Region’s Popular Food

Hello! I'm going to japan for 36days, March - April 2013!

I'm looking for popular food in each city i'm travelling to! Example: Kobe's Kobe beef, or Saga's Saga beef.

Here is the places i'm visiting.
TohokuAomori(Hirosaki), Akita
Kanto: Gunma(Kusatsu), Yamanashi(fujiyoshida), Tokyo
Chugoku: Hiroshima(Miyajima), Okayama, Kyoto, Osaka
Kyushu: Fukuoka(Hakata), Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Beppu

Please advice me what food are must-try in each city! thankyou!

Hirosaki - Apples
Akita - Kiritanpo
Fujioshida - Yoshida Udon
Kawaguchiko - Houtou Udon
Tokyo - Monjayaki and Nigirizushi although probably too many to list
Hiroshima - Hiroshima Okonomiyaki
Miyajima - Momiji Manju
Okayama - Kibi dango, Mamakari
Kyoto - Kaiseki and green tea
Osaka - Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, Kushikatsu
Fukuoka - Hakata Ramen (at a yatai)
Kumamoto - Karashirenkon, Kumamoto Ramen
Miyazaki - Shochu
Kagoshima - Kurobuta, Tonkotsu? (User Frog1954 may have some good suggestions) Beppu - ?

I'm sure some other members will have some better suggestions.

I have no idea how many of these you would consider "must try". We tend to eat a mix of the local specialties plus try to eat a variety of different food while we are in Japan. There are so many other styles and types of food that are worthwhile.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e620.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2035.html

We also have a few good Japanese restaurants in our town so I tend not to eat some of the foods that we can easily eat in our home country.

Enjoy your food!

Because i'm not visiting Hokkaido, i really want to try live octopus/squid like in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxQmOR_QLfQ&feature=related

Which part of japan is popular for this type of cuisine?

Here is the list by prefecture. Google translate.
http://www.furano.ne.jp/school/rokugou_jh/14kyoudo/kenbetu.html

GC3,

Thank you for inviting me :-).

Hirosaki is know as "the city of western style house and French cuisine". So you might better try French restaurant in Hirosaki. As for Aomori prefecture, it is famous for seafood such as Tuna (from Oma), scallop (hotate-gai ホタテ貝) and Sakhalin surf clam (hokki-gai ホッキ貝).

http://www.sustainablesushi.net/the-fish/hokkegai/

Kyoto: Kaiseki ryori. This is really "must try". It may be somewhat expensive, but more affordable than eating in Tokyo and any other cities in the world. I recommend Manshige in Nishijin, a real ryotei and very affordable.

http://www.kyoryori-manshige.co.jp/

Osaka: Osaka-style udon.

Imai in Dotonbori

http://www.d-imai.com/secret.html

Mimi-u

http://www.mimiu.co.jp/mimiu/top.html

Hiroshima: My most favorite is Anago (conger eel) which is popular in Miyajima.

http://www.miyajima.or.jp/english/gourmet/gourmet_anago.html

Jambo-mochi. That's the regional snack I am dying to try http://kic-update.com/en/travel/jambo-mochi/

Mr. Frog, have you eaten it?

Mr. Frog, have you eaten it?

Yes, several times. The name Jumbo (じゃんぼ：両棒) comes from double sticks. Jumbo mochi is served with two bamboo sticks, which mimic two samurai swords (Japanese samurai usually carry two swords).

It is a rice cake (mochi) dipped with sweetened, soy sauce based dipping (sorry for poor explanation). It is basically sweet, but also savory.

As for these kind of foods in Kagoshima, I prefer Sinko-Dango which is less sweet. This is also made from rice (powdered rice).

http://tabelog.com/kagoshima/A4601/A460101/46005228/dtlphotolst/P17245...

Yes, several times. The name Jumbo (じゃんぼ：両棒) comes from double sticks. Jumbo mochi is served with two bamboo sticks, which mimic two samurai swords (Japanese samurai usually carry two swords).

If not for the taste, just for the poetry it gets 10 out 10 in my book :-)

For Kusatsu specifically, onsen manjuu and onsen tamago are famous. There is also an amazing senbei place I suggest getting a snack from.

For Gunma more generally, yakimanjuu are famous, but they are more a festival food so aren't really something you'd find in a restaurant. Ummm... any sort of river fish, since Gunma is landlocked. Anything with cabbages.

Also, there is a city Akita called Oodate that is famous for a sort of chicken. It was REALLY good; don't know if you will stop there, but there are chicken restaurants all over the main area of the city to try.

Yamanashi in general is famous for grapes and wine as well.

er sorry guys.. what about the live octopus/squid in a bowl, the previous reply?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxQmOR_QLfQ&feature=related

where? other than hokkaido? and what is this called?

Hi, Honeybooboo:

Sorry but honestly I have never seen this style of presentation. This is of course live squid sashimi. If you want to eat good squid sashimi, Fukuoka should be the place.

イカの活き作り(Sashimi of live squid)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_B0b-PFt9Y

After you finished the sliced body part, the other part will be gone to the kitchen and the chef will make it to fried or grilled squid tentacles. The restaurants have large water tank where live squids are reared. You might better reserve live squid sashimi in popular restaurants.

http://hakata.sakura.ne.jp/hakata/keisai/hana.html

Beppu / Oita specialties:

http://www.oishiimati-oita.jp/english/kyodo.html

Thank you for posting Frog1954!

I have had the squid in Hakodate. You can also catch your own squid from a large pool in the main building of the Hakodate Markets and they then kill/gut the squid and prepare it for you as sashimi which you can then eat. The tentacles do still wriggle when you put soy sauce on them.

I guess you could take the train from Aomori to Hakodate one morning if you wish.

In Fujiyoshida, yes, the Yoshida Udon is their official delicacy, and you won't find it in other places, but it is a rather rural and simple menu, just very thick and sturdy udon noodles in a broth with lots of vegetables.

A similar but somewhat different dish that is popolar all over Yamanashi prefecture is Hoto, which is another udon variation but with flat noodles and a pumpkin soup that is very well cooked so that the pumpkin is mostly melted. This is one of these dishes that are home favorites that most locals will tell you tastes better the next day when most of the ingredients melt away and look pretty disgusting. Of course, a restaurant will not serve it to you in the "best condition" .

Another Yamanashi favorite you will find in Fujiyoshida and vicinity will be "Tori Motsu Ni" which is chicken variety meat (e.e. liver, heart, etc) cooked in soysauce and sugar (kind of similar to Yakitori sauce) and chosen as the national champion of "B-class delicacies" in a recent national contest.

For Akita, as one other commenter pointed out, try the Hinai-Jidori chicken in Oodate. Very very good either barbecued (Yakitori) or as Kiritanpo and Damako menus. Kiritanpo and Damako are vegetable, chicken and rice dumplings (called Kiripanpo or Damako, depending on the way it's shaped) in the Hinai-Jidori soup. Make sure that the restaurant uses Hinai-Jidori chicken. My ex-wife who was from Oodate and she would not call any dish Kiritanpo unless it was made with the Hinai-Jidori. One of the few things we agreed upon.

You must eat hand made Yatai Gyoza on this bridge in Fukuoka,Nakasu.Absolutely brilliant.You should be able to zoom in/out on google map below to find location.It's on the main bridge near the il Palazo hotel Fukoka.Also a brilliant place to stay is Hotel East or West beside the iLpalzo.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc...