Plan the trip around the food.

The formats worth knowing

Matsuri stalls (yatai). Every festival brings its food street: yakisoba, takoyaki, grilled corn, shaved ice. Eat standing, eat as you walk the grounds, and expect the best stalls to be the ones with the smoke.

Depachika. The basement food halls of the big department stores are Japan's great food galleries: regional sweets, bento, sake, pickles, all of it gift-wrapped. Go an hour before closing for marked-down boxes.

Ekiben. Station bento boxes are regional cooking in miniature, sold on the platform and eaten on the train. A shinkansen ride without one is a missed course.

Shotengai and markets. The covered shopping streets and morning markets (Nishiki in Kyoto, Kuromon in Osaka, the port markets of the north) are where cities actually shop. Arrive hungry and early.

Meibutsu: the regional specialities

Every part of Japan has its meibutsu, the famous local specialities a place is known by, and half the fun of travelling here is eating the one thing each stop does best. The short list for the cities on this site:

Tokyo: monjayaki on Tsukishima's Monja Street, and Edo-mae sushi, the style the city invented. Kyoto: yudofu, simmered tofu served around the temples, and matcha sweets in Uji. Osaka: takoyaki and okonomiyaki, in the city that argues about both. Nara: kakinoha-zushi, sushi pressed in persimmon leaves, and Miwa somen, among the oldest noodles in Japan.

Hiroshima: layered Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, oysters from Miyajima, and momiji manju maple-leaf cakes for the train. Sapporo: soup curry, jingisukan lamb grilled on a dome-shaped plate, and miso ramen. Hakone: kuro-tamago, the black eggs steamed in Owakudani's volcanic vents, and onsen manju. Fukuoka: Hakata tonkotsu ramen, mentaiko spiced cod roe, and mizutaki chicken hotpot.

Kanazawa: jibuni duck stew and the seafood of Omicho Market. Nikko: yuba, the delicate skin skimmed from soy milk. Niseko: Hokkaido dairy and soup curry in powder country. Hakuba: oyaki dumplings and Shinshu soba. Around Mount Fuji: hoto, flat noodles in a pumpkin and miso stew from Yamanashi, on the Kawaguchiko side of the mountain.