Crab Hot Pot, Hokkaido, photo courtesy of JNTO 
DESTINATIONS

Fall Flavours of Japan

Japan is a gastronomic paradise in which every region and season has its own flavours. Fall dishes are the most colourful!

Adam Waxman

Pack up your chopsticks! The culinary map of Japan is a carnival of flavour-forward specialties spanning every prefecture with unique ingredients, dishes, and experiences that await at every turn.

When visiting Tokyo or Osaka, classes in making sushi, soba, gyoza and ramen are plentiful, but to really sink your teeth into Japanese foodie culture, here are some extraordinary experiences – featuring both regionality and seasonality – that are worth venturing out beyond the big cities.

Hot Spring, Hot Pot

Blood Hell, Beppu, Oita

Dive into Delicious

Ama Hut Experience, Ama Divers, Mie

Surf and Turf by the Sea

Omicho Fish Market, Kanazawa, photo courtesy of JNTO

In Osaka you can take your fish-dish one step further at Zauo Namba Honten fishing restaurant where, once seated at your table, you cast a line to catch your own fish. Red Snapper and flounder swim in the water below. If you catch it, reel it in, present it to the staff, and order how you would like it prepared: sashimi, sushi, grilled, broiled or tempura-fried.

Ramen-tic Udon

Sanuki Udon, Kagawa, Ibmoon Kim.unsplash

Kagawa is Japan's capital of udon noodles, and is renowned for its Sanuki Udon, flat-sided noodles. There are four ingredients: wheat for the noodles, salt, soy sauce and dried sardines for the broth. Upon arrival at the airport, let an Udon Taxi, driven by an udon specialist, whisk you directly to select udon restaurants. Along with his driver's license, your guide has passed a handmade-udon test.

A Gourmet Guide for Canadians

Salmon Rose, Murakami, Niigata

Take full advantage of this new resource at https://www.japan.travel/en/ca/cuisine/. A survey and giveaway contest on regional dishes is slated for late October: keep your eyes on https://www.japan.travel/en/ca/ for more details and to enter!