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@Jun-Dai
Last active October 13, 2019 11:00
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Things to do in Japan

Tokyo

Types of food to eat in Tokyo

  • ramen
    • This should not be super fancy. There are lots of places. My favourite is Basanova in Setagaya
  • yakitori
    • Lots of good places abound. Fancy ones in Ginza, cheap ones all over. One I really liked was this place
  • tonkatsu
    • This is one that's good to have at a fancy place. This place is pretty good, but any fancy place in a mall is generally good
  • Western food
    • especially pizza and pasta (mentaiko-spaghetti in particular)
    • no particular recommendations, but I do recommend finding mentaiko spaghetti somewhere.
  • Japanese curry
    • No specific recommendations, but the experience is good. I love Japanese curry, even the fast food places like CC Curry.
  • yakiniku (Japanese style Korean BBQ)
    • I'm sure there are better places, but Gyukaku is a pretty reliable chain.
  • izayaka
    • See if you can wander around Golden Gai at some point in the evening and get into an izakaya there. There is usually a cover charge, and they usually only seat 4—8 people in each bar.
  • sushi
    • I don't really have any recommendations :-(, but this would be a good thing to have in Tokyo.
  • depatchika
    • If you go to any fancy department stores in Ginza, be sure to check out the food basement and try all the free samples. Take a look at the crazy expensive fruit (e.g., £30 for a single mango or £50 for a melon).

Specific mentions

Kyoto

Specific places

Osaka

Osaka special foods:

  • Kushikatsu - We liked this place
  • Okonomiyaki - Osaka and Hiroshima are the most famous places for it. Yamamoto had the best Osaka-style Okonomiyaki that we tried.
  • Takoyaki - We didn't have any amazing takoyaki, but we only went to two places and didn't try hard enough. Osaka is the place to get takoyaki anyways.

Specific mentions

Tokyo

Neighbourhoods

  • Shimokitazawa
    • Hipster neighbourhood, off the beaten tracks. Really nice, a bit like a really laid back Shoreditch.
  • Shibuya
    • Full of contradictions. This neighbourhood has a lot of the Japan weirdness that Westerners see.

Activities

  • Tsukiji
    • This is an early morning activity. You can try to see the tuna auction (around 4 am, I think), but I've never made it. Even if you miss that, it's fun to wander around the highly-specialised sellers, and then eat morning sushi at one of the many stands nearby or sushi bars in the neighbourhood around.
  • Parks:
    • If you like parks, Ueno is really nice, and Yoyogi is not bad either. Ueno park has a really nice small inari shrine, if you can find it.

Kyoto

Lists better than mine abound, but I loved:

  • Fushimi Inari - the largest Inari shrine in Japan. If you're going to go, it's worth the hike up, but you have to spend a few hours there.
  • Kiyomizu-dera - this is a fairly awe-inspiring temple, made from the largest tree trunks I've seen
  • Arashiyama - there is something great about this place
  • Kinkaku-ji - too crowded, but still worth seeing. I feel bad that I never read the Mishima novel
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