Japanese food mapped: Your guide to the flavors of the East

by Kelly Wetherille

Much has been written about the relationship between the French and their cuisine, but one could also argue that the people of Japan take their love for food a step — or several galloping strides — further. Where else is it common to embark on weekend trips, the sole purpose of which is to sample several varieties of a single dish?

Modern Japanese kyodo ryori, or regional cuisine, is a tourist attraction all of its own, with a signature dish for nearly every major city.

Outside influences

And while some of these foods are undeniably Japanese (sushi springs to mind), many are actually adaptations of dishes that originated in other countries, demonstrating the uncanny ability of the Japanese to take something new and make it their own.

Mouseover the hotspots or click the place names on the map below for a quick spin round Japan’s most notable regional dishes — from Hokkaido in the frozen north to Okinawa in the deep south, there’s good eatin’ across the board.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Japanese stores offering foreigner-only discounts

In the latest in a very long line of moves designed to encourage overseas tourists to return to Japan post-March 11, several major retailers have decided to offer discounts to shoppers based on the color of their passports.

According to today’s Nikkei newspaper, department-store giant Isetan Mitsukoshi is knocking off 5 percent at the register for shoppers from “China, Taiwan and other foreign markets.”

Oddly, said folk have to hold one of a selection of credit cards from their home countries, but must pay cash in Japan, as their cards won’t work when they’re overseas anyway.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

iReport: Top Japanese holiday destinations

In a CNNGo iReport assignment at the end of 2011, we asked readers to share their photos of their favorite Japanese travel destinations, as well as the reasons they picked them.

Sasa Jancikic, of Belišće in Croatia, and Melvin Francisquini, living in Tokyo, sent us these shots and a word or two on what made them pull out their cameras.

Melvin Francisquini: Hiroshima and Miyajima

I moved to Japan in July and had a one-week JR rail pass to use before starting work in Tokyo on August 1.

I wanted to see other cities in Japan first because I knew once I started my life in the capital it would be hard to venture beyond a 40-minute train ride.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Japanese New Year survival manual

The new year is arguably the most important and sacred holiday of the Japanese calendar. The entire nation completely shuts down for a few days so that everyone can head back home to spend time with the family.

Here is your guide to the three biggest Japanese New Year traditions during the brief holiday: sato-gaeri, hatsumode and osechi cuisine.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Japanese New Year survival manual

The new year is arguably the most important and sacred holiday of the Japanese calendar. The entire nation completely shuts down for a few days so that everyone can head back home to spend time with the family.

Here is your guide to the three biggest Japanese New Year traditions during the brief holiday: sato-gaeri, hatsumode and osechi cuisine.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Japanese island overrun by rabbits, tourists

Okunoshima, a small island floating in the Inland Sea between Hiroshima and Shikoku, used to be a top-secret military site manufacturing poison gas. Not exactly the kind of place you’d think to spend an idyllic afternoon.

Of course, that was before the rabbits took over.

In 1971, a group of schoolchildren released eight rabbits on the island.

The rabbits did what rabbits do best and now the 700-square-meter island is home to more than 300 of their floppy-eared descendants, earning it the nickname Usagi Shima, or Rabbit Island.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Japanese tourist industry breathes seasonal sigh of relief

New figures from the national travel industry itself suggest the March disasters in northeast Japan have had no impact at all on people’s plans to hit the road over the holiday season.

According to JTB — one of the biggest agencies in Japan — more than 30 million people, or almost a quarter of the population, intend to travel for pleasure during the Christmas and New Year period.

That’s 1.5 percent up on last year — not much, but evidence of an end to the “restraint” that’s plagued the travel business since March 11.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Japanese tourist industry breathes seasonal sigh of relief

New figures from the national travel industry itself suggest the March disasters in northeast Japan have had no impact at all on people’s plans to hit the road over the holiday season.

According to JTB — one of the biggest agencies in Japan — more than 30 million people, or almost a quarter of the population, intend to travel for pleasure during the Christmas and New Year period.

That’s 1.5 percent up on last year — not much, but evidence of an end to the “restraint” that’s plagued the travel business since March 11.

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Extreme cuisine: The 5 dishes even Japanese people are freaked to eat

As the world and his dog know, the Japanese are famously open-minded eaters, and their cuisine is full of tastes and textures alien to the foreign tongue. 

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Extreme cuisine: The 5 dishes even Japanese people are freaked to eat

As the world and his dog know, the Japanese are famously open-minded eaters, and their cuisine is full of tastes and textures alien to the foreign tongue. 

read more

CNNGo Tokyo – All RSS Feeds

Next Page »