Konbi Ni - Echo Park

Random Lawson photo from last week; this one is in Odaiba…

Random kissaten photos from last week, these are from my breakfast set in Asakusa…

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Ah, good for you! I also just got back from a trip to japan, and we’re already planning our next visit! My own breakfast photo would show rice, soup, grilled fish, pickles, and natto…

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Does anybody in this thread who has just been to Japan want to suggest some particularly notable meals. I’m in the early days of Japan trip planning :slight_smile:

Thanks!

what cities?

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gotta check out osaka for the street food

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would be remiss to not visit actual kombinis… a tour of egg salad sandwiches at lawsons, 711.

but seriously, if you happen to see it, this melon and almond daifuku from 711 is completely amazing (but i think it was a seasonal one-off item)…
image

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Osaka is insane. We were just in the Dotonbori neighborhood for a couple of nights, and it seemed like every other storefront was an atmospheric place to eat or drink.

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Plan is Niseko for skiing, then 8 days or so in Tokyo and (umm some still to be determined city.) Osaka is getting some early love though!

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i’m sure other people will have great and specific recommendations, but you can hardly go wrong with top 20 restaurants on tabelog (make sure to sort by overall ranking and weight by number of reviews)

for ramen, i found this website/person to be an immense resource https://ramenadventures.com/

the way i’ve used it has been to start with year-end best/summary lists
https://ramenadventures.com/2020/11/04/ramen-roundtable-the-百名店-100-best-shops-in-tokyo/
The Best Ramen in Japan - 2019 - Ramen Adventures and then narrow down by the ramen categories im interested in plus location, and then search for the specific place that’s best in a category and look around to see if there are any others in that category i should also consider, and then choose a place with mild weighting for location (some of them can be a good 30-40 minutes away in tokyo…)
last time i ended up going to muttepou (無鉄砲 (Muteppo in Nakano) - Ramen Adventures) which was indeed an intense tonkotsu
and menya shono (庄の (Menya Shono in Ichigaya) - Ramen Adventures) in part because of their SF location

two related noodle recommendations:
udon shin (udonshin - Shinjuku/Udon [Tabelog]), although i imagine there are other comparable udon places
tamawarai (Tamawarai - Harajuku/Soba [Tabelog]) (top tabelog soba is something that should be sought out)

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Oh fear not I’ve already spent an unreasonable amount of time on tabelog. Eager to check out that ramen adventures site though. Lol @burritoking you were so helpful on Mexico City and now this, many thanks!

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Please report back I will be traveling to Japan in the future and would love some recs!

The FTC invasion of the Land of the Rising Sun is imminent.

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I don’t know how many times you have been to Japan, but that seems like a long time in Tokyo - unless one has family (or business) there. Obv one could spend the rest of one’s life in Tokyo, so no need for disagreers to pile on this comment. I’m just saying for MOST travelers this is not a terrific use of limited travel in Japan.

If you want a fantastic private guide for Osaka/Kyoto I highly recommend Takuya Yanigasawa

That said our hotel concierge sent us to this wonderful Tokyo unagi specialist - Ichinoya

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g14129744-d1669733-r587581653-Nishiazabu_Ichinoya-Nishiazabu_Minato_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html

image

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Kyoto is a must, IMO. Eight days in Tokyo might be too much for me unless I took a lot of day trips (which is very easy to do), but I can happily spend weeks in Kyoto. Although I suppose the weather would be a factor there.

We like to fly from LAX to Haneda rather than to Narita, as it’s closer to Tokyo and easy to get out of; we stay for a night or three close to the airport, and explore random neighborhoods up to a few train stops away, wandering into izakayas at will; we encounter fewer tourists and a very down-to-earth atmosphere this way.

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@set0312 I’m actually going there for 2 months starting next Saturday. I’m super down to share all the research I have, but my current FTC post is a Quintonil writeup draft that I just haven’t had the chance to finish writing yet, and I can’t figure out how to start a new thread without erasing the progress for the that writeup woops. If you’re down to start a thread in the Asia Forum, I’ll share everything I’ve come across so far. Happy to give back :slight_smile:

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In Niseko, I liked the below places:

Tozanken - a popular (and crowded) ramen shop that has a king crab ramen as a special

Rakuichi- a soba specialist that serves a Soba Kaiseki set menu - not sure what your budget is and if you’re saving up for any kaiseki I would potentially wait for Tokyo / Kyoto


Ezo Seafood (fresh market fish that they serve straight to your table - be careful as the cost does add up)


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Second Rakuichi - Incredible soba.

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Adding that unagi place to my list. Upon re-reading my above post I see that it was stupidly confusing. I meant that I have 8 days to visit Tokyo and other cities. (Not that I will spend 8 days in Tokyo.)

That tour looks fascinating. Uncertain if it’s within my budget but I’ll look into it for sure.

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My god this looks so much better than what I typically eat in Mammoth or Park City :flushed:

This is super helpful

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Lol ironically I also owe FTC a Quintonil write-up! But yes I’ll start that thread. Have a wonderful trip, two months sounds like a dream!

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