Japan Fall 2026

Japan Fall 2026

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The second half of our Asia marathon. Picking up the morning after touching down in Osaka from Beijing, this five-day sprint was an exercise in extreme culinary whiplash—pivoting seamlessly from McDonald’s shrimp nuggets to one-Michelin-star tempura counters, chugging platform milk in Akihabara, getting publicly humbled by Australian kangaroo meat in a blind taste test, and collecting yet another pair of anime glasses I definitely didn’t need before flying home via the most convoluted transpacific routing known to man.

Day 1 (Sep 24): Two Lunches, Zero Regrets & Tactical Credit Burn in Osaka

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I kicked off our first full morning in Osaka rolling out of Caption by Hyatt Namba Osaka, grabbing a cold blended drink at Tully’s Coffee to convince my brain what time zone we were in before walking straight to Kuromon Ichiba Market (黒門市場)—famously known as “Osaka’s Kitchen,” or in my case, “First Breakfast.” Walking down the covered arcade, I warmed up with a fresh ichigo daifuku (strawberry mochi) tucked with sweet red bean paste before linking up with Abdul and grabbing a table beneath a giant 3D tuna sculpture for a completely reasonable 10:00 AM surf-and-turf spread:

• Unaju (うな重): Glossy kabayaki-glazed freshwater eel served over steamed rice in a lacquer box alongside hot soup.
• Kaisendon (海鮮丼): A loaded seafood bowl piled high with thick cuts of akami, chutoro, and otoro tuna, fatty salmon belly, raw sweet shrimp (amaebi), creamy uni (sea urchin), and glistening ikura (salmon roe), washed down with a cold Coke Zero to cancel out the calories.

By early afternoon, Abdul and I wandered north into Amerikamura (Ame-mura) in Shinsaibashi to do some shopping, spotting the neighborhood’s rooftop Statue of Liberty replica atop the New American Plaza building and cooling off with a brown sugar boba milk tea from Sin an ju (辰杏珠). Naturally, since a whole two hours had elapsed without raw fish, we ducked into Kaiten Sushi Ginza Onodera (廻転鮨 銀座おのでら) for “Second Lunch”—putting away a three-way tuna trio (Maguro Zanmai—akami, chutoro, and seared aburi toro with grated daikon ponzu), a three-way salmon platter (Salmon Zanmai), and a single prized piece of heavily marbled, scored otoro served on a gold sakura plate that looked more expensive than my hotel room.

In the late afternoon, we migrated up to Umeda to visit the Canopy by Hilton Osaka Umeda, where Abdul was staying. More importantly, Abdul had Amex hotel credits burning a hole in his pocket, and as a loyal friend, I volunteered to help liquidate them. We posted up at !JaJa! Bar on the 11th floor for pre-dinner whisky cocktails on the rocks (garnished with dehydrated citrus) and skewers of crispy fried gyoza.

Once we were properly warmed up for our third meal of the afternoon, we walked over to Kobe Aburi Bokujo (神戸あぶり牧場) in Umeda for a full-scale Kobe beef yakiniku feast:

• Special Select Thick-Cut Tongue (上塩タン / 厚切りタン): Richly marbled tongue root grilled and dressed simply with salt and fresh lemon.
• Kobe Beef Special Select Chuck Short Rib (三角バラ): Intensely marbled triangular short rib paired with salt and freshly grated wasabi.
• Kobe Beef Special Loin & Chuck Tender: Plated with autumn maple leaves and king oyster mushrooms (eringi), enjoyed with salt, wasabi, and white soy sauce.
• Yuzu-Pepper Beef, Kobe Beef Karubi & Yaki-Shabu Ribeye: Seasoned cuts alongside wide, lacy-marbled slices seared for roughly three seconds and dragged through refreshing grated daikon oroshi ponzu, followed by a dessert bowl of matcha ice cream topped with kinako, kuromitsu black sugar syrup, and sweet red bean.

Because one dessert is for quitters—and Abdul still had surviving Amex credits left on the ledger—we marched right back to !JaJa! Bar at the Canopy by Hilton to finish the job with a towering bowl of Mango Bingsu, burying ourselves in fluffy Earl Grey milk shaved ice layered with ripe mango, mango sorbet, and skewers of flower-shaped Korean yakgwa honey cookies.

