Love Japanese Food? These 5 Tokyo Experiences Are a Must-Try

Love Japanese Food? These 5 Tokyo Experiences Are a Must-Try

today we’re diving into five epic food adventures that you can try when you visit Tokyo that are also bookable on byfood.com and these are all experiences and tours that I’ve actually tried here in Tokyo that I thought were super super fun so I’ve summed them up all for you today and before we get into it I have to say I think one of the reasons why I think food tours and experiences are super fun and really surprisingly worth it is because you really get this more of a local guide or local expert who knows a lot about whatever it is that you’re interested in trying in Tokyo you’re also able to ask them questions about Japanese culture so you really get this more in-depth knowledge and information when you’re traveling and I feel like it’s a more personalized experience rather than just trying to wing it through the city even me as a local in Tokyo I’ve actually learned a lot from guides who’ve taken me around the city so I really do recommend giving them a try and if you’re going to try some these are five that I really enjoyed but before we get into it don’t forget to subscribe for more great Tokyo and Japan tips like these all right let’s get started [Music] first up is a ramen tour yes so although ramen is often a more or less solo dining experience considering there are over 10,000 ramen joints in Tokyo it can be very overwhelming to try to decide which one to go to even for myself I spend a lot of time just trying a bunch of different ramen restaurants but it’s still hard to recommend so it is nice to have a ramen connoisseur who can recommend you something that really suits your personal tastes or a tour that’ll allow you to try a variety of different ramens in one go cuz I think that’s the most efficient way to do things the other good thing about having a ramen guide is that they can share their knowledge of ramen and they can even usually help you find ramen options that fit your own dietary needs they can give you the advice that you’re looking for so two really cool tours that I tried one of them was with Frank he’s our in-house ramen expert and what I liked about his tour is that he has a setup where you can try mini bowls of ramen at several different restaurants and I think this is genius because if you’re short on time let’s say you only have a day in Tokyo you want to eat as many different kinds of ramen as you can within a few hours so mini bowls is just definitely the way to go so definitely recommend that and the other ramen tour that I tried was with Brian he’s also a very well-known ramen expert he knows so many great restaurants around Tokyo and I did a really fun video with him where we actually rode bicycles throughout the city that’s not a tour that he normally offers by the way we just decided to do that cuz he loves biking and so do I and he took me to a couple of his favorite ramen shops in the city so I think the ramen options that he provides always he like he likes to change it up so I think you you can probably give some requests what you want but yeah you never know what you’re going to get so yeah I would say leave it up to the experts and you cannot go wrong so definitely check those out if you’re looking for ramen in the city all right let’s move on to the next one number two now for something that is literally above and beyond a helicopter ride above Tokyo followed by a luxurious dining experience how romantic is that i think this would be absolutely perfect for a very special date an anniversary or just any other kind of special celebration that or milestone that you want to celebrate or if you really just want to go all out this is just a really cool way to see Tokyo from above you can fly over Tokyo Tower over Tokyo Skytree Tokyo Dome you can see literally everything from above and it is really stunning and what’s really cool about booking this as a special experience on By Food is that you don’t just get the helicopter tour it comes as a set with a driver who will take you to the helicopter and then he’ll take you to the restaurant after so I think this is a really perfect setup so if you like fancy food and fancy views this was really really worth it and I think what really stood out for me doing this experience was the fact that I got to see Tokyo at night from above cuz I’ve had a chance to see the night views of Tokyo from a high place like at the top of Tokyo Sky Tree or Tokyo Tower but it’s just not the same when you get to fly over the city it almost it just feels so unreal it almost feels like you’re in a VR experience and I think it is worth experiencing at least once in your life for something really really special i know this is not something that you could do that most people can do every day but for something special it’s worth keeping in mind so yeah this is a buy food original experience and you cannot book it anywhere else so yeah if you have something special that you want to celebrate in Tokyo why not check this one out all right let’s go on to number three if you’re looking for a night out that locals swear by then you definitely have to try a Shibuya bar hopping tour this particular one that I’m thinking of will take you to hidden bars sake spots standing bars karaoke bar all of which is curated by Tokyo locals by the names of S and Ken and I joined this one particular Shibuya bar hopping tour and it was such a blast i really really think it is worth signing up for this tour specifically they are such characters i know that they’re quite busy so they they probably have different tour guides who might guide you but they really planned this tour with such care they really know Shibuya so well and I think what’s so good about joining a tour if you’re visiting Japan for the first time I think some people want to have a fun night out but they don’t necessarily have the people to go out and do it with and a night out is a lot more fun with friends so if you want to meet people you can also meet them on the tour you know there’s other people joining people to drink with and then local guides who are just so much fun will teach you about Japanese culture and they’ll just take you out for a fun time and that’s what I experienced on this tour i went and did karaoke i sampled a bunch of different sakees it was so much fun so I definitely cannot recommend enough a bar hopping tour in Tokyo i also did another one fun one that was not in Shibuya it was in Shimashi where I did a snack bar hopping tour and Japanese snack bars are a very traditional local style of pub that usually has one one lady who who handles the counter and she’s known as the mamaang or the mum and she takes care of all the customers it’s usually a very kind of intimate sort of experiences because the bars are so small so usually it’s something that it’s a bit hard to open these like doors and go into if you’re a foreigner traveling for the first time you you sort of need an inn so that’s why it was really nice to have a guide take