recommended restaurants

hi all

I will be travelling soon to Japan and would like to know if anyone could recommend good traditionnal restaurants in Hiroshima/Osaka/Kyoto or Kamakura? There are so many restaurants listed in travel guides that I am totally overwhelmed!

thanks a lot,

As a general rule I use the guidebooks lists of hotels and restaurants as a list of places to avoid as they will be full of foreign tourists. The quality is likely to go down and the prices up. (you may not know that most guidebooks don't actually check the places they list..)
look for an area a bit away from touristy places, peek in and if there are few or no tourists go in. many restaurants in Japan have models of the dishes, with the prices, in the windows so you can point what you want to the staff. or else they have pictures. I have been to Japan and other countries many times without speaking the local language and had good meals many times ...relax..it is easier than you think...

thank you Sensei 2! will keep that in mind :)

cheers!

Would there be any confusion or language problems when settling the bill or making a dinner reservation? We plan to visit a few very old and traditional restaurants in Tokyo and Kyoto and I do hope that our lack of Japanese won't be too much of an issue.

Although having said that I've seen some very intimidating hiragana/kanji-only menus on flickr. Does anyone know of a website that provides English translations of basic/traditional Japanese menus?

Making a reservation you might come across some problems but you can research what to say before going, also phrase book would be good for this. Point at the section on Eating out etc..
Actually Lonely Planets phrase book has a large example menu of what you can expect generally so that might be a good option for you.
Settling bill wont be a problem really, you normally get a well layed out reciept. I cant recall a time I have never gotton one, even in small out of the way places.
I love eating out in japan :)

Thank you Kevin! Can you recommend a good phrase book as well?

The lonely planet series is useful for travel. They are small and fit into your pocket. Most major bookstores should stock them and there is a LOT of them for different places. It has a good Food section also.
I have one at home that is much smaller but has much better section on eating out and sample menus. I will get the name of that one if you like. Its actually more a language training book.

I think a smaller sized book would be more convenient when travelling. I'd be interested in the name of the book if you can find it. Thanks!

Sorry I forgot when I got home yesterday, will try to remember today :)
By smaller i mean it has less content but more in the way it targets specific parts.
Its a thinner book but much taller than the lonely planet version