BON

Good topic! In my childhood, there were only 2 kinds of spagetthi in Japan, which were "Napolitan" and "meat sauce". There is a unique restaurant in front of Yurakucho station, which serves intentionally Japanised spagetthi like below. The diameter of this pasta is 2.1mm.

Kristin: Are you sure? Tobiko should be easily found at sushi restaurants in/around Tokyo?

Kristin Experienced over a thousand different ramen shops, I have recently concluded Tonkotsu is not my favorite. It is quite difficult to find good Tonkotsu ramen shop! Altough many (even Japanese) have mistakenly included Tantanmen in ramen category, it is NOT. Here is the link to the pages of other noodles often considered mistakenly as ramen. Noodles found at chinese restaurant in Japan (and mistakenly considered as type of ramen)

I think Rakkyo and shallots (eschalot) are exactly the same stuff. I have never seen shiozuke Rakkyo. Kristin will answer your qustion. More about info. on Rakkyo, Rakkyo comes along with curry and rice in Japan. I am serious!

Seems hanpen is not popular... I am wondering why? It does not have strong character in taste. Texture?

Akiko Your guess is right. It IS Hoshi Imo. It is rarely seen recently. I remember eating it in my childhood as it was. But never tried it dipping in soysauce.

Hi Jason, I think you need to identify small brewers' name like "Kadocho" or "Mitsuboshi". They are located in Wakayama prefecture, famous for Shoyu production.

Major soysauce makers (Kikkoman, Yamasa, etc.) in Japan used defatted soybeans rather than whole beans till early 90's when they introduced whole-bean soysauce. It was their marketing effort to differentiate their newly introduced saysauce which was premier from their onventional ones to label them "Marudaizu" explicitly. Jason: The simpler the cooking, the better you can enjoy material itself, I think you can use your fancy soysauce for sashimi or sushi if you eat them at home.

What do you put for DASHI when you cook oden yourself? I like oxtail in addition to dried bonito and kombu, though it is not at all usual.

Hi torakris, Thank you for the funny episode! The writer must be a big fan of the movie, "Tampopo."

Out of curiosity, I bought "Frommer's Tokyo 6th editon" a few years ago and got dissappointed to see its poor description of my dearest ramen. Click to see what made me dissappooited, if you're interested! Since then, I have been wondering which guide book travelers to Japan would bring with them. Which one did you get and found how it was?

mamster Let me give you a hand. "Eat in season!" This is my belief. So... Don't miss Sanma or Pacific saury, the most popular fish in autumn. Broiling with salt is recommended. Oyster Raw, deep-fried in bread crumbs coating Fugu, bit expensive but will be good experience Sashimi (paper-thinly sliced. you'll get amazed.) Nabe(big pan) called Fugu-chiri Buri or adult yellowtail Teriyaki, Sashimi Besides, seafood Nabe in general is what you should try here. I would recommend chanko nabe, sumo wrestles' cuisine, and Udonsuki. You can enjoy both meat and seafood. As torakris also recommended, Yakiniku should be in your list. It originated from Korea, but completely Japanised. I tried Yakiniku in Korea, NY, Chicago, Europe and south-east Asia and never found anything equivalent. I suppose basic preference toward beef is causing the differnce. Internal organs are tasty, too. I'll list when I recall more.

To tell you the truth, I was surprised to see so many of you listed Uni as your favorite, since I remember I surprised my classmates by telling them sea urchin was edible. It was almost ten years ago, though. FYI There was no battleship nigiri before Kyuubei, one of the best reputed sushi shop in Tokyo, invented it to make Uni as sushi topping.

Cire Welcome to eGullet.com and Japan Forum! There are so many Sushi restaurants in & around Tsukiji fish market that no one tells how many actually. But Daiwazushi is definitely ranked one of the top 3 at worst. Runnner-ups are Sushi Dai and Ryuzushi, also inside the market! Have you tried other sushi restaurants in Tsukiji or somewhere in Tokyo?

Speaking of Yakitori, may I ask whether you eat internal organs of chicken or pork? Liver, heart, and intestines are very popular at Yakitori-ya and Motsuyaki-ya (Literally translating "Internal organs BBQ shop" ).

mamster This is the steak restaurant that I have been dreaming of visiting! But please be noticed that it will cost $500 per person AT LEAST!

