Authentic Local Restaurants

Many people travel to experience local cuisine prepared by the most skilled chefs, and it’s why I’m consistently asked how I find authentic Japanese restaurants. Especially the ones that aren't packed with tourists, don’t overcharge, don’t have crazy lines out the door, or difficult reservations to get.

Once you’ve gone to several places of any type of food, you start to look for and see the little signs that mean you could be in for an incredible meal. For example, in America (and probably most everywhere), if a restaurant has a giant menu offering a hundred different choices, you can be pretty certain that eating there is not going to be a memorable experience. At least not the good kind of memorable.

In Los Angeles, if an Asian restaurant is in a funky little strip mall that looks like it could go out of business any day, then the odds are higher that you are about to have a superlative eating experience. Even more so, if the restaurant is in the San Gabriel Valley. One of my favorite writers, Jonathan Gold, was famous for finding these kinds of L.A. places. He even wrote a book about it. Conversely, if a place looks too slick or too corporate, then chances are, you’re about to have some watered-down version of Asian food that has been designed for non-Asians.

If you walk into any ethnic restaurant and immediately see that you are the only person not of that ethnicity, and everyone turns to look at you as if to say, “What are you doing here?” then you can be fairly certain your odds are good for delicious, authentic food.

Some of these hold true in Japan as well. I mean, if you’re walking past a small restaurant and it’s packed with foreigners and it’s in a trendy, touristy neighborhood, then it is quite possible the place is Instagram famous and you’re about to eat some food that someone who has only spent a week in Japan has decided to tell you is the best version of that food.

I can assure you with almost 100% certainty that it will not be the best version. Beware the top 10 lists of gorgeous Instagrammers, as they are filled with “meh” options.

I’ve written in the past about the best way to search online for great restaurants in Japan that guarantee you’ll be eating where Japanese people eat, no matter where you are in Japan at any given moment. The main technique in that article can, and should, be used in any country you visit.

My version of Kevin Kelly’s 50 years of travel tips has several more tips you can easily use to find better places to eat.

If you don’t have the time or the desire to do your own research, my Tokyo Restaurant Confidential (pdf) with over 100 places will be coming out later this year. All paid subscribers will receive a complimentary copy.

OIOI

When I told my friends I went to OIOI, they looked at me with bewildered expressions. I knew I was probably mispronouncing it, but how far off could I be? Pretty far off, apparently, as the mall is actually named Marui.

The signage on the mall is OIOI, and in Japanese, a circle is maru, hence Maru-i. The logo is a play on the word circle. So my friends had no idea what the heck I was talking about. I ended up having to show a photo to get this resolved.

Marui is a popular mall in Japan. Tokyo has 13 of them, including 3 in Shinjuku. So you will definitely see one if you are in Tokyo.

It is not like your other typical high-end malls like Isetan and Takashimaya. Marui has a broad range of shops that sell everything from high-end goods to funky boutique items for both women and men, including shoes, accessories, home goods, and more.

Every Marui mall has a different vibe and different shops. Marui Main Store and Marui Annex in Shinjuku (just a few blocks apart) have lots of character goods, an Apple Store, otaku things, an official Godzilla store (Marui Annex), HMV Records, and a giant shop with all kinds of used video games. The Kichijoji Marui has MUJI, Original Pancake House (The one from Oregon!), Bio-Ral supermarket, and Krispy Creme.

Here’s the link If you’re curious about the variety of shops inside different Marui Malls.

While my taste might run more towards vintage clothing shops, Marui definitely has its own appeal. And with each store having its own selection of stores, there’s a lot to see. So if shopping is your thing, you might want to check them out.

Koi Fish

I’ve always enjoyed seeing Koi fish. I love the variety of beautiful colors, the way they swim over to see if you’ve got a treat for them, and the hypnotic repetition of their scale patterns. My mood always brightens when I spend time around Koi fish.

Here are a few great locations for koi viewing in Tokyo:

Happo-en (Meguro) - Check out the video above.

Hotel Gajoen Tokyo (Meguro) - A cool place to go in the evening as the koi pond is illuminated at night and has a waterfall as a backdrop.​

Rikugien Garden (10 min walk from Komagome Station) - A traditional Japanese garden featuring a large central pond with koi.​

Koishikawa Korakuen (Iidabashi) - One of Tokyo's oldest and most beautiful gardens. The koi swim in ponds surrounded by seasonal foliage. It’s particularly nice in autumn when leaves are changing colors.​

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