How to Read a Japanese Menu — A Traveler's Guide
Japan is one of the best places on earth to eat and one of the hardest places to order. Outside the big tourist districts, plenty of excellent restaurants still hand you a single laminated sheet in Japanese, or point you at a wall of paper strips with no pictures at all. The good news: Japanese menus follow a very consistent logic. Once you know the handful of category headings and thirty or so dish names that repeat everywhere, most menus become readable at a glance.
How a Japanese menu is organized
Japanese restaurants tend to specialize. A ramen shop sells ramen; a tempura shop sells tempura. So the menu is usually short, and it is organized by format rather than by course.
The headings you will see most often:
| Japanese | Reading | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 定食 | teishoku | Set meal — a main dish plus rice, miso soup and pickles |
| 丼 / どんぶり | don / donburi | A bowl of rice with something on top |
| 麺類 | menrui | Noodle dishes |
| 一品料理 | ippin ryōri | À la carte single plates, meant for sharing |
| おすすめ | osusume | The chef's recommendations — usually the day's best value |
| 本日のおすすめ | honjitsu no osusume | Today's specials, often handwritten |
| セット | setto | A combo, e.g. ramen plus a small rice bowl |
| 大盛り | ōmori | Large portion, usually for a small surcharge |
| 飲み放題 | nomihōdai | All-you-can-drink for a fixed time |
| ドリンク | dorinku | Drinks |
Two structural notes that trip people up. First, if you see a ticket machine (食券機, shokkenki) by the door, you buy before you sit: insert cash, press the button, hand the ticket to the staff. The top-left button is conventionally the shop's signature bowl, which is a reliable default when you cannot read anything. Second, at an izakaya (Japanese pub), dishes arrive as they are ready rather than in courses, and you are expected to keep ordering through the evening.
Common dishes you'll see on the menu
These thirty names cover the large majority of what appears on everyday Japanese menus. Learn to recognize the shapes of the kanji rather than memorizing them — 定食, 丼 and 麺 in particular are worth knowing on sight.
| Japanese | Reading | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 寿司 | sushi | Sushi | Vinegared rice with fish or vegetables |
| 刺身 | sashimi | Sashimi | Raw fish, no rice |
| 天ぷら | tempura | Tempura | Lightly battered, deep-fried seafood and vegetables |
| 唐揚げ | karaage | Fried chicken | Marinated, boneless, ubiquitous at izakaya |
| 焼き鳥 | yakitori | Grilled chicken skewers | Ordered by the stick, salt (塩) or sauce (タレ) |
| 豚カツ | tonkatsu | Breaded pork cutlet | Usually served as a teishoku |
| 牛丼 | gyūdon | Beef rice bowl | Fast, cheap, everywhere |
| 親子丼 | oyakodon | Chicken and egg rice bowl | Literally "parent and child" |
| カツ丼 | katsudon | Pork cutlet rice bowl | Cutlet simmered with egg over rice |
| 海鮮丼 | kaisendon | Seafood rice bowl | Assorted sashimi over rice |
| ラーメン | rāmen | Ramen | See broth types below |
| うどん | udon | Udon | Thick wheat noodles, hot or cold |
| そば | soba | Soba | Thin buckwheat noodles, hot or cold |
| つけ麺 | tsukemen | Dipping noodles | Noodles and broth served separately |
| 焼きそば | yakisoba | Fried noodles | Sauce-fried, a festival staple |
| お好み焼き | okonomiyaki | Savory pancake | Often cooked at your table |
| たこ焼き | takoyaki | Octopus balls | Osaka street-food classic |
| 餃子 | gyōza | Dumplings | Pan-fried; a standard ramen-shop side |
| しゃぶしゃぶ | shabu-shabu | Hot pot | Thin meat swished in broth |
| すき焼き | sukiyaki | Sweet soy hot pot | Richer and sweeter than shabu-shabu |
| 鍋 | nabe | Hot pot | Usually for two or more people |
| 定食 | teishoku | Set meal | The best-value lunch in Japan |
| おにぎり | onigiri | Rice ball | Convenience-store staple |
| 味噌汁 | miso shiru | Miso soup | Included in most set meals |
| 漬物 | tsukemono | Pickles | Also included in sets |
| ご飯 | gohan | Rice | Also means "meal" generally |
| 枝豆 | edamame | Soybeans | The default izakaya starter |
| 冷奴 | hiyayakko | Cold tofu | Light, cheap, refreshing |
| デザート | dezāto | Dessert | |
| 抹茶 | matcha | Green tea powder | Common in desserts and drinks |
For ramen specifically, the broth is named separately: 醤油 (shōyu) soy sauce, 塩 (shio) salt, 味噌 (miso) fermented soybean, and 豚骨 (tonkotsu) creamy pork bone. If a ramen menu lists nothing else you understand, those four kanji tell you what you are getting.