Wimpy You're quite experienced! Among the shops lined along this alley, I would suggest to pick up GYUDON, a beef bowl. Soba is quite good. Ramen... I think I can take him to better shops.

mamster I am quite surprised to see useful infomation has been collected this much! Typical Japanese breakfast consists of a bowl of steamed rice, miso-soup, broiled fish, some pickles (daikon raddish, cucumber, etc), seasoned seaweed (Nori), and raw egg. This combo is usually served at Kyokans, but it is difficult to find eaterie serving this type of breakfast outside. Please be noted that most of restaurants except first food and noodle stand open at 11:00 am at the earliest. If you would like to try to various different type of breakfast, my recommendation is to eat in Tsukiji again. Actually, Tsukiji market has about 100 small restaurant in and around. Sushi is not the food served there! And they are open from 4:00am to 13:00pm, so are ideal to eat breakfast. (Though you cannot expect fancy decor there!) The best hotel to commute to Tsukiji market is GINZA TOBU hotel, within 10minutes walk. I think their room is reasonable, though it is located in Ginza. This hotel is well reputed among my colleagues visiting from overseas. Why not take it consideration!

khao: It's almost time for you to catch the plane. Here are the recommendable ramen shop in KYOTO. (Sorry, I could not find info of ramen shops in Nara.) Shimpukusaikan Address:Mukaihata-machi 569, Higashi Shiokouji, Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto (Close to JR Kyoto station) TEL:075-371-7648 Open:7:30-23:00 @ Closed:Wednesday Yonakiya Address:Nanko-cho 35, Ootsuka, Yamashina-ku, KYOTO TEL:075-581-7083 Open:11:00-18:00 @ Closed:Monday, 1st&3rd Sunday Have a good time!

mamster, Ninikuya is actually misspelled. Correctly it is spelled "Ninnikuya." "Ninniku" means garlic in Japanese. So every dish served at Ninnikuya has garlic as one of ingredients. I'll look for more info. but unfortunately that shop has changed its chef and lowered reputation. If you are still interested, I'll look for photos for your refference.

khao, Welcome to Japan! I've been waiting for ramen lovers like you! As for ramens in Tokyo, please visit my site.World Ramen.net In it you will find detailed articles of recommended ramen shop (labeled as "legendary" & "Spotlighted" ramen shops) in the pages of "Ramen in Tokyo". Among the listed, I would strongly recommend that you should try "Taishoke@Higashiikebukuro", "Jiro" and "Aoba". Coincidentally, I visited Oosaka just 2weeks ago. I have tried 7 bowls there and found "Kamukura" is most tasty. The shop data is as follows; Kamukura Address: 1-6-32 Doutonbori, Chuo-ku, Oosaka Tel: 06-6213-1238 Bus. Hours: 10:00-7:00 Closed: NA I'll check and post again for ramens in Kyoto and Nara. Rgds

mamster: Welcome to Japan! From 28th of November to 2nd of December... sounds good because the World Series should have been over at that timing even if Mariners could successfully climb up the ladder. Anyway, you can enjoy most of delicious seasonal specilality food like Matsutake mushroom, oysters, Fugu, sanma (saury), etc. Sushi at Tsukiji... No problem. My office is just around the courner from the market. Actually I am eating lunch almost every weekdays! No uni!? OK, I'll take yours. Ramen...no need to comment, shall I? Unagi. Mmm...if you like full-course, it may cost around $100. You can afford a bowl at around $25 even at the best unagi restaurant. They serve natural one, though most of cheap shops are using cultured ones! What else? How about NABE, hot pot stuff. There are several varietions to be considered. Also, although you would like to focus on Japanese food, but pls be noticed that we do eat foreign oriented food as frequently as Japanese. And some of them have been refined to meet local taste here and worth being tried. Among them I would recommend you Japanised Korean BBQ (Yakiniku) and Japanised curru & rice. I'm interested in what kind of cuisine you'll choose from your information source, so let me hear. We have plenty of time! Also I would like to welcome opinions from other eGullet readers. Some members seem quite knowledgefull about Japanese food. BON

jhlurie, As far as I know, there is not a specific word covering pocky and similar products in appearance. I don't mind if you call them all "pocky", since it's not Ramen. I cannot stand to see people take instant beef noodle or chow-mien as Ramen mistakenly, though!

This is partially wrong. Yes, there are uncountable numbers of vending machines in Japan, but most of them for cigarettes or canned soft drinks. I've never seen Pocky Vending Machine. I suppose it's easier in US (like in University dorm) to find vending machines for sweets. Pocky is usually bought at so-called convenient stores like Seven-eleven, which you can find every corner in Tokyo. or at kiosk of railway stations.

This Pocky Drill Team is a song & dance unit named " Morning MUSUME (meanign "Daugher")". They are the most popular group in Japan right now. Of course, the main target is teenaged girls as well as of the other sweet procucts. But the group is supprted by both boys and girls. FYI, Pocky is the registered trade mark of GLICO. So FRAN, a product of Meiji, is not Pocky. FRAN is FRAN. Nobody in Japan call it Pocky!