Known for its meticulous attention to detail and high-quality ingredients, Japan has a reputation amongst food lovers as having one of the most delicious cuisines in the world. While many are familiar with the more famous dishes the country has to offer, what else should you try on your next trip to the island nation?
In no particular order, here are a dozen of the most famous foods and drinks in Japan.
Sushi
Probably the most famous export to come out of Japan, sushi is a dish enjoyed around the world. The origins of this popular food go all the way back to the 14th century. Back then, excess fish was preserved using a mixture of rice vinegar, salt, and rice.
Over the next several hundred years, this popular preservation technique would transform into sushi as we know it today. In the early 19th century, fresh fish began to be served over vinegared rice and nori, also known as seaweed. Today, there are many varieties of the iconic food, with vinegared sushi rice being their common ingredient.
Makizushi is a popular version named for the bamboo mat used to roll the sushi called a makisu. White short-grain sushi rice is filled with eggs, seafood, or vegetables, wrapped in seaweed, and cut into six to eight pieces.
Nigirizushi is another common sushi preparation that translates to “hand-pressed sushi.” A sushi chef uses his palm to create a small mound of rice that is then draped with salmon, tuna, sea eel, or egg.
Today, the making of sushi is an art form with years of training required before one can be considered an itamae, or “master” sushi chef. Some apprenticeships can last up to 20 years as the student works their way through different positions in the restaurant, learning the finer points of sushi preparation and customer service.
Ramen
Another notorious Japanese dish beloved by many, ramen has origins in the early 20th century in the Chinatown region of the Japanese city of Yokohama. It’s speculated that Chinese immigrants living there began to serve a noodle soup made from a broth of pork bones reminiscent of a dish from the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Ramen would start to grow in popularity over the next several decades in Japan but would skyrocket in the late 1940s following World War II. A historically bad rice harvest coupled with the importation of large amounts of flour by the occupying Americans led to the soup, made with wheat noodles, becoming a mainstay in Japanese culture.
Today, ramen is enjoyed all throughout the country with over 24,000 ramen shops feeding hungry patrons. The invention of instant ramen noodles by Nissin Foods in 1958 made it easy to enjoy ramen at any time, day or night.
There are several varieties of the soup (affiliate link) that are popular today. Tonkotsu ramen is made with a pork broth that is known for its creamy texture and rich well-developed flavors. Miso ramen (affiliate link) is famous in the northern Hokkaido prefecture and is made using miso, a fermented soybean paste, that is combined with chicken or fish broth.
The toppings used in the preparation of ramen can vary greatly from region to region. Some of the more popular include chashu pork, green onion, bean sprouts, boiled eggs, and bamboo shoots.
Wagyu Beef
Synonymous with high quality, the term wagyu refers to beef that comes from one of four specific breeds of Japanese cattle. The four qualifying breeds are the Japanese Black, the Japanese Brown, the Japanese Polled, and the Japanese Shorthorn. The Black variety comprises around 90% of Japanese beef cattle.
Wagyu beef is famous for its rich marbling, delicious flavor, and tenderness. It’s enjoyed in a variety of ways including being grilled as a steak, thinly sliced in a hot pot, and even in sushi.
Strict regulations are upheld in the certification of wagyu beef with some breeders even attaching an ID to each cow that can be used to look up the date of birth, location of birth, and slaughter, along with the bloodline of each individual animal.
Gyoza
Another dish with Chinese origins, gyoza is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese name for these wheat dumplings, jiaozi. These delicious treats are made by wrapping meat or vegetables in a wheat dough that is then pan-fried, steamed, boiled, or grilled. There are subtle differences between these Chinese and Japanese dumplings, as well as few different types.
The dumplings became popular following World War II when Japanese soldiers who had been assigned to the Chinese mainland returned home and had a craving for jiaozi. The food became a hit throughout the country with every region specializing in its own version of gyoza today.
Okonomiyaki
Sometimes referred to as Japanese pizza, okonomiyaki is a savory pancake-like dish made with a wheat flour batter that is grilled on a teppan, or flat griddle. Originating in Osaka, today the dish is enjoyed all throughout the country.
Especially popular in the Hiroshima and Osaka prefectures, the dish can be prepared with a number of ingredients including cabbage, pork, or seafood. It’s often topped with bonito flakes, seaweed flakes, a Worcestershire-based sauce, and mayonnaise.
Tonkatsu
A food with origins in Western cuisine, tonkatsu is a pork cutlet that is breaded with panko and deep-fried. Coming from the Japanese word for “pig”, ton, and a shortened transliteration of the English word cutlet, katsuretsu, this fried food has become a hit in Japan.
First offered in a European-style Tokyo restaurant called Rengatei in 1899, the cutlet has become a featured ingredient in many popular dishes such as sandwiches and as an accompaniment to curry. It’s often served with tonkatsu sauce, a brown Worcestershire-like sauce made of a variety of ingredients such as fish sauce, various fruits, carrots, onion, and celery.