me around to these snack bars that he personally knows so that was really fun as well i definitely recommend both of those tours check them out and when you’re in Tokyo for a super fun night out all right on to the next one if you’ve ever wanted to experience a day in the life of a Japanese sushi chef then you definitely need to try this tour that I tried in Sukijichi where a local Japanese sushi chef actually guides you around Sukijichi and takes you through the process of selecting the fresh fish of the day which is really the start to any sushi chef’s day is they would go to the market and start the day by selecting the freshest fish that’s available the ones that he believes will be the best tasting of the day and then you take all of your ingredients back after a little bit of shopping to his restaurant which was really really cozy and there he will teach you how to make sushi from scratch and I think you’ll be surprised when you try it yourself that it is a little bit more challenging than it looks it’s not impossible to do on the first try i think you’ll just notice that it won’t look as professional as you would like it to be but that’s the process isn’t it because Japanese sushi chefs they train for years and years before they can even become a sushi chef so at least you have the opportunity to know a little bit about the magic of what it takes to actually create a nigiri sushi or a timaki sushi which is a hand roll so that was a really really cool experience and after you’ve tried your hand at making sushi you get to try the beautiful meal that you helped create and I think that is really a memorable experience who wouldn’t want to come to Tokyo or just come to Japan and learn how to make sushi in the land of sushi by a real pro so that is an experience that I really wholeheartedly recommend and yeah I think I saw some comments in the video too that some people had joined this experience and they loved it so clearly it’s worth a try anyway check this out next time you’re in Tokyo all right let’s go on to the fifth recommendation speaking of restaurants and experiences that are must try that you can only try in Japan is a sumo restaurant wrestling experience this is a restaurant where you can try the food that sum wrestlers actually eat called chonab which is a kind of hot pot that is said to maintain the strength and the you know the energy needed by athletes like simo wrestlers it’s got chicken and other vegetables it’s very hearty and they will eat a lot of it uh the other food you can try there is called tonkatu which as many of you might know is a deep fried pork cutlet but the reason why suma wrestlers eat it and a lot of other athletes for that matter is because katsu is a convenient play on words where katsu means cutlet but it also is the Japanese word for to win so athletes use it when they want to win a match want to win a game and you can also try that at this restaurant but the main attraction of this restaurant I think is not just the food it’s the fact that you can actually wrestle real life sumo wrestlers the restaurant itself is run by retired sumo wrestlers so they are not actively doing sumo official matches anymore but they still are training and maintaining their strength at the restaurant and I did have a chance to experience wrestling one of these civil wrestlers when I went there it was a an unforgettable experience for one women are not actually permitted to do sumo wrestling it’s a male only sport in Japan so this is not an experience that women would get to do outside of this restaurant so I had the very special honor of getting to wrestle with a sim wrestler and it is more difficult than you would expect when I tried I just ran at them with my full strength but what was really remarkable to me that I will never never forget is that you run into them and they are very soft as you would imagine but you kind of just are for a moment a little bit enveloped in in them but also they are a boulder they’re hard as rock they are pure muscle underneath the cushion and it is a very for me that was a very special experience they’re soft but unmovable and I would love to see as many people as possible go to this restaurant and just give it a try anyway I thought that was a really really fun once in a-lifetime experience so if you’re in Tokyo this restaurant is near the sumo district of Dooku so very authentic and I think the last reason that you would want to book this experience is just that sometimes the actual sumo matches are hard to book and they’re quite long very rigid also very cool to experience once in your life but if you just want to go for a lunch and a cool experience or dinner this is my go-to I would say anyway definitely give this a try all of this is bookable on byfood.com before we go I have one last bonus experience here we go [Music] this last bonus tour that I just had to include is of course my very own tour i actually for those of you who don’t know I have my own Harajuku tour where I take my guests through Taestra Street in Harajuku and then we also go for not only street foods but a lovely sit-down dinner experience where I teach all of you guys how to make okonomiyaki which is a savory pancake and we eat drink be merry um I it’s just a really fun time to just kind of chat and you know I I love to share my own personal experiences and stories about living in Tokyo the reason why I have to I feel like I have to include this is because I personally after starting this tour have had so much fun doing it i love meeting all of these new people i get a chance to meet a lot of you guys so it’s really nice to put some faces to the comments even it’s nice to be able to see who is actually watching the videos and yeah it’s been really uh a rewarding experience for me and so much fun so if you guys are interested in having a yeah just a really fun experience in Tokyo everything that I’ve listed today is super fun but so is my tour so if you’d like to come say hi please do not hesitate to check out my my booking page on byfood.com that’s basically all of my main Tokyo tour and experience recommendations that I really enjoyed so yeah I hope you will check those out next time you’re in Tokyo and please let me know down in the comments below if you’ve tried any of them if you did which one was your favorite and if you have any tours or original experiences that you would like to try if it existed because by food also often curates their own original tours so who knows maybe your wild idea could become a real tour experience so feel free to share those wild ideas in the comments down below and yeah as always I hope this was useful for you guys if you like this video please give us a thumbs up don’t forget to share with your friends who are coming to Tokyo or Japan in general and don’t forget to subscribe and we’ll see you guys very soon in another video thanks guys bye if you enjoyed this video click the photos on the left for more and click the one on the right to learn more about buy food and book your own Japan adventures [Music]

