Kanazawa is one of the best cities in Japan for sushi. Its location near the Sea of Japan gives restaurants access to outstanding seafood from Ishikawa and the wider Hokuriku region, including seasonal fish and shellfish that many first-time visitors rarely encounter elsewhere. And you don’t need to spend ¥20,000 on omakase to eat well. … Read more
Omicho Market is one of the best places to experience Kanazawa’s food culture. Known as “Kanazawa’s Kitchen,” the market has been feeding the city for more than 300 years and contains more than 170 shops and businesses selling everything from fresh Sea of Japan seafood to local vegetables, fruit, dried goods and prepared food. But … Read more
Eating well in Kanazawa doesn’t have to be expensive. The city may be famous for premium sushi, snow crab and traditional Kaga cuisine, but some of Kanazawa’s most enjoyable meals are also among its cheapest. Think: Kanazawa curry for around ¥1,000 bowls of ramen udon after a night in Katamachi casual sushi local set meals … Read more
Kanazawa is one of the best food cities to add to a Japan itinerary. Its location near the Sea of Japan gives the city access to exceptional seafood, while the historic Kaga region has developed its own distinctive food culture around seasonal ingredients, local vegetables, sake and beautifully presented Japanese cuisine. For first-time visitors, there … Read more
Kanazawa isn’t usually the first city travellers think of when planning nightlife in Japan. That’s exactly why its bar scene is worth exploring. Instead of the enormous nightlife districts of Tokyo and Osaka, Kanazawa offers something much more compact. Most of the action is concentrated around Katamachi and Kiguramachi, where tiny cocktail bars, whisky bars, … Read more
Tokyo has one of the most respected cocktail scenes in the world. Behind anonymous basement doors, inside luxury hotels and several floors above busy streets, some of the world’s most recognised bartenders are producing drinks that attract cocktail enthusiasts from around the globe. But which Tokyo bars have actually won awards or appeared in major … Read more
Tokyo might be the best city in the world for discovering bars you would never find by accident. Some are hidden behind unmarked doors. Others sit several floors above busy streets with almost no indication of what is inside. There are basement cocktail dens, tiny drinking counters, speakeasies and bars disguised as something completely different. … Read more
January is one of the most distinctive times to travel in Japan. Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka are cold but often relatively dry, while Hokkaido, the Japanese Alps and the Sea of Japan side of the country can be covered in deep snow. It is also a month with two very different personalities. The first few … Read more
Finding good sushi in Shinjuku is easy. Choosing the right restaurant is harder. Around Shinjuku Station you can spend less than ¥2,000 on a casual sushi lunch, visit a conveyor-belt restaurant, sit at a traditional counter or spend more than ¥10,000 on a full omakase experience. That makes Shinjuku particularly useful for travellers because you … Read more
Shinjuku is one of the best places to eat in Tokyo. The challenge isn’t finding restaurants. It’s choosing between the thousands of places packed around Shinjuku Station, Kabukicho, Shinjuku-sanchome and Nishi-Shinjuku. You can eat excellent ramen for around ¥1,000–¥2,000, try tonkatsu or udon for lunch, spend the evening grilling Japanese beef or book a much … Read more