I love Japanese food. Eating out in Tokyo can be cheap, reasonable or expensive. Here are some tips from me for you to enjoy the city more without being able to speak or read Japanese. Japan is well known as “non English speaking society”, even in the big international city Tokyo. On your arrival you will realise that not everything is sign-posted in English but probably very basic information for transports and tourist spots. As transports in Japan is very reliable and fairly simple to get on, your guidebook or sign language will be sufficient for you.
So what kind of information can I give you? Well, eating out in Tokyo could be one of the most interesting ways to experience Japanese culture. Here I am not going to name any restaurant for your recommendation but can give you general information on how to approach reachrestaurants which I divided into three main categories.
Before I start with restaurants, generally, shops and restaurants including cafes are opened till very late. You could visit tourist spots during day and do shopping afterwards to maximize your stay. Many department stores and most individual shops on the street open as late as 8pm to 10pm.
How to try; As you walk along the streets in the city will see vast range of places you could try. (There are also more on top floors and basement of office buildings and you should see lit-signed for those places but unfortunately details are often in Japanese again.) Once you found a place it might offer what you might fancy,
1) look into the windows and see their type of food, 2) if the place is not what you are looking for, just carry on walking along the same street and you will eventually find something. If it interests you go inside and ask for the menu with some pictures, – many restaurants put pictures of the main or popular dishes on their menu. This really helps a lot. 3) Having decided to stay at the place, remember to speak slowly. Although Japanese are great at speaking English, they receive at least 6 years of reading and writing education on English. They do understand if you speak slowly using simple verbs (like talking to very young children). 4) words like beef, chicken, egg, salad, juice, beer and wine are already adopted in Japanese. In fact they use many English words (as seen above) as Japanese-English and just pronounce in their own unique sounds. They often appear in food, drink and electronic devices. This is why if you speak slowly the chances they would understand you are high. For instance, “Spaghetti with meat sauce” would be pronounced as “Spaghetti meat sauce”, easy isn’t it?
Izakaya is very good place to try variety of Japanese food at reasonable price. Izakara is where you can eat and drink at very relaxed style and are very popular among Japanese after their work to have a few pints of beer and good snacks to socialise with colleagues. Here you can be as friendly as you could be to obtain waiting staff’s attention and assistance as they like offering “more-than-enough” service.
Trying a little bit posh restaurant? You are likely to be able to have English or French written menus and may be English-speaking staff as well. Don’t worry even they do not have menus you can read because dishes at such restaurants are often named in or with English or French words. For instance, “Gyuuniku(beef) no Grill(as in English) with kisetsu(seasonal) no Salada”. So just give it a go. Another language tip is that Star is pronounced as “starter”, Main course is as “main” and desert as “desert”! All you have to do is speak slowly and clearly.
Brave enough to go traditional? I personally recommend you going with someone speak Japanese or who already has been there. As it could be very expensive and waist of money when you do not know what you are ordering and ended up leaving lot of food on your plates. Traditional Japanese called “kaiseki” comes as a course meal (this could be as many as 5 or more depending on how much you are spending). If you are first time challenger in this area and do not speak the language or not going with someone who can give you advice on the food, try first with a less formal place that you can find in good rated hotels or one at department stores.
I love Japanese food and this is what I miss so much when I am back in the UK. I am a fish person, and freshness and variety of fish you can eat in Japan is better by far than where you can imagine. Don’t worry if you are not fond of fish, there are lot of steak restaurants both in western and Japanese (teppanyaki) styles.
If you are visiting the city please do not go just fast food or western restaurants!! Japan is not as expensive as you have heard from someone who do not know very much about it!!
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Advantages: Exotic for people from the west, it is a very safe place, toilets :-) Disadvantages: Expensive accommodation, language barrier can cause problems, a bit crowded
gard 27.07.2005 (27.07.2005)
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Review of Tokyo (Japan)
Oct 26th, 2002
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