Planning a trip to Tokyo? Today, Shizuka is introducing five unforgettable food and cultural experiences every foodie needs to try! From slurping the perfect bowl of ramen to sipping cocktails in hidden Shibuya bars, these one-of-a-kind tours are your ticket to tasting Tokyo like a local.

All experiences featured are bookable on byFood.com — Japan’s one-stop platform for food tours, cooking classes and more.

MENTIONED TOURS
🍜Brian’s ramen Tokyo adventure: https://bit.ly/4e0bVsc
🍜Frank’s mini ramen bowl tour: https://bit.ly/4kI239f
🚁ByFood’s original helicopter and dinner experience: https://bit.ly/3HK2HUV
🍹Soma and Ken’s Shibuya night tour: https://bit.ly/4l26uex
🍣Chef-led fish market visit and sushi-making class: https://bit.ly/4kMaqAw
🥘Sumo wrestler experience and lunch: https://bit.ly/45q4Mzo
🍭Shizuka’s original Harajuku tour: https://bit.ly/45q7bdc

*About byFood*
ByFood is a platform that connects foodies with food experiences in Japan, from bustling food markets to serene countryside tastings. Besides exploring Japanese food culture in an authentic way, your booking fuels positive change! For every booking, we donate 10 meals to children in need through our Food for Happiness program. Ready for your next food adventure?

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