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Japan holds distinct regions and numerous prefectures,
each home to a food specialty tied in with its traditions
and agriculture. Below we will talk about famous regional
cuisine found across Japan in the country’s most well-
known areas.
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Japan holds distinct regions and numerous prefectures,
each home to a food specialty tied in with its traditions
and agriculture. Below we will talk about famous regional
cuisine found across Japan in the country’s most well-
known areas.
Starting from the northernmost island of Hokkaido, its
capital Sapporo is famous for a soup noodle dish known
as ramen. Ramen restaurants are found in every part of
Japan, but it is a renowned specialty in Sapporo and all
over Hokkaido. Miso ramen, which consists of miso,
garlic, noodles, and slices of barbeque pork is a type of
ramen that originated in Sapporo. There is even a
dedicated “Ramen Alley” in Sapporo, a small street
saturated with traditional ramen restaurants.
Moving to the metropolis city of Tokyo, one of its local
specialties is a pan-fried batter dish known as monja-
yaki. Its ingredients include dried squid, sweet corn, and
cabbage, which was originally made as a children’s treat.
The ingredients are first cooked on a hot plate, creating a
circular wall before pouring batter into the hollow middle.
Using a small spatula, you scrape the dish around and
eat it off the spatula as it cooks. Restaurants that serve
monja-yaki are easily found in downtown Tokyo.
In the historic city of Kyoto, a traditional food called
yudofu is a warm hotpot dish that was often served
during the city’s cold winters. It is a kelp-based soup with
tofu that is softened before dipping it into a sauce. This
was a valuable source of protein for Buddhist priests who
could not eat meat or fish. Today, you can enjoy this long-
established dish in Kyoto’s yudofu restaurants.
One of Osaka’s delicious food specialties includes
takoyaki, which are octopus dumplings. These baked
batter balls combine chunks of octopus with chopped
onions, cabbage, pickled ginger and are cooked in a
special molded pan. Crispy with a hint of spicy, this
savory dish is topped with takoyaki sauce, green
seaweed, and dried bonito shavings. They are often
enjoyed at street vendor stalls and takoyaki-specialty
restaurants with many variations.
While visiting Hiroshima, be sure to try out a savory,
pancake-like dish called okonomiyaki. It is similar to the
monja-yaki dish in Tokyo, except the batter is thicker with
different ingredients and they are layered instead of
mixed. The name okonomi translates to “how you like”,
and yaki means “to grill”. An example of typical
ingredients includes batter, cabbage, pork, squid or
octopus, with toppings of noodles, a fried egg, and an
ample amount of okonomiyaki sauce. Although
okonomiyaki is usually associated with Hiroshima, it can
be enjoyed all over Japan.
A small prefecture on Shikoku Island, Kagawa, is home
to the famous sanuki-udon noodles. These thick, wheat-
flour noodles can be enjoyed in a variety of ways with
different toppings. In fact, sanuki-udon is the most
famous variety of udon in Japan and is a delicious, cheap
meal. Sanuki-udon can be enjoyed hot or cold, and are
normally dipped in a light sauce accompanied with an
egg, sesame seeds, leek, and tempura pieces.
One of the Kyushu region’s local specialties is mizutaki,
which is chicken boiled in a chicken stock soup before
dipped into a ponzu sauce and eaten. Its origination is in
the Fukuoka prefecture, inspired by Western soup dishes
and Chinese chicken dishes. After eating the chicken and
vegetables cooked in a hotpot style, the remaining soup
is usually enjoyed with rice as a porridge because of its
delicious flavor from the ingredients.
Finally reaching the southernmost part of Japan,
Okinawa specifically, be sure to try out the local
chanpurū. Chanpurū is distinctly Okinawan and is said to
the be the food representative of Okinawan cuisine. This
stir-fry dish translates to “mix”, which is true to its name
because of its various ingredients mixed together. The
most popular type of chanpurū is called goya chanpurū,
which is made with bittermelon, tofu, egg, and sliced pork
or spam.