One of the great pleasures of a trip to Japan is exploring the full and exotic range of Japanese food. Whilst dishes such as sushi and tempura are well-known the world over these days, there are hundreds of other types of local cuisine that will be new discoveries to all but the most sophisticated of Western palates. Many Japanese recipes embody a subtlety of flavour and mixture of texture rarely found in Western cuisine, and the presentation is often so exquisite that it feels an insult to the chef to eat what has been so beautifully crafted. Throughout the text of this Guide, language boxes give the English, romaji (for pronunciation) and Japanese characters for the names of restaurants and bars, unless they are clearly signed in English or romaji .

Picking at delicate morsels with chopsticks is only one small part of the dining experience, though. Robust and cheap dishes such as hearty bowls of ramen noodles or the comforting concoction kare raisu (curry rice) are staples of the Japanese diet, along with burgers and fried chicken from ubiquitous Western-style fast-food outlets. All the major cities have an extensive range of restaurants serving Western and other Asian dishes, with Tokyo and Osaka in particular being major-league destinations for foodies.

With a little planning, eating out need not be too expensive. Lunch is always the best-value meal of the day, seldom costing more than Ľ2000. If you fuel up earlier in the day, a cheap bowl of noodles for dinner could carry you through the night, especially if you're planning on drinking, which is never a cheap affair

Meals
Breakfast is generally served early (from around 7am to 9am) at most hotels, ryokan and minshuku, with a traditional meal consisting of a gut-busting combination of miso soup, fish, pickles and rice. Western-style breakfasts, when available, seldom resemble what you might eat at home, and usually involve...

Bento: The packed lunch
Every day millions of Japanese trot off to school or their workplace with a bento stashed in their satchel or briefcase. Bento are boxed lunches which can be made at home or bought from shops all over Japan. Traditional bento include rice...

Where to eat and drink
One of the most common types of Japanese restaurant is the shokudo (eating place), which serves a range of traditional and generally inexpensive dishes. Usually found near train and subway stations, shokudo can be identified by...

Ordering and etiquette
On walking into most restaurants in Japan you'll be greeted by the word Irasshaimase (Welcome), often shouted out with brio by the entire staff. In response, you should indicate with your fingers how many places are needed...

Kiseki-Ryvri: Japanese haute cuisine
At the top end of the eating spectrum is Japan's finest and most expensive style of cooking, Kaiseki-ryori, comprising a series of small, carefully balanced and expertly presented dishes. It began as an accompaniment to the tea...

Sushi, sashimi and seafood
Many gaijin falsely assume that all sushiis fish, but the name actually refers to the way the rice is prepared with vinegar, and you can also get sushi dishes with egg or vegetables. Fish and seafood are essential elements of Japanese cuisine...

Noodles
One of Japan's most popular and best-value meals is a bowl of noodles, the three main types being soba, udon and ramen. Soba are thin noodles made of brown buckwheat flour and are particularly ubiquitous in the central...

Rice dishes
Although fluffy, white tasteless bread is becoming more and more popular in Japan, it will never replace the ever-present bowl of rice as the staple food. Rice also forms the basis of both the alcoholic drink sake and mochi...

Meat dishes
Meat is alien to traditional Japanese cuisine, but in the last century dishes using beef, pork and chicken have become a major part of the national diet. Beefburger and fried chicken (kara-age) fast-food outlets are just as common...

Vegetarian dishes
Despite being the home of macrobiotic cooking, vegetarianism isn't a widely practised or fully understood concept in Japan. You might ask for a vegetarian ( saishoku ) dish in a restaurant and still be served something with meat or fish...

Other cuisines
Said to have to been introduced to Japan in the sixteenth century by Portuguese traders, tempura are lightly battered pieces of seafood and vegetables. Best eaten piping hot from the fryer, tempura are dipped in...

Drinks
The Japanese are enthusiastic social drinkers, several shared bottles of beer or flasks of sake being the preferred way for salarymen and -women to wind down after work. It's not uncommon to see totally inebriated people slumped in the...