A few words worth spotting for dietary reasons: 肉 (niku, meat), 牛 (gyū, beef), 豚 (buta, pork), 鶏 (tori, chicken), 魚 (sakana, fish), 海老 (ebi, shrimp), 卵 (tamago, egg), 野菜 (yasai, vegetable), 辛い (karai, spicy). Note that dashi — the stock in almost everything, including most miso soup and noodle broth — is usually made with bonito fish, so "vegetable" dishes are frequently not vegetarian.
Useful phrases for ordering
| Japanese | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| すみません | sumimasen | Excuse me (also: sorry, thank you) |
| 英語のメニューはありますか？ | eigo no menyū wa arimasu ka? | Do you have an English menu? |
| これをください | kore o kudasai | This one, please (while pointing) |
| おすすめは何ですか？ | osusume wa nan desu ka? | What do you recommend? |
| 二人です | futari desu | Two people |
| 生ビールをください | nama bīru o kudasai | A draft beer, please |
| お水をください | omizu o kudasai | Water, please |
| 持ち帰りできますか？ | mochikaeri dekimasu ka? | Can I take this away? |
| お会計お願いします | okaikei onegai shimasu | The bill, please |
| ごちそうさまでした | gochisōsama deshita | Thank you for the meal (said on leaving) |
Pointing is completely acceptable and not considered rude. Holding up fingers for the number of diners works everywhere. If you want to be understood instantly, combine a point with これ (kore, "this") and you are ordering correctly.
Prices, paying and tipping
Menu prices in Japan are legally required to show the tax-included total, so what you read is what you pay. There is no tipping — leaving money on the table will get it returned to you.
At most restaurants you pay at the register on your way out, not at the table; take the slip left on your table with you. Lunch teishoku sets are the single best value in the country, typically running well under half the price of the same dishes at dinner. Small cash-only shops still exist, especially older ramen counters and neighborhood izakaya, so carry some yen.
One charge that surprises visitors: many izakaya add a お通し (otōshi) — a small compulsory appetizer that functions as a seat charge, usually a few hundred yen per person. It is normal, not a scam.
Etiquette worth knowing
- Slurping noodles is fine and even expected; it cools the noodles and is not rude.
- Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice, and do not pass food chopstick to chopstick — both echo funeral rites.
- The wet towel (oshibori) is for your hands, not your face.
- Water and tea are free and self-serve at many counters; you will not be asked.
- At busy ramen shops, finish and leave. Lingering over an empty bowl is what makes queues long.
When the menu has no English at all
This is the normal case at the places worth eating. Handwritten strips on the wall, a laminated sheet of kanji, a ticket machine with forty unlabeled buttons — none of these have an English version hiding somewhere. Photographing the menu and reading the translation before you order turns the whole wall into something you can actually choose from, which is the difference between ordering the one dish you recognize and ordering the thing the shop is known for.
FAQ
Do most restaurants in Japan have English menus? In central Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka tourist areas, many do. Away from those areas, and at small specialist shops anywhere, most do not. Plastic food displays in the window are a common substitute — you can walk outside and point at one.
What should I order if I can't read anything? Ask for the osusume (recommendation), or on a ticket machine press the top-left button, which is conventionally the shop's signature dish.
Is it rude to point at the menu? No. Pointing while saying kore o kudasai is a completely standard way to order, and staff will not think less of you for it.