For our Japan cruise, we were away from home for 2 weeks, and during that time we tried a lot of different foods and drinks. Even though my husband can be rather picky, he knew that since this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, that he would need to eat out of his comfort zone. We tried a handful of new foods and a lot of new beer. During the two weeks, between the two of us, he counted that we tried over 50 different kinds of beer. Not everything we tried was great (most of it was) but the fun that we had trying it all will remain as a top memory from our trip.
How did we find all of these different foods and drinks? Many of the items on our list of foods that we tried were due to convenience and necessity. For example, we needed to eat breakfast and the place we were staying at served breakfast. Some of the items on my list are related to our plane travel or from our cruise where we would have certain options of where to eat. Or, literally, we would be on our way somewhere and stopped in a convenience store to find something good to eat. Because our goal was to try as many dishes as we could, we made sure that when we were in these places of convenience and necessity, that we were choosing dishes or beverages out of our comfort zone. We don’t normally eat ramen udon or sushi for breakfast, but, when it was being offered, we gave it a try.
Otherwise, we would rely heavily on Chat GPT, Claude or Yelp to help us find restaurants, places to eat or even special dishes that the area is known for. This helped us to find some really great and fun experiences. Without ChatGPT and Claude, we wouldn’t have known to try Takoyaki (balls of dough with pieces of octopus inside) while in Osaka, and we definitely wouldn’t have found the conveyor belt sushi place that was so cool. Before going to a place like Japan, I recommend that you become comfortable with using AI to help guide you. It goes above and beyond what Yelp can offer because it pulls from a variety of sources from the internet and pools all of the research from other travelers into one response. It is certainly helpful for more than just finding good food spots.
Some of my highlights from our trip are more than just a particular food item that we tried but are instead a whole dining experience that was especially memorable.
Delta Skyclub and American Express Centurion Lounge: Because of my Delta American Express Card, we were able to visit the Delta Skyclub in both the Atlanta airport and the Tokyo airport. In the Tokyo Haneda airport, I also went into the Centurion Lounge. While I found the experience of both lounges to be very similar, I throughly enjoyed being in those lounges. The lounges in Tokyo had some really good food. They had ramen bars, doughnuts and other breakfast treats, sushi, tempura and other delicious goodies. Also, each lounge had an amazing bar with included beer, wine and cocktails and a machine that poured the perfect beer for you. It was an excellent experience and proved to be a really fun way to start and end our vacation.
Food on the Plane: If you can afford to pay for the nicer flights, the food that you can get on the 10+ hour flights can range from good to excellent. Regardless of the quality of the food, the ability to have everything served to you is a lot of fun. On the way from Atlanta to Seoul, we flew in Delta Premium, and, on the way back from Tokyo, we flew Delta One. We had great food and drink options on both flights, and our service out to Seoul was truly excellent.
Meals at the Hotels: With our Marriott points and status, we stayed at some nice hotels during our trip. We stayed at the Plaza Seoul, 3 different Moxy hotels, The Chapter Kyoto and the amazing Onsen in Hakone. Not every hotel included a meal (and some were only included at our status), but the ones that did hit it out of the park every time. We had so many different foods and drinks at all of the different hotels we stayed at it was all very good. The food served at the onsen was especially excellent and made for some wonderful memories.
Cruise Food & Drinks: Our trip to Japan included a 12-night cruise, which was cut short because of the typhoon, and during our cruise we had the opportunity to try a huge variety of gourmet foods. While not every single meal was 10 out of 10, the service we experienced was some of the best that we have experienced while on a cruise. And the drinks served, especially at the martini bar, were served with a smile every time and often with a juggling act.
Restaurants Throughout Japan: During our time exploring Japan on our own, we found a really great, hole in the wall ramen restaurant, an incredible conveyor belt sushi restaurant, multiple savory tonkatsu restaurants and a handful of breweries. Before our time at the Nintendo Museum, Claude helped us to locate the Tea Square Morihan Kura Cafe where I had a really fun matcha dessert and Chris had a great bowl of traditional matcha. While in Tokyo, we went over to Akhiabara to check out the arcades and, of course, the Don Quijote. We didn’t know where to eat and we looked at our phone and just happened upon Tonkatsu Marino, where we found the best Tonkatsu we will likely ever find. Each place was a wonderful and unique experience and one that we wouldn’t have found without AI. Chris commented that while the tonkatsu from Marino really was so good that the tonkatsu that we ate at the mall restaurant in Shagoshima was also very excellent and very memorable. So, there is no need to stress about getting to a particular sushi place or ramen place or tonkatsu place as there are excellent places to eat in every part of Japan.
Street Food: Finding good street food was a bit tricky when you didn’t speak the language. Generally, you could walk around and if you didn’t like what you saw at the first food stall, you would see at least 2 or 3 just like it farther down the road. During our trip, we tried mochi strawberries, walked past the candied fruit but decided not to try any, tried the infamous Takoyaki or Octopus balls in Osaka and ogled so much more.
Convenient Store: The true star of the trip for us was all of the delicious food and beverages that we found at the convenient stores. Not only was it actually very convenient and inexpensive, but everything we tried was really tasty (with the exception of some yakitori that looked like it had been sitting all day), and there was a large variety of things to try. Between 7-Eleven, Lawson’s and Family Mart, we tried 4 or 5 pastries, 4 or 5 sandwiches, a couple of different kinds of nori, some really cute bento boxes and many different beverages.
The key, we decided, to having an awesome culinary experience while in Japan is to be able to be flexible and open-minded. Even the places that we went to that were on the disappointing side still provided us with some great memories. For example, we walked over to this brewery that one real table, which was occupied, and their beer was served in a small, plastic cup. We stayed and drank the beer, used their tiny bathroom and then walked back to the hotel. It was not a great brewery but the experience itself stands out. While we both agree that Tonkatsu Marino was our favorite spot, we also wouldn’t have wanted to miss the conveyor belt sushi, the street food and definitely not all of the great food from the convenience stores.
If wanting to plan a trip to Japan, contact me today so I can help get the planning started.