Bite Into Japan: Must-Try Dishes You Can't-Miss

This warm, savory soup features quick-cooking noodles, vegetables, meats, eggs, and an endless combination of other ingredients. Ramen is a vast genre in itself, with different soup bases and garnishes coming together for endless possibilities. Popular styles include shoyu ramen, miso ramen, and tonkatsu. Travelers in Tokyo should stop by Tomita Ramen , which touts its own horn as “the #1 ramen in Japan.”

Another noodle dish, Yakisoba, is stir-fried rather than served in broth. It's usually made with udon or ramen noodles and tossed with veggies and pork belly, although other meats can be substituted. The special yakisoba sauce, made from a mix of soy sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar, gives the dish its distinct flavor. Look for this popular dish at street food stalls and on the menus of izakaya bars.

Sushi is known and loved around the world, so don’t miss the chance to try it in the country that popularized the dish as we know it today. There are several variations, from maki to nigiri, but thebase ingredients remain the same: vinegar rice, nori or seaweed sheets, and sushi-grade fish. Travelers searching for the best sushi can’t go wrong in Tokyo, where high-end sushi is the norm, or in Shiogama, often called the “ Sushi Capital of the World .”

Sashimi is thinly sliced sushi-grade fish typically served on a small bed of rice. This dish is often served with wasabi, pickled ginger, and a choice of dipping sauces. Sashimi makes use of the same fish typically featured in sushi, like yellowtail and tuna. Its artistic plating and high-quality ingredients make this dish a must-try delicacy.

Japanese curry is slightly thicker than other curries, with grated fruit and honey giving it a sweet depth of flavor. While not a dish itself, this sauce features in several popular tasty meals like curry rice, katsu curry, curry udon, or buns filled with a steamy curry center.

This hotpot-style dish is popular outside of Japan and is just as widespread in its country of origin. Shabu-shabu is a participatory experience— diners order the raw ingredients ready to be cooked in the hot broth of the communal nabe, or Japanese hotpot. Popular choices include thin cuts of beef, cabbage, mushrooms, and noodles.

Onigiri is a popular grab-and-go meal across Japan. These triangular rice balls are filled with various savory stuffings and wrapped in seaweed. Travelers and locals alike cite convenience stores, which sell high-quality snacks and meals alongside other necessities, as a top spot to grab this ready-made meal, kept fresh in specialty plastic packaging. If you'd like to explore even more flavors, Asakusa Yadoroku , the oldest onigiri shop in Japan, is a great place tosampleseasonal fillings like pickled plum, shiitake mushroom and soy sauce, or salmon roe.

Yakitori is a common dish that can be found throughout Japan, from sit-down restaurants to festival food stalls. Usually made with chicken, these barbecue skewers are expertly grilled over specialty low-smoke charcoal until tender and delicious. Torishiki in Tokyo has earned the nickname “Legend Yakitori” and a Michelin star for the quality of its skewers.

Mochi is a steamed dessert often filled with sweet fillings like custard, red bean, fruit, or even ice cream. A type of wagashi, or traditional Japanese sweet, mochi, is made by pounding glutinous rice to achieve a stretchy chewy texture. Ichinoseki City, Nara, and Kyoto are known for mochi, with the famous shop Nakatanidou in Nara serving the treat since 1902.

Takoyaki is a hybrid dish invented by food stall owner Tomekichi Endo, who was inspired to combine the meat-based choboyaki with seafood-based kushiyaki to create these now iconic balls of battered octopus. To achieve the perfect sphere, the batter is cooked by using skewers to rotate it slowly in a semi-spherical pan, adding the octopus filling as it turns. Today, you can continue to get top-tier takoyaki at street food stalls. For a sit-down experience, Takoyaki Yamachan in the dish's home city of Osaka comes up repeatedly as a traveler favorite.