu ramen — the clear soy-sauce Tokyo classic.
• ☐ Nigiri at a counter, piece by piece, straight from the chef’s hand.
• ☐ Tempura, ideally at a counter where each piece comes out of the oil to your plate.
• ☐ Tonkatsu with shredded cabbage and miso soup.
• ☐ Gyudon — a fast, very good beef bowl for a tired evening.
• ☐ Karaage, fried chicken, at an izakaya or a konbini counter.
• ☐ Yakitori — chicken skewers with salt (shio) or sweet soy glaze (tare).
• ☐ Gyoza with a cold beer.
• ☐ Onigiri from a convenience store, at least three fillings.
• ☐ Okonomiyaki, the savoury pancake — once in Osaka, once in Hiroshima.
• ☐ Takoyaki, the octopus balls Osaka sells from carts and counters.
• ☐ Udon — thick wheat noodles, hot or cold.
• ☐ Katsudon or oyakodon, the egg-topped rice bowls.
• ☐ Unagi don, grilled eel over rice, for one splurge lunch.
• ☐ Japanese curry — mild, thick and very comforting.
• ☐ Oden from a konbini pot in the colder months.
• ☐ Sashimi near a fish market in the morning.
• ☐ Matcha, as tea, a latte or soft-serve.
• ☐ A roasted sweet potato (yakiimo) on a cold afternoon.

Where to eat

Konbini, counter, izakaya: three ways to eat.

Ordering

How ordering works, without speaking Japanese.

• The ticket machine. Many ramen shops have one just inside the door. Put the money in, press the button for your bowl — the top-left button is usually the signature dish — and hand the ticket to the staff when you sit down.
• Noodle firmness. Hakata-style tonkotsu shops may ask how firm you want the noodles. “Futsu” (regular) is the safe answer; “kata” is firm. Still have broth? Ask for kaedama, an extra serving of noodles.
• The izakaya starter. Some izakaya bring a small dish called otoshi before you order. It is part of the cover charge, not a gift, and not every place does it. If you would rather not, ask the staff.
• The first round. Many tables start with “toriaezu biiru” — “a beer for now” — and order food while it arrives. Sake can come hot, warm or chilled; chilled shows off the flavour best.
• The wet towel. The oshibori you are handed is for your hands before eating.
• The konbini microwave. At the till, the clerk may ask “atatamemasu ka?” — shall I heat it? Say “hai” for a warm bento. Eat onigiri at room temperature; heat makes the seaweed soggy.

Regional dishes

Save these for the city they come from.

Hiroshima and Osaka each insist their okonomiyaki is the real one. Eat both and decide for yourself — in Hiroshima, locals simply call theirs okonomiyaki.

The konbini run

Convenience-store food worth the hype.

• Onigiri: salmon, tuna mayo, pickled plum, spicy cod roe — and the seasonal flavours on the end of the shelf.
• An egg sandwich on soft white bread.
• Fried chicken from the hot counter — each chain has its own, so compare.
• A steamed pork bun (nikuman), eaten immediately.
• Oden from the simmering pot, roughly October to March: daikon, egg and fish cake to start.
• Roasted sweet potato in autumn and winter.
• A bento for the train, heated at the till.

Copy this

Your Japan food passport.

Paste this into a note before you fly and fill it in as you go. One line per dish is enough; the stamp is the memory. For the full idea, see our food passport guide.

• ☐ First bowl of ramen — city: ___ · style: ___ · verdict: ___
• ☐ A dish from a ticket machine — what I pressed: ___
• ☐ Counter sushi — the piece I still think about: ___
• ☐ An izakaya night — with: ___ · best plate: ___
• ☐ Okonomiyaki — Osaka or Hiroshima? ___
• ☐ Konbini breakfast — the onigiri flavour I would fly back for: ___
• ☐ Something I could not name — pointed at it, loved it: ___
• ☐ Last meal before the airport: ___

Keep the trip

Snap every table and the trip writes itself.

Two weeks in Japan is a blur of ramen by day four. In PlateDiary, take one photo when the food lands and every bowl, skewer and drink is cut out into its own save on your phone — capture works offline, so roaming can stay off. Each meal sorts itself into a moment by place and time, and the map pins every counter and izakaya you ate at, from Fukuoka to Sapporo.

Cannot read the menu? Leave the name blank, or let PlateDiary AI suggest one when you have a connection (ten free reads, then a membership): small pictures of the cut-out dishes go up, with the place’s name as a hint — never the table photo, faces, or your location. Prices stay in yen, exactly as you paid. And when the month ends, your Served story turns the trip into pages you can flip through.