Food in Tokyo, Japan

Ramen noodle soup may be ubiquitously hot stateside, but in Japan there’s now a tsukemen boom: ramen noodles with a separate bowl of hearty broth for dipping them, served hot or chilled.

Tofu, also known as bean curd, is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white block.

The most Japanese of comfort food is actually of Indian origin: a bowl of rice on one side and thick curry sauce on the other, super rich, but not necessarily spicy, mixed with beef, chicken, shrimp, or veggies.

Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is synonymous with a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour, and in Japan can refer to any thin noodle (unlike thick wheat noodles, known as udon). Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. It takes three months for buckwheat to be ready for harvest, so it can be harvested four times a year, mainly in spring, summer, and autumn. In Japan, buckwheat is produced mainly in Hokkaido.Soba that is made with newly harvested buckwheat is called "shin-soba". It is sweeter and more flavorful than regular soba.

A tea ceremony can be the ultimate in Japanese refinement, not least because the golf-ball-sized sweets served with it are like little works of art. Most are variations on mochi (cakes of sticky glutinous rice), shaped anko (azuki bean paste), and incorporate nuts and seeds such as chestnut and sesame.

Sushi (すし, 寿司, 鮨, 鮓, 寿斗, 寿し, 壽司?) is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice (鮨飯 sushi-meshi?) combined with other ingredients (ネタ neta?), usually raw fish or other seafood. Ingredients and forms of sushi presentation vary widely, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is vinegared rice. The vinegared rice is also referred to as shari (しゃり?) and sumeshi (酢飯?). Raw meat (usually but not necessarily seafood) sliced and served by itself is sashimi. Many non-Japanese use the terms sashimi and sushi interchangeably, but they are not synonymous. Sushi refers to any dish made with vinegared rice.

Sure, you’ve tried tempura, but among everyday Japanese, tonkatsu (breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet), served with mounds of shredded cabbage, hearty, sweet and tangy sauces, plus miso soup and rice, is an obsession. The standard is a filet (hire in Japanese), and other cuts include rosu (roast loin) to the imminently pop-able hitokuchi (one-bite) style.

The word "izakaya" derives from the Japanese characters "to stay" and "sake shop." Traditionally places to drink, izakaya are ubiquitous in Japan. Though they are often likened to pubs, they bear little resemblance to the watering holes of the West. Akin to Spanish tapas, they are neighborhood bars that specialize in small plates, though the food here goes well beyond basic snacks