Eating in Japan | Travel + Leisure
People think Japan is all about the sushi and ramen, but there’s more that goes into the way the country eats and plans meals. Ramen is one of Japan’s fast foods: Cheap, greasy, and favored by students after a night of drinking, but it’s not taken very seriously. Sushi is popular, but it’s not an everyday eat. Tempura, beef, sukiyaki? Also not everyday foods. We looked to a few of the country’s top chefs and experts to find out what is more common. They talked about how they compose a plate, how much their daily diet adheres to the Zen principles of presenting five colors, five flavors, and five ways of cooking at each meal, and in what ways the culture of food is changing there, given the rise of interest in Western culture. Whether dining out or as a guest in a home, on your next trip, you’ll know how to eat like a local. Chef Kenichiro Ooe, chef of Kozue , at the Park-Hyatt Tokyo “Presentation, which we call moritsuke, is key. On a Japanese plate, for example, y...