Day 2 (Sep 25): Ramen-to-McDonald’s Bang-Bang & Michelin-Starred Redemption

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Friday morning started in Ura-Namba at CAFÉ ANNON (カフェ アンノン) with a nutritional breakfast of champions: copper-griddle soufflé pancakes—specifically a rich cocoa and tiramisu soufflé stack dusted with chocolate powder and served alongside fresh strawberries, bananas, and iced coffee. Afterward, I waddled southwest to Namba Yasaka Shrine (難波八阪神社) to pay my respects to its iconic 12-meter-tall Lion Head Stage (Shishiden), whose massive copper-toothed jaws are said to swallow evil spirits (and, I was hoping, a little bit of my cholesterol).

Around midday, I escaped the humidity into GiGO Osaka Dotonbori for an arcade session and a cup of fresh iced lemonade from LEMONADE by Lemonica on the 3rd floor before walking north toward Shinsaibashi for lunch at Tori Soba Zagin (鶏soba 座銀). After punching in my order at the outdoor ticket vending machine, I sat down at the sleek black counter for a bowl of their Spicy Tori Soba (辛鶏soba)—a frothy, cappuccino-like espuma chicken paitan broth kicked up with savory chili spice and crowned with a dramatic nest of crispy deep-fried burdock root (gobō) ribbons and tender slices of both pork and chicken chashu.

Now, a normal person would finish a rich bowl of frothy chicken ramen and call it a successful lunch. Instead, I walked half a block down the street into McDonald’s for an immediate fast-food chaser: a 5-piece box of crispy shrimp nuggets (Puri-Puri Ebipurio / プリプリエビプリオ) and a Meiji Almond Chocolate McFlurry—two Japan-exclusive menu items that make you wonder why American McDonald’s hates us.

In the afternoon, I wandered back down to Girafull (ジラフル) in Namba / Den Den Town to browse One Piece Card Game singles—admiring the ¥3,480 gold-foil stamped Super Parallel DON!! cards of Princess Shirahoshi and Jewelry Bonney in the display cases—and picked up a card as a gift for my brother.

As twilight fell, I executed the sharpest culinary pivot of the trip, trading McDonald’s nuggets for a quiet street in Hommachi to meet up with Abdul at Konoha (このは)—an intimate one-Michelin-star kappo and tempura counter tucked behind a warm lantern-lit noren curtain, where we sat down for their Sake, Sashimi, and Tempura course:

• Welcome Sake: A chilled stemmed glass of Matsu no Tsukasa Junmai Daiginjo (松の司 純米大吟醸) from Shiga Prefecture, shimmering with floating flakes of gold leaf so we could feel like feudal lords.
• Seasonal Appetizer (Sakizuke): An autumn appetizer plated on a hand-painted chrysanthemum porcelain dish with a rich, creamy dressing and edible purple chrysanthemum petals.
• Sashimi (Otsukuri): An assortment of fresh seasonal sashimi—including seared fish topped with julienned myoga ginger, white fish, and intricately scored squid—served in a stepped green Oribe ceramic vessel with freshly grated wasabi and specialty dipping sauces.
• Seasonal Tempura Progression: Course after course of feather-light tempura fried right in front of us—opening with a whole sweetfish (ayu) poised upright on stoneware as if swimming past a streak of green herb sauce, followed by sweet prawn (ebi) with its crispy fried head, delicate white fish (kisu), shiitake and maitake mushrooms, shiso-wrapped seafood, sweet corn, and eggplant.
• Tempura Rice Bowl & Matcha Finale: A comforting rice bowl (tenbara) topped with bite-sized tempura pieces and shredded herbs alongside house pickles (tsukemono), finished with a rustic stoneware bowl of freshly whisked matcha (usucha).

Day 3 (Sep 26): Guilty Sodas, Platform Milk & Adult Kid’s-Menu Heaven

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Before bidding farewell to Osaka on Saturday morning, I paid one last visit to McDonald’s for a classic autumn breakfast ritual: a seasonal Tsukimi McMuffin (stacked with a poached egg, sausage patty, and smoky bacon), a crispy hash brown, and an iced caramel latte. On the way back to Caption by Hyatt to pack up, I raided Ministop for pre-train provisions—a pouch of crunchy Crunky Chicken bites, a viral Korean-style KOKO Dubai Chewy Cookie stuffed with crispy pistachio kataifi pastry inside a marshmallow-chocolate dough, and a neon-pink can of Suntory NOPE Guilty Carbonated fruit soda. You know your snack haul is elite when even the beverage company prints the word “NOPE” and “Guilty” on the can.

