Tokyo is a very interesting city and a spectacular place with many neon lights. It is an enchanting food paradise, with eating opportunities ranging from fine dining restaurants to tasty snacks at the side of the roads. Depending on where we look for places to eat we could have very filling lunch for under $5 and a good dinner for under $10. On a busy street, we could find no fewer than 25 small dining establishments that offer everything from udon to tempura to sushi. Soba is good for both lunch and dinner and it is thin buckwheat noodle that can be served both cold or hot, with a variety of sauces.

Oyakodon is small pieces of chicken slices with rice, vegetables and eggs. Katsudon is fried pork cutlet with rice. Tonkatsu is delicious breaded and deep fried pork with marvellous sweet thick sauce. There are hundreds of other food variations, many can be found only in specific cities and towns. Most meals include some salad and small soup. Some of these dishes can be purchased from vending machines, which add unique characteristics. Many restaurants could also show plastic models that are sold in the front case. We can feel free to point at what we want if our Japanese language skill is quite limited.

Many foreigners and tourists can’t speak Japanese, so restaurant employees usually have no qualms having limited interactions when they order food. Many restaurants in Japan are also located near train stations and subway. Many restaurants in Japan are medium-sized with ten or twenty seats. Even if their English is pretty limited, younger patrons could try to communicate with us. Food halls are also available in many large department stores, usually at lower levels, such as B1 levels. This should be a good way to find affordable and very good gourmet food that we can take to our hotel room.

It should be noted that eating while walking can be considered impolite in many areas in Japan. However, it is acceptable in some large cities, especially in busy streets. If we stay in an apartment with kitchen, it is a good idea to visit the local supermarket. Produce available from these places could help us cook food that resembles something we eat in our home country. This should be possible because fresh raw ingredients can be found easily in Japan.

When looking for cheap, tasty food in Japan; the best way is to ask locals. They should be able to recommend us the best eating places in the area. It is also a good idea to perform research to know about specialized food available in specific areas or cities. There are many affordable food stalls in Japan. Many of them are actually snack, but if we eat enough of them, they could actually constitute a full meal. These snacks could include some rice, batter and noodles; which provides us with carbohydrate. We could also choose those that contain meat and vegetables so we can have a complete meal while snacking.