TOKYO: Japan has long been rich with culinary treasures. The capital, Tokyo, wears the crown as the culinary capital of the world, with a total of 12 Michelin three-starred restaurants this year, more than any other city — even Paris.
Culinary crown aside, though, this country is a playground for food lovers everywhere and offers the opportunity to explore a cuisine that is heavily informed by cultural customs and age-old traditions. In Japan, you can tuck into a kaiseki — a traditional, almost ritualized multicourse Japanese dinner still served in many restaurants, especially in Kyoto; however, it is also possible to find an array of restaurants offering everything from Italian to Korean to French cuisine. Japan is also home to the famed Sukiyabashi Jiro, helmed by Jiro Ono, probably the world’s most revered sushi chef — which tops our list at the number one spot.
Japan’s culinary stardom led The Daily Meal to put together a list of its 10 best restaurants, drawing upon our recently published and annual list of The 101 Best Restaurants in Asia. In choosing our 101 best, we called upon more than 50 experts who either live in Asia or spend time there frequently — restaurant critics, food and lifestyle writers, and bloggers with extensive restaurant-going experience (the roster was slightly different from last year’s, which in part probably accounts for the fact that some restaurants that ranked highly last year dropped down the list or disappeared this year, as well as the presence of so many new places). This pool of experts was supplemented by The Daily Meal’s well-traveled editorial staff. We asked all the respondents to help nominate additional places to build upon last year’s ballot of 202 contenders, then evaluate the selection and vote for their favorites, country by country (meet The Daily Meal’s panelists).
