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For my honeymoon (yay), my new bride and I will be spending 7 days in Tokyo then 7 days in Osaka (with train trips into Kyoto).

I read the previously thread about visiting Japan (circa 2010) but am hoping that the lth world can offer me even greater guidance.

In Tokyo we'll be staying at a hotel atop Shinjuku Station (and yes, we know it's the busiest train station in the world) BUT that means that we have access to the entire city at our fingertips.

In Osaka we'll be staying in the Nanba area.

We eat almost everything. I don't like mayo and she doesn't like things that are too spicy but that's about it. Fish, noodles, beef, chicken, pork, veggies, raw, cooked, boiled, grilled, on the street, at a table, I will eat green eggs and ham oh, I will eat them, Sam I am.

PLEASE HELP!

I recently spent some time in Tokyo and Kyoto. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you the names of any places. We relied primarily on the concierge to direct us to local hangouts. We never had a bad meal there. Though we never had a cheap meal either. Count on $150-$200 for two at a mid-priced reasonably nice place. We ate breakfast in our hotel rooms of things we got at 7-11 or one of the department stores. All the department stores have huge food courts and groceries in them (there are three major dept stores near Shinjuku). Not cheap, but cheaper than restaurants for sure. I recall paying $8 for an Asian pear. My son wanted some cherries, but those were about $20/lb so I said "no dice."

Sushi is actually reasonably priced there relative to other things. Yakatori bars would be good, but not with our kids. Tonkatsu is reasonably priced. We had a great meal at an eel place south of Tokyo station along the tracks somewhere.

We had a nice meal near Nanzenji Temple in Kyoto (restaurant name was Nanzenji Junsei). All tofu.

Get sushi at one of the places in the big fish market in Tokyo. There's an upscale pizza place on one of the top floors of Kyoto Station if you are sick of Japanese food.

Sorry this isn't more helpful, but really, you can't go wrong if you go where the locals go.

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i used to milk cows

Thanks for the suggestions teatty. I'm definitely down to follow the locals but not speaking Japanese I worry that an off the beaten path restaurant will lead to me pointing and smiling like an imbecile.

I was hoping someone would know some local spots where I could be reasonably ensured that they spoke a level of English that didn't leave me acting like a jerk off tourist.

But since you just went let me ask you, how easily or not can a person who doesn't speak or read Japanese navigate and eat?

We went to Tokyo and Kyoto in May! I especially liked the food area at Tokyo Station (if you are taking the shinkansen to Kyoto) called GrandSta. The pork tonkatsu and egg sandwich was so good I ate it 3 days in a row!

In Tokyo, we went to Sushi Dai (at 6am there was an hour's wait). But we went back to the fried seafood place next door twice for very reasonably priced, fresh and large portions of fried fish/giant prawn/scallops and rice.

Also in Kyoto we stayed across the street from Kyoto Station and the department store there has a supermarket and food stands. Try going around 7-7:30 and you will find that the fruit, sushi, sashimi will be discounted. We got some cut fruits and a very good sashimi platter for a very reasonable (for Japan) price!

I'm SO stealing this

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The cake is a lie

In all of my travels to Japan, my wife and I have never had a problem finding a spot to eat. Unless we were meeting someone, we've never planned to scout out a particular restaurant. Just wander around and look where the locals are eating. Many restaurants have menus with photographs. Also check out the food halls (usually in the basement) of major department stores.

A good dining site for Japan - http://bento.com/tokyofood.html

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"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."
-- P. J. O’Rourke"

OK. ALL of the menus are written in traditional Japanese characters. SOME of the menus have pictures that you can point to. Maybe 5% of the restaurants will have someone that can speak some level of English. The only thing you can possibly do is point like an imbecile. It is not like Europe at all. Thankfully you have two things going for you:
1) the Japanese are incredibly polite and will attempt to assist you the best they can
2) like I mentioned before, there are no bad restaurants in Japan, at least none we ate ate. The culture is very different: mediocrity is not accepted at any level, anywhere.

Don't worry, you'll be fine.

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i used to milk cows

Depending on your hotel, you could ask the concierge to translate a copy of the menu for you before you head to the restaurant. When I was there two years ago, we stayed at the Shangri-La. I'd asked the concierge to make reservations for us. Not only did they give us reservations, but for each reservation they gave us:
1. The name, address, phone number and directions to the restaurant in both English & Japanese. (By car & by subway)
2. A street map showing the restaurant's location.
3. A photograph of the front door so we'd recognize it.
4. A copy of the menu with English translations for each item for restaurants where there might not be English-speaking staff.

Glad you liked it.

Thanks to all thus far. I'm just anxious, nervous, excited, other words that means those things, etc. I want the best possible food experience and don't want to insult someone else's culture. And we can't all have fixers like Tony Bourdain.

chgoeditor and I both wrote lengthy summaries here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28349&hilit=tokyo. Mine's from, you know, April of this year...

We ate very well from all ends: high, middle, and low; it is entirely possible to eat amazingly here without spending much. Frankly, I'd focus on the very top--Ryugin, a three-star sushi temple--and then do ramen and other homey simple things for lunch, thereby enabling you to get a full range of the Tokyo experience. The train station food courts are worth visiting for the spectacle, but the food is nothing special; there is always a worthier ramen spot within walking distance of the station, you know.

My secret weapon was an iPad: load up the restaurant's location before you go and use the tracker to navigate your way there. Save for Birdland Ginza, it got us everywhere we needed to be.

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yes yes yes

BTW something that might be useful... We rented a mobile wi-fi device for our trip. Around $100 for the week, and it allowed us to use our smartphones for Google Maps, surfing and whatnot. We could not find free public wifi easily and did not want to risk paying too much for roaming charges...

Yes. We did that also. Highly recommended.

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i used to milk cows

From what companies did you both rent your devices? Your regular wireless carrier? A Japanese company?

This is not an ad! We rented it from Global Advanced Communication

It was delivered to our hotel on the day we arrived and when we left, we dropped it off at the post office at Narita airport. Pretty convenient!

We used this company: http://www.jcrcorp.com/mobile/mobile_re ... router.htm

no problems. Similar deal as above.

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i used to milk cows

Also if you happen to have spend a night near Narita Airport, Edokko in Narita was really very good. When we ate there, we were the only non-Japanese people and managed to get by with a smattering of Japanese. They also have a picture book of their sets. We ended up chatting with our neighbors at the sushi bar who happened to be a truck driver in Japan, but had driven through the entire US, and his companion, a very VERY drunk man who kept telling Mike and me to get cracking on making babies...

All in all an excellent and entertaining night...

The Matsu set was 2,500 yen and but they did not charge us for the extra 2 akamutsu, 2 torigai, 1 uni and 1 toro pieces...


Edokko - Masu set by agashi, on Flickr


Edokko - Anago by agashi, on Flickr


Edokko - Raw Torigai by agashi, on Flickr


Edokko - Akamutsu by agashi, on Flickr

Thanks for the wifi recommendations. We wouldn't have made it through Japan without it! Photos to soon follow