Local food streets across the country

Tokyo

A narrow alley packed with grilled skewer bars — an evening drinking quarter.

Osaka

One stop from Umeda, the streets around Fukushima Station are dense with small izakaya and bistros. Riverside redevelopment in the late 2000s brought residents and office workers, and the area grew into a dining battleground; arrive early for popular spots.

Kyoto

A student quarter — cheaper, and open later.

Fukuoka

An old covered shopping street with udon and snack shops.

Sapporo

A narrow lane lined with ramen shops.

Nagoya

Five minutes on foot from Nagoya Station, a downtown fish market that began as a wholesalers' lane in 1910 and is still called the kitchen of the city. After the early wholesale trade, market diners serve seafood bowls and sushi through the morning.

Yokohama

An evening quarter dense with small bars.

Kobe

Where the griddle shops serving sobameshi are.

Hiroshima

A building stacked floor by floor with okonomiyaki stalls.

Okinawa

The Naha market, where fish chosen downstairs is cooked for you upstairs.

Sendai

A downtown market selling prepared dishes and seafood.

Nara

The covered shopping street between the station and the park.

Beppu

The downtown cluster of restaurants and shops, and the transport base.

Tokyo

A street given over to monjayaki restaurants.

Kyoto

The sake brewing district, with food built around what goes with it.

Fukuoka

Beside the fish market, so ramen shops open unusually early.

Sapporo

A market a little outside the centre, dealing in crab and dried seafood.

Nagoya

Between Nagoya Station and Nagoya Castle, one of the oldest arcades in the city, descended from an Edo-period merchant quarter. Long-running shops sit beside new cafes and diners, and weekend street markets are frequent.

Yokohama

An old district south of Kannai Station: the Isezakicho arcade, revived as a pedestrian street after the war, and Yoshidamachi, a retro dining quarter where a Taisho-era bank vault now serves as a private room. With Noge, the evening quarter of the locals.

Kobe

An old entertainment district west of Sannomiya, once lined with theatres and known as the Asakusa of the west. Standing bars and Western-style diners that have run for over half a century survive; more working-class local than tourist.

Hiroshima

The evening drinking quarter.

Okinawa

A market beside Asato Station in Naha, built in 1955 on the war-ruined site of a former girls' school. Deli and vegetable stalls by day, tiny bars in the narrow lanes by night, and more locals than tourists come here for an evening drink.

Sendai

A narrow alley beside the Ichibancho arcade, about 120 m long, that began as a market of air-raid survivors' stalls in 1946 and keeps its postwar black-market character. Tiny izakaya, set-meal diners and oden counters pack both sides.

Nara

A 250 m arcade continuing south from Higashimuki across Sanjo-dori, said to be the oldest shopping street in Nara with trade dating back to the Nara period. Old confectioners and diners sit among cafes, and it reaches the edge of Naramachi.

Beppu

Between Beppu Station and the sea, the station-front street and the Kitahama area hold izakaya, toriten set-meal diners and small bars. Toriten, the local fried-chicken speciality, is said to have started at a restaurant near here in 1926; evenings after a bath usually end up in this quarter.