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TAKE A BITE OUT OF JAPAN
BY ADAM H. GRAHAM
Japan is a universe of foods, flavours and customs strewn with Michelin stars—with more three-star restaurants than any other country, in fact. So it’s little surprise that most travellers arrive anticipating its seriously delicious sushi and sake. But few know about the diversity of Japan’s culinary scene, which encompasses not only the world’s most eateries per capita, but also 30 types of restaurants that stretch far beyond sushi and sake. These include smoky yakitori (grilled meat) joints, casual izakaya (pubs), showy teppanyaki steakhouses, elegant ryokan (historic inns) that serve multicourse kaiseki, and formal shojin-ryori (papered screens) halls that prepare a unique vegetarian Zen Buddhist form of edible art made from wheat gluten. This four-city guide will whet your appetite with a collection of tried and true favorites, local gems and a few surprises—plus cultural
sites to visit along the way.
Mt Fuji
Tokyo Tried-and-True:
One of Tokyo’s biggest tourist attractions has always been Tsukiji Fish Market (5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo; 1; check website for visitor days), the world’s largest wholesale fish market. At press time, the market was scheduled to relocate to the island of Toyosu, about two miles away. The new 100-acre space includes a public viewing section for otoro (tuna belly) auctions. But Tsukiji’s popular “outer market” remains in the original location, where visitors can shop for and
dine on fresh seafood. Visitors queue up for the sushi at Sushi Dai, but nearby Daiwa- Sushi (5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo) is just as good, offering some of the freshest tuna, salmon, shrimp and sea urchin you’ll ever taste.
Many claim the world’s greatest sushi is at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro (4-2-15 Ginza, Chuo), featured in the award-winning 2011 documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi and located in an unadorned Ginza-district
12 JANUARY 2018