Japanese Cuisine

While almost everyone knows about Japanese Sushi and or Sashimi - which of course is raw fish of all types served with rice, wasabi, and seaweed in the Nigiri style or in rolls, which wrap fish and vegetables inside the seaweed.

Sushi is now so popular that some countries have created there own versions - a roll featuring avocado and imitation crab instead of raw fish. While its most eager fans would have no problem eating it every day, in Japan sushi is hardly an everyday affair. In fact, Japanese cuisine offers so much more than just the raw fish, teriyaki and tempura too.

Besides sushi the Japanese cuisine offers a great variety of dishes and regional specialties. Some of the most popular Japanese dishes we recommend you should try at least once while in Japan are listed below.

Teppanyaki - "Teppanyaki" is a style of cooking in which the chef prepares various seafoods, cuts of beef, chicken and fresh vegetables in front of the customer and cooks by grilling on a large steel hot plate called a "Teppan".

Okonomiyaki - The word comes from two Japanese words meaning, "What you like" and "cooked." This is Japan's take on the pancake - a savory dish of seafood, meat, and vegetables in a thick dough.

Yakitori - It is made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, or chicken skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbecued, usually over charcoal.

Yakiniku – refers to a Japanese style of cooking bit-size meat and vegetables, on a grill over flame of wood charcoals.

Shabu-Shabu - a Japanese variation of hot pot. The dish is related to sukiyaki in style, where both use thinly sliced meat and vegetables, and usually served with dipping sauces.

Chanko-Nabe - is a Japanese stew commonly eaten in vast quantity by sumo wrestlers as part of a weight gain diet. It contains a dashi or chicken broth soup base with sake to add flavor.

Of course there are many Japanese chain and local restaurants throughout Japan where you can sample these unique Japanese cuisine. On the other hand there are also exclusive Japanese restaurants that most only hear about. These unique restaurants offer the very best in Japanese cuisine; service and location and are only available by reservation.