Boarding the Tokaido Shinkansen bound for Tokyo, I unfolded my tray table for a top-tier ekiben lunch from Hokkaido’s Sato Suisan: the Sake no Ruibe-zuke Mori Kaisen Bento (鮭のルイベ漬盛り 海鮮弁当), loaded with thick slices of salmon sashimi, cured pollock roe (mentaiko), glistening ikura, and their signature ruibe-zuke—wild chum salmon and roe marinated in a savory soy sauce tare over sushi rice.

Pulling into Shinagawa, I checked into a high-floor king room at The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo, soaking in the sweeping Tokyo skyline views before heading out to Rhythmos (リュトモス) in the atrium to claim my complimentary welcome drink—a chilled, salt-rimmed citrus coupe cocktail. If there is one skill I have perfected in 2026, it is never leaving a free hotel drink behind.

By late afternoon, I hopped on the train over to Akihabara:

• Sobu Line Platform Milk Stand (ミルクスタンド): Right on the station platform, I made a mandatory pit stop at the legendary bottled milk stand (decked out with campaign posters for the national “Milk General Election”) to down an ice-cold glass bottle of Tomo Rakuno Pasteurized Coffee Milk made with 90% raw Gunma dairy, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with commuters like a true local.
• Nagasaki Toruko Rice Shokudo (長崎トルコライス食堂): For dinner, I sat down to an indulgent Toruko Rice (Turkish Rice) platter—which has nothing to do with Turkey and everything to do with refusing to choose a single entrée. It’s essentially an adult kid’s-menu fever dream: a crispy pork tonkatsu cutlet over seasoned rice and dark-sauce spaghetti, an upright ebi fry prawn with tartar sauce, and a juicy hambagu steak swimming in rich demi-glace sauce, all on one plate.
• Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe (Pasela Resorts Akihabara): Afterward, I headed into Pasela Resorts AKIBA Multi-Entertainment—passing the lobby’s autumn foliage character tree covered in Dragon Quest Slimes, Chocobos, Moogles, and Honey-ton—up to the 2nd floor Eorzea Cafe. Beneath a ceiling of floating Delivery Moogles and walls lined with Encyclopaedia Eorzea tomes and replica weapons, I snagged a collectible Feo Ul (Shadowbringers) placemat and spent 1,210 Gil on the “Oracles of Light and Darkness ~ Promises to Keep ~” (光と闇の巫女 ～消せない約束～) dessert—a dual Shadowbringers plate inspired by Ryne and Gaia pairing fluffy Crème d’Anjou drizzled with mango sauce alongside a rich couverture chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and silver alazan dragees.

Back in Shinagawa for the night, I unwound in the room with the hotel’s welcome spread: bottles of Fuji Mineral Water, artisanal geometric dark chocolates, colorful temari candies, and a bag of local Tokaido Shinagawa-juku Arare Okaki nori-wrapped rice crackers.

Day 4 (Sep 27): Ikebukuro Nerd Circuit, Angry Voltorbs & Getting Baited by Kangaroo

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Sunday morning began at Rhythmos (リュトモス) at The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo for the hotel breakfast buffet, where I paired an iced latte with a freshly made French omelette crowned with cream sauce, crispy cheese shards, and black truffle paste, plus a chaotic but delicious side plate of shrimp har gow, pork shumai, tamagoyaki, grilled salted salmon, and a sesame ball.

From Shinagawa, I rode the Yamanote Line up to Ikebukuro for a late-morning anime and gaming pilgrimage:

• Animate Ikebukuro Flagship: Inside the massive flagship store, I checked out a promotional display for Persona 4 Revival (P4R) featuring a giant Teddie (Kuma) plush perched atop a stack of retro red CRT TVs playing game footage, a Code Geass exhibition showcasing a life-size statue of Lelouch Lamperouge aura-farming cross-legged on an ornate imperial throne alongside formal character standees, and a royal Rimuru Tempest figure celebrating Season 4 and the theatrical film of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
• Bandai Namco Cross Store (Sunshine City): Walking over to Sunshine City, I wandered through the Bandai Namco Cross Store to crank some gachapon machines and check out the prize display cases, spotting the newly released Banpresto Big SOFVIMATES figure of cat-eared Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries.
• Gyukatsu Motomura (牛かつ もと村): Abdul met up with me at Sunshine City just in time for lunch on the final day of their annual “Gyukatsu Day” Grand Appreciation Festival. We skipped the promotional dice game out front and got straight to business with a classic Gyukatsu Set Meal—flash-fried rare beef cutlet with a ruby-red center that you sear slice-by-slice on a personal cast-iron hot stone, served with barley rice, grated yam (tororo), spicy mentaiko, potato salad, and kinako-dusted warabimochi.
• Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Cafe: Before leaving Sunshine City, we swung by the Pokémon takeout cafe for a hot latte printed with Pikachu foam art and a yellow Poké Ball box holding three angry red-and-white Voltorb buns. In true classic Japanese batsu-game (Russian roulette) fashion, one of the three Voltorbs was secretly loaded with an aggressively sour filling—a literal game of culinary Self-Destruct.

