I ordered motsu-nabe from an online shop yesterday. Motsu-nabe is well known as a local specialty food of Fukuoka pref. There are some motsunabe restaurants in Tokyo (I recommend Arizuki in Ebisu), though I hardly find such good motsu (beef guts) in stores. When I want to eat a good one at home, I have to order it from a shop in Fukuoka. We call such local specialty foods "Gotouchi gourmet". Japan is such a small country, though foods are quite variable depending on area and prefectures. For example, Okinawa style will be a world famous one. Even for the same food, taste and cooking styles are so different in each area. Ramen is getting popular now, I read Ippudo in NY is very appreciated by New York people. Ippudo's ramen is a very creamy white soup made from pig bone. We call it Tonkostu ramen. In Hokkaido miso ramen with miso base soup is a local specialty. In Tokyo, it is Shyoyu ramen with soy sauce base. Kitakara city in Fukuoka pref is the most famouse city for ramen. There are over 120 ramen shops in the city (population is about 30000) and the ratio of ramen shops is the highest in Japan. Their ramen is soy sauce based and the noodles are thicker than usual. Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) is a famous food in Osaka and Hiroshima. Osaka style has usually no noodle and egg is mixed into dough. Hiroshima style has noodle, and egg is used like a cover in the bottom or top. Okonomiyaki or Tonkotsu Ramen are very popular and Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka people are proud of those as their "local soul food", but Tokyo doesn't have such food, I am a little bit envious of it. I will pick famous gotouch food here, hopefully you can try not only Sukiyaki and sushi, but also such local specialty foods.
Here are special food of 47 prefectures in Japan. These are not all, I just picked some famous ones up.
Hokkaido : Miso Ramen, Jingisukan (Genghis Khan).
Aomori : Tuna dish
Akita : Kiritanpo (rice bar pot), Inaniwa Udon, Iburigakko (smoked pickled)
Iwate : Jyajya men (noodle with meat and miso sauce), Wanko soba (wanko soba is eaten in a special way to eat soba)
Miyagi : Beef toungue, Sasa Kamaboko
Yamagata : Tama konnyaku
Fukushima : Kitakata Ramen
Tokyo : Kaminari-okoshi, Monjyayaki (a sort of soft okonomiyaki )
Kanagawa : Hato sabre
Saitama : Soka senbei
Chiba : Peanuts miso
Gunma : Yaki Manjyu (Grilled Japanese bans)
Tochigi : Utunomiya Gyoza (dumling). They have Dumpling statue :-)
Ibaraki : Natto
Fukui : Yakisaba sushi (grilled fish sushi)
Ishikawa : Kabura sushi
Toyama : Masuno sushi
Nagano : Oyaki
Nigata : Sasa dago
Yamanashi : Shingen mochi
Aichi : Uiro, Misokatsu, Tebasaki (chicken wing)
Shizuoka : eel pie, green tea
Mie : Akafuku (red beans sweet with mochi)
Gifu : Gohe mochi (sweet miso sauce with mochi)
Osaka : Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki
Hyogo : Black beans
Kyoto : Senmaizuke,(sliced radish pickles)
Nara: Narazuke, Kakinoha sushi
Wakayama : Umeboshi (sour plum)
Shiga : Goshu Dango (small rice mochi with sweet soy sauce)
Tottori : Rakkyo (Pickled Scallions)
Hiroshima : Momiji manjyu (Leaf Red Bean Cakes), Okonomiyaki
Yamaguchi : Blow fish dish
Okayama : Kibi dango (millet dumpling)
Shimane : Izumo soba
Kagawa : Sanuki Udon
Ehime : Taimeshi (Sea Bream Rice)
Kochi : Pomelo
Tokushima : Sudachi (green citrus)
Fukuoka : Karashi mentaiko, Tonkotsu ramen
Nagasaki : Casttela cake , Sara udon, Kakuni manjyu
Saga : Maruboro(round sponge cake)
Oita: Yuzu pepper paste
Miyazaki : Imo Shochu, (my best alchole)
Kumamoto : Kumamoto ramen
Kagoshima : Sakurajima Daikon (big round radish), Karukan.(soft steamed cake)
Okinawa : Goya Chanpuru, Awamori (an alcoholic beverage indigenous to and unique to Okinawa).
