Category: Eating & Drinking

Vending machines are literally everywhere in Tokyo – on footpaths, in hotels, at train stations and sometimes on incredibly random corners. They tend not to be the press-grabbing risqué ones though and are mostly drink machines, sitting quietly in wait, reminding you you’re thirsty at every turn. With drinks so readily available and the novelty of such convenient supply, it’s easy to drink you way through the day! Need a soft drink? A sugary juice? Perhaps a hot coffee in winter? The vending machines offer them all.  And you can pay with notes, coins or your train card. Indulge yourself to your heart’s content, but you might want to think about saving your calories for the breakfast buffet!

With increasing numbers of tourists visiting Japan, many restaurants now offer English menus to save you trying to decipher what can seem as foreign as hieroglyphics! If the staff don’t offer one up, simply ask ‘Ayego no menyu wa arimaska?’ i.e. ‘Do you have an English menu?’ and see if they offer one up. If that fails, lots of menus have photographs of the meals you can simply point to! You are likely to have the most difficulty in smaller, local restaurants that may only display their menus written in Japanese on wooden boards. If you’re brave enough in this situation, you can try locating something your neighbour is eating to gesture to if it appeals!

There’s a myth that Tokyo is an expensive city to eat in but that is not entirely true. While there are restaurants where you could easily spend several hundred dollars, Tokyo actually has a multitude of reasonably priced restaurants, takeaway outlets, cafes and convenience store food.

Breakfast not included in your room rate and don’t want to pay for it at the hotel restaurant? Convenience stores like Family Mart and 7-11 sell a wide variety of pastries and yoghurts you can stock your room with. They also have a great range of Bento box options for lunch or dinner on the run, most priced at less than $USD10.

If you’re wanting to eat lunch or dinner out, try Japanese food chain restaurants like Ootoya for reasonably priced set meals (main meal, rice and miso soup) or Yoshinoya for cheap rice bowls.

The shopping malls across Tokyo also tend to have a wide variety of dining options at multiple price points and several of the larger department stores have food halls in their basements where you can get reasonably-priced sit down meals, or restaurants on their top floors with slightly higher price points.

Train stations are another great place to find either sit-down or takeaway food at inexpensive prices.