In the afternoon, I crossed town to Asakusa and stopped into Hokkaido Milk Bar, where a chalkboard showcased four single-farm Hokkaido milks—To You Latte (Youra Milk, Toyoura), Asunaro Farm (Tokachi Shimizu-town), One Two Farm (Akan-cho, Kushiro), and MilRich (Mizoi Farm, Tokoro-county)—and I downed a 3-cup Hokkaido milk tasting flight like a certified dairy sommelier.

For Sunday night dinner, Abdul and I headed to Ueno and descended into Aquarium Restaurant Nautilus (アクアリウムレストラン ノーチラス), dining beside glowing blue shipwreck aquarium tanks to take on their interactive “Test Your Taste Buds: Luxury or Budget?” Gourmet Rating Check Dinner (グルメ格付けディナー). Inspired by the hit Japanese TV show Geinoujin Kakuzuke Check, the 7-question blind taste-test menu challenged us to distinguish high-end luxury ingredients (A vs. B) from clever budget imposter lookalikes—with our final dessert upgraded or downgraded based on our score (ranging from 7/7 [Gourmet God] Divine Taste Buds all the way down to 0/7 [Do Not Feed Premium Food]):

• Q1–Q4 (Drink, Amuse-Bouche, Caviar & Abalone): Both of us started on an absolute 4-for-4 heater—correctly telling apart a Yamazaki 12 Year highball from a standard Suntory Kakubin (“Kaku”) highball (Q1), distinguishing Foie Gras Mousse (¥15,000/kg) from Pork Liver Mousse (¥3,000/kg) (Q2), spotting real Oscietra Caviar (¥5,000/jar) vs. Lumpfish Roe (¥500/jar) over cream mousse and roast beef with brioche (Q3), and picking out Premium Abalone “Hisui no Hitomi” (¥10,000/kg) against Abalone-Style Loco Shellfish (¥2,500/kg) (Q4). At this point, we were ready to demand our own Food Network show.
• Q5 Crab: Plated as twin crab tartare towers over greens with cream and herb sauces, we both nailed the real Japanese Snow Crab (¥10,000/kg) over the Kanikama Imitation Crab (¥2,500/kg) to go 5-for-5.
• Q6 Foie Gras: Then came the hubris. Served side-by-side over creamy black truffle risotto, the kitchen’s “Almost Foie Gras” (¥4,500/kg) completely bamboozled both of us over the real Foie Gras (¥15,000/kg)—handing us our first red ✕.
• Q7 Steak: In the final showdown between A4 Japanese Wagyu Beef (¥7,000/kg) and Australian Kangaroo Meat (¥3,500/kg) served with roasted seasonal vegetables, Abdul calmly picked the Wagyu (A) while I galaxy-brained myself into picking the kangaroo (B). Yes, after eating real Kobe beef on Day 1, I looked a piece of kangaroo in the eye and declared it A4 Wagyu.
• Final Verdict: Despite the kangaroo incident, I finished with 5/7 ([High-Class Gourmet] Brilliant Taste Buds) while Abdul took home bragging rights with 6/7 ([First-Class Gourmet] Genius Taste Buds)—both clearing the top tier to unlock the full Afternoon Tea Set dessert instead of being banished to the budget shadow realm!

Because a 7-course fine-dining taste test plus an afternoon tea stand clearly wasn’t enough food for one night, I made a pit stop at KFC on the way back to the hotel to pick up the limited-edition KFC × Umamusume: Pretty Derby collaboration box—an online-exclusive set I had pre-ordered through the KFC app. The collector’s box came printed with Colonel Sanders-style monochrome portraits of Lucky Lilac, Red Desire, Buena Vista, Agnes Tachyon, Stay Gold, Dantsu Flame, Manhattan Cafe, and Gold Ship (rocking the Colonel’s glasses and goatee), plus a bag of Furi-Furi Fries with Carrot Otchahoi (にんじんオッチャホイ) seasoning and instructions from Gold Ship ordering me to shake the bag “along the x, y, and z axes.”