When you check "gotouchi" on the internet, you will find a lot of Gotouchi Kitty. It means Kitty collection in special costume according to each area history or special.
When I want to eat a good one at home, I have to order it from a shop in Fukuoka. We call such local specialty foods "Gotouchi gourmet". Japan is such a small country, though foods are quite variable depending on area and prefectures. For example, Okinawa style will be a world famous one. Even for the same food, taste and cooking styles are so different in each area. Ramen is getting popular now, I read Ippudo in NY is very appreciated by New York people. Ippudo's ramen is a very creamy white soup made from pig bone. We call it Tonkostu ramen. In Hokkaido miso ramen with miso base soup is a local specialty. In Tokyo, it is Shyoyu ramen with soy sauce base.
Posted by: louboutin | Friday, May 20, 2011 at 05:12 PM
Kitakara city in Fukuoka pref is the most famouse city for ramen. There are over 120 ramen shops in the city (population is about 30000) and the ratio of ramen shops is the highest in Japan. Their ramen is soy sauce based and the noodles are thicker than usual. Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) is a famous food in Osaka and Hiroshima. Osaka style has usually no noodle and egg is mixed into dough.
Posted by: christian louboutin | Friday, May 20, 2011 at 05:08 PM
Hiroshima style has noodle, and egg is used like a cover in the bottom or top. Okonomiyaki or Tonkotsu Ramen are very popular and Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka people are proud of those as their "local soul food", but Tokyo doesn't have such food, I am a little bit envious of it. I will pick famous gotouch food here, hopefully you can try not only Sukiyaki and sushi, but also such local specialty foods.
Posted by: louboutin shoes | Friday, May 20, 2011 at 05:05 PM
For hanging your own artwork on the wall and never telling a soul that it's paint-by-number.
Posted by: MBT shoes | Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Oishisou (^0^)
Posted by: Marco Bresciani | Monday, January 26, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Hi Mari, I've been reading your blog for over a year now. Great blog you have here! Brings me back to my days in Tokyo. Just wanted to point out that Tokyo does have a local soul food - it's monjayaki! When I first arrived in Tokyo in 2001, I can't get it outside Tokyo and it's delicious!
Posted by: orangeroses | Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 11:26 PM
Hi there Ippudo is great, try it, try it!
Posted by: mari | Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 06:06 PM
Mmmmm, I want the Miso Katsu!!! Thanks for the list ;-)
Posted by: FrenchyJack | Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 05:59 PM
I haven't been to Ippudo in New York, but I've been to almost every other Ramen shop here and I can tell you that New York Mag (the link above) doesn't know what they're talking about. Most of the ramen shops down in the East Village are really bad, including all of the other ones listed in that article. I don't think most New Yorkers know what makes good ramen, because they've never had the real thing. The New York Times has also given good writeups to both Setagaya and Minca down there, and I think they're just not good at all.
I've had ramen a bunch of times in Tokyo so I can at least compare to that - and closest thing in New York is Menchanko-tei on I think 55th St. I haven't had ramen in Hakata but I actually like their Hakata ramen the best. It's all good, though.
But yeah, ramen is getting popular here... but still, most New Yorkers are very unsophisticated when it comes to distinguishing quality. It's like how we were with sushi like 10-15 years ago. Not that I'm an expert or anything but it's not hard to compare ramen in New York with ramen in Tokyo if you've had both.
Posted by: Jeff | Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 01:12 PM
Awesome. Thanks for the list!
Posted by: Timothy | Friday, January 23, 2009 at 11:35 PM