Tempura
Introduced to Japan by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century, tempura is a food made of seafood or vegetables that are battered in flour and eggs and then deep-fried. The name comes from the Latin tempora, referring to the meatless fasts traditionally observed by Catholics.
Tempura batter is made with a mixture of ice water, eggs, wheat flour, and sometimes baking soda. The batter is mixed very lightly with chopsticks so as to avoid activating the gluten in the wheat which would cause the mixture to become more dough-like and heavy when fried.
This light mixing along with ensuring that the dough stays at a low temperature is what allows tempura to maintain a light, crispy, and fluffy texture. The food started to become popular in the 17th century in Tokyo and has remained a mainstay in Japanese cuisine.
Yakitori
Literally translating to “grilled bird”, yakitori is a popular skewered chicken dish that can be found at yatai, or food carts, around Japan. A much-loved street food, the skewers are made by taking a cut of chicken, such as thigh, breast, or gizzard, and skewering it with a bamboo or metal skewer called a kushi.
Often grilled over charcoal, yakitori is usually seasoned with salt or a sweet and salty sauce called tare. Made of a base of soy sauce and sake, tare is sweetened with sugar and honey. Citizens often enjoy celebrating festivals or winding down from a long day at work with yakitori, beer, and sake.
Curry
In the late 19th century, officers of the British Royal navy brought curry powder from India to the shores of Japan. Originally adopted by the Japanese Navy to avoid beriberi disease, caused by thiamine deficiency, the dish became a hit with citizens and has become a huge part of Japanese cuisine.
Over the last hundred-plus years, Japanese curry has become its own unique dish. Curry powder is combined with flour and oil to make a roux that is then simmered with broth and added to meat and vegetables. The most popular ingredients include carrots, potatoes, onions, and protein such as chicken, pork, or beef.
Curry in Japan is most often served with a side of rice, over udon noodles, or with tonkatsu. Curry bread is also popular featuring curry that is wrapped in dough, breaded, and deep fried.
Onigiri
One of the oldest foods in Japanese cuisine, onigiri are triangular-shaped rice balls that are often filled with pickled vegetables or seafood and wrapped in seaweed. It has been recorded that in the 11th century, rice balls called tonjiki were regularly eaten as a quick lunchtime meal.
After the introduction of nori, or seaweed, as a common ingredient in Japanese food in the late 17th century, onigiri would become a mainstay in the Japanese diet. Sold today as a quick, portable meal, onigiri can be found in convenience stores and specialized shops that cater to take-out customers only.
Sake
Japan’s national beverage, sake is a rice wine that is made by fermenting polished rice that has been grown specifically for the production of alcohol. The starch of the rice is converted to sugar, which then ferments into alcohol after around 2 weeks.
Sake can vary in taste, color, and clarity. These differences can be attributed to the particular sake rice grain used, the amount of the rice grain that is polished before production, and the amount of time the alcohol is fermented.
With a history in the country dating back to 500 BCE, sake is a huge part of Japanese culture and is often used in religious rituals and celebrations. October 1 is officially recognized as “Sake Day” in Japan.
Sake can be served chilled, at room temperature, or hot. Hot sake will often be of a lower grade and is enjoyed during the cold Japanese winter.
Whisky
In 1923, Torii Shinjiro opened the first commercial whisky distillery in the southern prefecture of Osaka. He promptly hired Taketsuru Masataka to take charge of the operation after Masataka spent several years living in Scotland learning how to make Scotch whisky.
In 1929 their efforts paid off and the first commercially produced bottle of whisky made entirely in Japan was sold. Masataka used his expertise in Scotch whiskey to produce a similar style that has proved to be the template for most Japanese versions of the alcohol made today.
Many of the whiskies currently produced in Japan are of extremely high quality and several have even been honored with prestigious international awards by respected members of the whisky community. The two most well-known producers of this liquor today are the Nikka and Suntory distilleries.
Today, higher quality Japanese whiskies are enjoyed neat or on the rocks. Lower-quality versions of the alcohol, usually blends, are often mixed into cocktails with the highball being among the more popular drinks.
Mochi
A popular Japanese snack, mochi are rice cakes made from glutinous short-grain rice that can be filled with various sweet ingredients or eaten plain. The cakes are prepared by soaking and steaming polished rice overnight and then pounding the mixture with a wooden mallet.
Mochi on its own features a mostly plain flavor, but it can be prepared as a dessert with a sweet filling of sweetened red bean paste. It can also be used as an addition to savory soups or even grilled on its own.
Yes, your next visit to the “Land of the Rising Sun” is sure to be a memorable one with each region of the country offering its own unique take on Japanese cuisine. While ramen and sushi are well-loved by many, the rich diversity in Japanese food leaves room for many new favorites to be discovered.
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