Day 5 (Sep 28): The Cafe Aaliya Redemption Arc, Makima Glasses & The Long Way Home

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My final day in Japan started at 8:30 AM right in the thick of Monday morning rush hour at JR Shinagawa Station, swimming upstream against an ocean of terrifyingly synchronized Tokyo salarymen beneath the “Please KEEP LEFT during rush hour” banners to catch the train up to Shinjuku.

I had unfinished business in Shinjuku-sanchome: a morning pilgrimage back to Cafe Aaliya (カフェ アリヤ). Readers of my January trip might recall that my last visit here ended in a tragic motion-sickness defeat in the Shinjuku station restroom. Taking counter seat C1 right in front of the bubbling glass siphon coffee globes, I ordered an iced café mocha topped with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle alongside their legendary copper-griddle French Toast—two thick, custard-soaked slices with caramelized golden edges and a cloud-like center, plated with vanilla ice cream and diced peach compote. Not only was it every bit as glorious as I remembered, but I am proud to report a 100% retention rate this time. Redemption achieved.

Stepping back up to street level, I popped into the 3-story JINS Shinjuku flagship store right at the intersection to check out the newly restocked JINS × Chainsaw Man: The Movie – Reze Arc eyewear collection—featuring custom frames modeled after Makima, Chainsaw Man (complete with sculpted jagged teeth on the nose bridge and a starter-cord temple tip), Aki, and Power. Having bought Toy Story “Woody” glasses at JINS back in January, I naturally decided my software-engineer wardrobe needed another subtle pop-culture addition and walked out with a pair of the Makima glasses.

Thanks to my 4:00 PM IHG late checkout—arguably the greatest invention in modern hospitality—I strolled back to Shinagawa for a leisurely farewell lunch on the 26th floor of The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo at China Shadow (チャイナシャドー), enjoying their special “Sanctuary Court Yatsugatake × China Shadow” Gastronomic Theater collaborative course menu overlooking the skyline:

• Appetizer Quintet: An artful platter of Tomato-do tomato mousse, smoked Wasabida salmon with roe, Azumino caviar over Bosqueso artisan cheese, a flaky Shinshu French duck mini pie, and crispy shrimp toast dusted with savory cacao powder.
• Seafood: Plump New Caledonian Angel Prawns bathed in a rich saffron chili bouillabaisse glaze with blanched asparagus and bell pepper petals.
• Meat: Tender braised beef stew made with pesticide-free vegetables from Tokunaga Farm in Chitose, Hokkaido, served in a mini cast-iron cocotte alongside a warm, pillowy steamed milk bread bun for soaking up every drop of sauce.
• Noodles: Silky soup linguine infused with fragrant Hokkaido Mitsuishi Hidaka kelp (kombu) dashi and sliced Todai whelk (tsubugai).
• Dessert: A layered glass parfait of silky almond tofu (annindofu) and translucent green Shine Muscat jelly, crowned with fresh halved Shine Muscat grapes and a crisp spiral wafer tuile.

After finally packing up and checking out at 4:00 PM, I headed to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) Terminal 3 and settled into the American Express Centurion Lounge for one last round of “free” airport grazing—a savory plate of Japanese beef curry, salmon cream farfalle, and grilled salmon, followed by a dessert spread of floral nerikiri wagashi, two-tone baumkuchen, cheesecake, and a cup of HiO ICE CREAM Sea Salt Caramel craft ice cream.

Boarding ANA Flight NH116 to Vancouver in Business Class for the first leg of the marathon journey home, I squeezed in one final multi-course Japanese washoku meal above the clouds—starting with an appetizer tray of simmered octopus, sweet potato, dressed clam salad, and eel tamagoyaki, followed by a main course of stir-fried beef and grilled salmon with steamed rice and miso soup, and a pre-arrival plate of grilled chicken over seasoned mushroom rice before touching down in Vancouver on Monday afternoon to connect down to Seattle and catch the overnight redeye back to Newark. Five days, two cities, zero stomach incidents, and only one case of mistaking a kangaroo for a cow—I’ll call that a massive success.