The Tokyo Experience — Pt 2: STREET FOOD

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Beyond Blocks

4 min readMar 21, 2018

This is the second installment of our Tokyo Experience blog series, where we’ll be journeying into the world of Japanese street food. All set?

Although the street food culture is less prevalent in Japan compared to other Asian countries like Thailand or Taiwan, it doesn’t take away from the fact that there are countless ‘cheap-eats’ street food vendors that you MUST experience.

Think of things to eat in Tokyo and you might envision wooden boats of sushi, bowls of ramen and, well, not much else. In this article, I will do my best to show you a whole world of Tokyo street food to uncover — you just need to know where to look!

**TAKOYAKI — WHEAT-FLOUR FILLED WITH DICED OCTOPUS AND TOPPED WITH TAKOYAKI SAUCE, MAYO, SEAFWEED FLAKES, AND FISH FLAKES.**

Tokyo Street Food

Although some are not really completely street — as in not served from a street cart — but rather served from a building facing the street with standing room, or street-side seating.

Mitarashi dango (みたらし団子)

Mitarashi Dango is one of the many very traditional Japanese Mochi sweets. Small round Mochi balls are skewered on bamboo sticks and covered with a gooey sweet and salty brown sauce. Mitarashi Dango is a great snack and quite satisfying without being overly sweet. You may want to try it one afternoon with hot green tea. [1]

Price: ~110 JPY ($1.04)

**MITARASHI DANGO — RICE BALLS ON STICK**

Sweet bread

In Japan you’ll not only find rice and noodles, but bread is a pretty big favorite too.In both bread shops and at small street food stall in the neighborhoods you can find Japanese sweet bread, a light and airy bun that has little patches, like a soccer ball, on the outside.

Price: 170 JPY ($1.67)

Yakitori (焼き鳥)

Although literally translated as grilled chicken skewers, yakitori now refers to a variety of different grilled meats on skewers.

Eating yakitori is one of the favorite Japanese things to eat along with a beer or sake, and is available at occasional street food stalls and also at small hole in the wall Yakitori-ya or Izakayas.

Price: About 150–200 JPY ($1.47 — $1.97) per stick

Japanese Crepe

Tokyo’s district of Harajuku (原宿) is famous for many things, not least for its youth culture and over-the-top street fashion. It’s also the place to go for Japanese crepes, a treat that anyone with a sweet tooth must try when visiting Japan. Harajuku’s famous Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street 竹下通り) is home to many Japanese crepe shops. [2]

Price: 450 JPY ($4.43) — a little expensive if you ask me, but if you have a sweet tooth, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

**JAPANESE CREPES FROM MARION CREPES IN HARAJUKU**

Taiyaki (鯛焼き fish shaped waffles)

Along with takoyaki, taiyaki is another craze street food snack in Japan.

Cooked in the shape of a fish, the outside is similar to pancake or waffle batter, and they are commonly filled with red azuki beans, custard, sweet potato, or even chocolate. [3]

Price: Around 120–150 JPY ($1.18 — $1.48)