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Japan is one of the world’s great food destinations. For first-time visitors to Japan, or those unfamiliar with Japanese food, there are plenty of delicious dishes to try to get a sense of Japan’s amazing culinary culture. And while many of the foods on this list are popular all around the world, trying the genuine product from a restaurant or street food stall in Japan makes it all the more enticing.

Here are 8 picks for Japanese foods that everybody should try in Japan!

Onigiri

The ultimate 7/11 snack on the go! Onigiri are balls of white rice, formed into round or triangle shapes, and often wrapped in nori. Onigiri usually have fillings inside, such as ume (pickled ume fruits), bonito flakes, salmon, and fish roe. Onigiri are perfect snacks for on the go, and are easy to find from convenience stores and supermarkets.

Sushi

Arguably Japan’s most famous food, sushi is a broad term for bite-size servings of vinegared rice, topped with ingredients such as raw fish or seafood. Common types of sushi include makizushi (maki, or sushi roll, with rice and fillings wrapped in an outer layer, often nori), inari (sushi rice in a fried tofu skin), and nigirizushi (nigiri, an oval- shaped rice ball with a topping such as raw fish draped over the top).

Sushi can be bought from a wide variety of places, from traditional restaurants, sushi trains, stand-up sushi bars, convenience stores, and more.

Bento

Bento are lunch boxes designed as a single portion meal. They are often sold to to eat on the go, and while they can be eaten pretty much anywhere, bento boxes are particularly famous as a great meal to take onto long distance train rides. Bento boxes usually have multiple compartments with different ingredients, such as rice, noodles, fish or meat, tamagoyaki (omelette), salad, or fruit. They can be hot or cold, and some even have self-heating technology!

Takoyaki

An all time classic street food snack, takoyaki are fried balls of wheat-flour batter with bits of chopped octopus. They are cooked in a special pan of round moulds, and then topped with sweet takoyaki sauce (similar to barbecue sauce), mayonnaise, bonito flakes, pickled ginger, and green aonori. Eaten with a toothpick, they are a beloved market street snack.

Taiyaki

Taiyaki is a delicious dessert from Japan, usually sold as street food. It is made with a pancake or waffle-style batter, which is poured into a distinctive fish-shaped mold (tai, or sea bream). Fillings such as red bean paste, custard, or chocolate are added, and clamped shut to cook. Taiyaki have a light, crispy texture, and sweet flavour.

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake-like dish made with a runny batter of wheat flour, and chopped cabbage, meat, egg, seafood and other toppings. The ingredients are combined, spread out to the size of a large pizza on a hot griddle, and cooked.

There is no definitive recipe, and many variations of okonomiyaki exist. Monjayaki is a Tokyo-style version with a runny batter, and hiroshimayaki uses noodles, with a layering style of cooking. Okonomiyaki are topped with sweet okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and aonori.

Ramen

One of Japan’s most beloved noodle dishes is ramen, a hot noodle soup made with wheat flour noodles of the same name. The broth is generally made of pork broth, but many versions exist all around Japan.

Some different variations of ramen are tonkotsu ramen, a pork bone broth with a creamy texture; Miso ramen, which adds miso to a chicken or fish broth; kare ramen, a rich curry soup; and shōyu ramen, with a clear brown soy-based broth. Common toppings include chashu pork, bean sprouts, nori, corn, soy egg, menma, and many more.

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These dishes are some of Japan’s most popular and beloved foods. But of course, Japan has much more amazing cuisine to discover, with local specialties all around the country. For a closer look at regional specialties and delicacies, take a look at my in-depth guide here!