Japan
Tempura Udon
天ぷらうどん
Hot udon crowned with crisp shrimp tempura, often with a prawn tempura resting on the noodles.
eastern-asia
Japan
Explore 264 foods connected to Japan, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
264 foods12 leading categories2 Essentials guides
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Tokyo Essentials
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Traditional foods from Japan.
264 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Japan
Tendon
天丼
A rice bowl topped with assorted tempura (shrimp, vegetables, fish) drizzled with sweet tentsuyu.
Japan
Teriyaki
照り焼き
Grilled or pan-fried meat or fish glazed with a glossy soy-mirin-sugar sauce (tare).
Okinawa, Japan
Tofuyo
豆腐よう
Tofuyo, Okinawan tofu fermented for months in awamori and red koji until it eats like a blue cheese, is singular and place-bound.
Shikoku, Japan
Tokushima Ramen
徳島ラーメン
Tokushima ramen with a rich pork-bone broth, often topped with a raw egg and sweet stewed pork.
Japan
Tonjiru
豚汁
Hearty pork and vegetable miso soup with daikon, burdock, and konnyaku, a winter warmer.
Japan
Tonkatsu
豚カツ
A thick, breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet, served with shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce.
Kyushu, Japan
Torisashi
鳥刺し
Torisashi, raw chicken sashimi, is a named speciality of Kagoshima and Miyazaki with its own supply chain.
Kyushu, Japan
Toriten
とり天
Toriten is made with chicken in a light tempura batter eaten with ponzu and mustard.
Japan
Toshikoshi soba
年越しそば
Toshikoshi soba, eaten on New Year's Eve so the long noodles carry the old year out, is a named calendar food with a single-night window and near-universal observance.
Chubu, Japan
Toyama Black Ramen
富山ブラックラーメン
Toyama black ramen, jet-black with an aggressively salty soy tare built to be eaten with rice, is a genuinely distinct identity rather than a city rendering.
Tokyo, Japan
Tsukemen
つけ麺
Cold, rinsed noodles served separately from a concentrated hot dipping broth, eaten by dipping.
Japan
Tsukemono
漬物
General term for Japanese pickled vegetables, hundreds of varieties, served with rice meals.
Tokyo, Japan
Tsukudani
佃煮
Tsukudani, kombu, small fish or shellfish simmered down in soy and mirin until they keep for months, is a named Japanese preserve bought by the tub and named for the Tokyo island where it began.
Japan
Udon
うどん
Thick, chewy wheat noodles served in a hot soy-dashi broth or chilled with a dipping sauce.
Nagoya, Japan
Uirō
ういろう
Uiro, the firm steamed rice-flour cake sold in long bars at Nagoya station, is a named regional omiyage.
Japan
Umeboshi
梅干し
Salt-pickled and sun-dried ume (Japanese apricot), intensely sour and salty, eaten with rice.
Japan
Umeshu
梅酒
A sweet liqueur made by macerating ume plums in shōchū and sugar, with a fruity, bittersweet profile.
Okinawa, Japan
Umibudo
海ぶどう
Umibudo ("sea grapes"), the seaweed whose beads pop with brine, is a named Okinawan speciality eaten as itself.
Japan
Unadon
うな丼
Grilled eel (kabayaki) glazed with sweet soy over rice, a prized and expensive donburi.
Japan
Unagi Kabayaki
鰻の蒲焼
Freshwater eel split, grilled, and lacquered with a sweet soy glaze, served over rice or alone.
Hokkaido, Japan
Uni
うに
Uni, sea urchin roe eaten from the shell or the wooden tray, is a named Japanese delicacy with regional grading and a real season, not merely a nigiri topping.
Japan
Wagashi
和菓子
Traditional Japanese confections made from plant ingredients, served with tea, often seasonal in design.
Japan
Wagyu
和牛
Wagyu is the parent identity Japan's beef culture is organised around.
Japan
Wakame
わかめ
Wakame, the seaweed of miso soup and sunomono, is a named Japanese staple bought as itself.
Japan
Wakayama Ramen
和歌山ラーメン
Tonkotsu-soy hybrid ramen with thin straight noodles, chashu, and menma, served with boiled eggs.
Tohoku, Japan
Wanko Soba
わんこそば
Iwate's interactive soba challenge where servers rapidly refill small bowls until you stop them.
Japan
Warabimochi
わらび餅
A jelly-like sweet made from bracken starch, dusted with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and kuromitsu.
Japan
Wasabi
わさび
Pungent green rhizome grated fresh, served with sushi and sashimi; real wasabi is rare and expensive.
Shikoku, Japan
Wasanbon
和三盆
Wasanbon, the fine hand-ground sugar of Shikoku pressed into small moulded sweets, is a named traditional product bought as itself and the base of high-end wagashi.
Japan
Yaki imo
焼き芋
Yaki-imo, sweet potato roasted over stones and sold from winter trucks announcing themselves by loudspeaker, is a named Japanese seasonal street food.
Japan
Yaki Udon
焼きうどん
Stir-fried udon noodles with meat, cabbage, and vegetables in a savory soy-based sauce.
Japan
Yakiniku
焼肉
Korean-style tableside grilling of bite-sized beef, pork, and offal, dipped in tare sauce.
Japan
Yakisoba
焼きそば
Stir-fried wheat noodles with pork, cabbage, and vegetables in a sweet-savory Worcestershire sauce.
Japan
Yakisoba pan
焼きそばパン
Yakisoba pan, fried noodles stuffed into a hot-dog roll, is a named Japanese bakery and convenience-store item and exactly the localisation case guideline 1.6 rescues.
Japan
Yakitori
焼き鳥
Chicken pieces threaded on bamboo skewers and grilled over binchotan charcoal, glazed with tare or salt.