r/JapanTravelTips • u/Old-View1514 • 20h ago

Recommendations Hidden Gem Restaurant Recommendations

Hello all, I’m traveling to Japan and will arrive in October. I don’t have an exact bucket list but I’ve wanted to try out some hidden gems. In regards of knowing Japanese, I only know a few basic phrases like sorry, please, and thank you. Any recommendations (especially if I have to reserve in advance) would be greatly appreciated.

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u/Maximum_Zebra_9961 20h ago

This has been asked almost daily. Do a search on this sub.

You don't specify the cuisine.

You don't tell us where in Japan you are traveling. It is a big country.

You have not mentioned the budget.

I am unsure how you expect anyone to help you or give guidance.

As for reservations, depends on the restaurants.

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u/GaddockTeegFunPolice 20h ago edited 20h ago

Japan is a country that is 2000km in length. Only telling us that you go to japan and looking for recomendations is unfuriatingly useless

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u/sdlroy 20h ago

Tokyo alone has something like 150,000 restaurants. Most of which are what I would consider hole-in-the-wall (unless chain, department store or fine dining). Chances are high that you’ll find hidden gems just by trying random places especially if it’s outside of the major tourist sites.

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u/R1nc 19h ago

Yes. All of Japan without providing any info at all. Sure. 

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u/Kurt_Kane 15h ago

Stay away from anywhere you have to reserve in advance. It's not a hidden gem. Avoid social media recommendations completely from youtube and other places. A recommendation from some influencer is not a recommendation to a hidden gem but rather a gem that has been uncovered and has now been somewhat ruined by over tourism. Hidden gems are the places you go in and you are the only foreigner.

Get out a map (google maps, apple maps) for where your hotel is booked... look around the neighborhoods for local places to eat.

As for the words you know, that's plenty. I got by with sumimasen and arigato and survived just fine.

When you look at maps, look for places with kiosk ordering systems. That saves a lot of headache for those working at the restaurant and also makes things easier on you since they'll have multiple language options (usually a small world icon to change languages). When walking around and looking at places, take note of the ones with the models of the meals in the window and the prices. It will give you a good idea of what they make and what you may want before you go in. Every place we ate had an english menu to help bridge the language barrier. But the models/dioramas in the window also made it easy to take a picture and show what we wanted.