10 Cool Japanese Foods
Japanese foods to eat and experience when travelling in Japan
A list of ten tasty traditional-style Japanese cuisine that are a must try when travelling in Japan.
1. Yakitori 「焼き鳥」
Skewered chicken pieces that are grilled over hot charcoals.
2. Sukiyaki 「すき焼き」
Thinly sliced beef and vegetables simmered in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin.
3. Ramen 「ラーメン」
Noodles in broth garnished with small pieces of meat and vegetables. Check out two of my favourite ramen shops Ippudo Ramen and Kyūshū Jangara.
4. Okonomiyaki 「お好み焼き」
A savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. Okonomi, meaning “what you like”, and yaki meaning “grilled”. My favourite okonomiyaki was at Kiji (in the basement of the Umeda Sky Building) in Osaka.
5. Sushi 「寿司」
Cooked vinegar rice commonly topped with raw fish, or put into rolls.
6. Kushikatsu 「串カツ」
A deep-fried cutlet of meat or vegetable skewered on bamboo skewers and eaten with a tonkatsu dipping sauce. I had some good kushikatsu at a store called Daruma located at the base of Tsūtenkaku in Osaka.
7. Yakiniku 「焼肉」
Thinly sliced beef and vegetables grilled over a charcoal or gas burner and eaten with a tare (sweetened, thickened soy sauce) dipping sauce.
8. Yakisoba 「焼きそば」
Ramen-style noodles stir-fried with pieces of pork and vegetables and flavoured with yakisoba sauce.
9. Tempura 「天ぷら」
Thin strips of vegetables and seafood lightly dipped in batter then briefly deep-fried in hot oil and eaten with a tentsuyu dipping sauce or sprinkled with sea salt.
10. Nikuman 「肉まん」
A steamed pork bun.
If you enjoyed this article then check out the next edition which brings to you yet another 10 tasty morsels of Japanese culinary goodness such as edamame, shabu-shabu, soba, tonkatsu, karaage and more. You won’t be disappointed. If you are still hungry and are feeling adventurous then take a peek at 10 Weird Japanese Foods for some Japanese culinary weirdness such as fugu, raw horse meat, aquatic insects, grasshoppers and more.
10 Weird Japanese Foods
Ippudo Ramen Ebisu
Kushikatsu
FuguTrackbacks & Pingbacks
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- Shirako - A Tasty Sack of Fish Sperm - Japanese Delicacy
I don’t care for okonomiyaki but I’ve eaten and loved everything else on this list. In fact, we’re going to eat at a restaurant serving Hokkaido style ramen tomorrow night. ^_^
Enjoy! Although I love all types my favourite regional variation is Hakata ramen. In saying that, when I was in Japan last year I ate “Tantanmen” practically 3 days a week for a year.
It must be good! Unfortunately we never made it to ramen last night, so we’re going tonight instead. Looking forward to it since I’m hungry now.
nice list! now I’m hungry though….
i should have put up a NSFH (Not Safe For Hungrypeople) warning.
NSFHP’d me too, Lee. Dang. Great photography on this one.
Yakisoba looks delicious
I agree, but then again, they all look mouth-watering.
That picture of yakitori has helped me decide what I’m having for dinner. Washed down with a couple of ice-cold beers, of course!
Thanks for dropping by Wil. Ice cold beer is certainly a must have accoutrement.
right, i’m off to ippudo tomorrow!
lol @ jonathan. and you are to be credited for the images in this ippudo ramen post.
some Japan enthusiast I am, never had anything on this list
(gobsmacked)!
Are these foods not too common in Jamaica?
Kushikatsu is awesome.
If you’re in Yokohama area, try a HUGE Nikuman in Chinatown.
For a “challenger” type, I’d recommend ‘Horumon’(BBQ cow organs), too, which is my favorite.
Great post!
Thanks for dropping by Aki. Now that you have laid down the challenge for “Horumon” I am going to have to give it a try. Not a big fan of internal organs though so plenty of beer and/or sake will need to be on hand.
Great stuff.. Keep bringing it.
yakiniku is koran food
and nikuman is chinese food
wow,
I just feel so hungry just by looking at those oh so delicious foods.
I hope I can also cook those foods myself..
I’m in pain just looking at your post. Ahhh… need some Japanese food now!…
I’m a bit surprised by this list.
I was expecting some unusual things, but… Is it possible to not eat those when one is in Japan?
What are the other options? Starving and McDonald’s?
Also, as Sac pointed out, Yakiniku and Nikuman are not traditionally Japanese, they’re imports. Some people will even say that Ramen is not technically Japanese either (although, it’s a bit like pizzas in the US).
Finally, Udon, Soba and Oden are missing.
Hi David, thanks for dropping by.
I guess it would be more apt if I described the post as ten cool foods that are unavoidable when travelling in Japan.
Btw, a list of unusual Japanese foods can be found at 10 Weird Japanese Foods.
Udon, soba and oden are in Another 10 Cool Japanese Foods.
Great list, although I don’t really like okinomiyaki. And where’s shabushabu??
Thanks for dropping by Dom. Shabu-shabu is in the next list Another 10 Cool Japanese Foods.
put more food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@peakzoom, here is a list of another 10 cool Japanese foods.
Yakitori and yakisoba were amazing. The okinamiyaki was also pretty good (I got it without egg) but most of our group didn’t like it.
Good list.
Thanks for dropping by vickayyyy! I can’t imagine okonomiyaki without egg. Is that a vegan okonomoyaki? What do you substitute the egg with?
I personally don’t like egg, so I got it without, no substitutions. I still found it delicious.
Great list!! Most of my favourites are there. The only things I would add would be Gyudon and Tonkatsu.
Japan Australia
Thanks for dropping by Japan Australia. “Gyudon” and “Tonkatsu” are on the subsequent post Another 10 Cool Japanese Foods. There are too many good foods to fit onto one top 10 list I needed two top 10 lists.
That makes perfect sense!! There are so many great Japanese food it is almost impossible to fit them all into a top 10 list. It is one of the great reasons for visiting Japan.
Japan Australia
Personally, I’m looking forward to having お好み焼き and 肉まん when I finally visit Japan. Those little “empanadas de carne japonesas” look oh sooo delicious!! *¬*
But there’s something I don’t understand… how come “sushi” is most commonly written as 寿司, when there’s an already perfect kanji for it: 鮨 ?? Damn it Japan, Y U NO use the perfect kanji for すし?!
Ok, on to the top ten weird foods now. Thanks for sharing!
- Neoglitch
Thank you so much for this website! Currently, my Japanese class and I are doing a project on the traditional aspects of Japanese culture. I found this page to be very helpful.