Unique Restaurants & Bars in Japan

The only Kurdish restaurant in Japan invites you to learn and feast.

Sip “liquid cuisine” made with meat, vegetables, and insects.

Tokyo’s only Ainu restaurant serves Indigenous food from northern Japan.

The tallest city hall in the world offers an excellent bento box.

Come for the fish sundae, stay for the collection of Studio Ghibli cat buses.

One of Kyoto's oldest food establishments has supplied soba noodles to temple priests and the Imperial Palace.

Sidle into a side alley for a taste of sumo wrestlers' traditional hot-pot soup, in a tiny restaurant founded by a former competitor.

A cool dive bar, off the beaten track.

It's bad manners to eat and drink on the subways of Tokyo, unless the train is this bar. 

This bar is filled with Star Wars merchandise from around the world, all of it unlicensed knockoffs.

This subterranean spot might be the epitome of Japan's baroque, retro coffee houses.

Colloquially known as “piss alley,” this narrow street filled with tiny bars and barbecue stands looks like it was pulled straight out of “Blade Runner.”

Fans line up at the crack of dawn for a slurpy bowl of deliciousness at this noodle counter inside a factory.

Barbies stare from the walls, sit on the tables, and even pop out of cakes at this quirky cafe.

Transport yourself to the 1980s era of video games at this themed restaurant and bar.

Haunted house kitsch meets Japanese folklore at this theme bar where patrons can “die” and have their own mock funeral.