20 Must Try Japanese Foods in Tokyo 🇯🇵 Ultimate Travel Guide + The $15 Strawberry

20 Must Try Japanese Foods in Tokyo 🇯🇵 Ultimate Travel Guide + The $15 Strawberry

[Music] tokyo is home to the best food in the world can I try it yeah try lots of It’s amazing and our plan is to indulge in it all i know it looks disgusting that is fresh we’re eating at some of the wackiest places that is the most unusual piece of food I have ever seen in my entire life john and I are heading to the famous Sukuji markets careful oh my gosh where the freshest finest and most expensive foods in the world are sold every day the strawberries each $15 very sweet okay number one number one and then across the city we’ll be trying different Japanese delicacies tempura is so beautiful from fluffy pancakes to a hedgehog cafe we’re going to be sharing our locations oh my god from this Michelin star mecca that’s so big and we also have some personal news to share so hang around until the end for a huge life update beautiful and strong welcome to the heart of Tokyo guys today John and I starting in ground zero the Tukuji Outer Markets it has a whopping 55,000 reviews on Google and this is where we’re going to be finding some of the most expensive produce in the world this is so amazing so at this incredible fruit and ve shop the strawberries each are $15 you may have heard or seen the viral earwan $20 strawberries one singular strawberry $20 they’re imported here from Japan and the grapes one little bunch of grapes that is $60 but they are perfect there are no imperfections on them i just couldn’t help but think back to how my grandma when you go into the supermarket they just have to pick one and try it before they buy it i’m like I can’t imagine doing that here it’s amazing it actually says here it will get damaged if you touch it don’t touch me so you’re not allowed to touch any of the fruit that are at this stairs they’re perfect and it’s strawberries strawberries have never seen that never seen that so what are you going to do what are you buying we’re going to try the $15 strawberry you get one one strawberry for $15 and it looks like the perfect strawberry it is the most perfect i think she’ll wash it for you if you ask is it possible to wash it just don’t drop it ready okay ready don’t drop it i’m so nervous okay whoa is that the perfect strawberry go for it yeah [Music] that is so darn good it tastes like sweet sherbet the juice is literally dripping down my hand that’s the best strawberry I’ve ever had in my life can I try it nothing’s going to prepare you for that that is exactly like the the strawberries I used to eat at my granddad’s house only John’s granddad had a secret weapon to his strawberries when we not us we The hands on your chest as well yeah it’s amazing i’m having every last little bit but it was around the corner where John and I found the most popular stands here at these markets wow there’s a massive line John massive line right john’s still working as an airline pilot but he was keen to find it because just a few years ago he stood at this very spot i had some time off between flights when I used to fly to LA and I took this photo of this old lady over this giant walk there’s still a giant queue there same as there was 7 years ago go see if she’s still working this stand you’ll see it on the right hand side as we go past has been here since 1947 she’s not working there anymore a no it’s like a It must be like a big curry with egg and rice smells good smells really good feel like I need a lineup but look at the queue no yeah yeah it’s the same are you Must be like 150 people wow they need to put their prices up huh kawaii [Laughter] this guy’s lucky he got a seat [Music] oh the lineup is all the way down here we walked deeper into the markets and we got lost in what felt like a maze of wholesale stores we spotted this man having a little snooze while waiting for his next customer but to give you an idea of just how big this place really is I’m going to bring up the entire block it’s covered in more than 400 stalls this street view and clicking on different areas really gives you an idea of how enormous this place is this is so interesting in these corridors there are like sushi restaurants lined up through there you should go and have a look John down the end they have like full sushi going on you would never you would never guess it is that where we should be going to eat i don’t know it’s an experience though yeah like to your left and your right so the sushi place that we just went to has Oh one dish one dish per person so order yeah can you just read out some of the prices John so uh you’ve got the full assortment of just about everything 10 pieces fatty tuna which is like considered higher quality quality shrimp abalone seaction and salmon row and a roll this uh $78 Aussie Aussie so 50 US it’s probably double the price of the one we went in Shinjuku but I’d say that the quality of the fish here is probably a bit higher coming up we’ll be taking you to our favorite sushi restaurant in whole of Tokyo john just said that this is the best sushi he’s ever eaten it’s really interesting if you go to a sushi restaurant in Australia you can have tuna and salmon that’s it here there’s every grade of tuna available every grade of salmon available from like your average right up to your super expensive ultra premium tuna and they serve it raw it’s called shashimi it’s a traditional Japanese dish that’s been served up since 500 BC it’s essentially thin sliced raw fish or meat and you’ll see it served with soy sauce and wasabi everywhere here wasabi wasabi soy sauce this was medium fatty blue tuna okay medium and very fatty as for the owner who just served us he’s been here 60 years that is incredible job we just sliced it we just washed him slicing it up have some wasabi soy sauce and see what this tastes like how much out of 10 try lots of wasabi it’s actually like quite refreshing it’s not fishy at all no super fresh let’s keep on exploring this epic seafood market that has a few more surprises in store for us the choice is unbelievable there’s sea urchins which can fetch up to $300 a kilo packets of dried squid every shape every size even dried octopus i wonder if you’d be able to take that back to Australia speaking of which there are little ones and what looked like Guinness World Record ones just to give you an idea of how big it is we were so shocked at just how many people were here at these markets i mean this place is massive this is stimulation overload believe it or not it actually used to be busier because the famous tuna auctions took place here and it was the largest fish and seafood market in the world but in 2018 it got so crowded that it was divided in two and so the tuna auctions now happen at Toyosu Market and it’s got more security guards than most large banks okay I’ve lost John i thought I lost you there for a second i think that’s why they say to come early actually because it’s actually probably quieter not busy the turnaround of stock here is crazy they can’t keep up we’ve only been here an hour and a half and we can already start to see things are selling out so yeah guess here early food lovers from every quarter of the globe descending on this market paradise they’ve got chicken gizzards chicken meatballs chicken everything for the weird how do you like your tongue and the wacky that is the most unusual piece of food I have ever seen in my entire life i need to show you what I just witnessed not really sure what’s happening okay wait okay so they put like some batter on a grill oh and they put a prawn in the middle of it and then they flatten it huh oh they they put it in a vice oh that’s funny they wrench it they flatten it like you know how you used to put flowers in between the pages of a book and then have a look what it looks like when it comes out oh that’s funny isn’t that amazing that’s crazy have you seen anything like that before no and there’s a huge line i mean some of the lines to these stalls were ridiculous rather than wait I mean it could have taken an hour or more i just decided to ask these ladies what they think they’re so nice but instead they broke a piece off oh too much too much these lovely people just gave me a taste of theirs and shared their special goods with this complete stranger they’re visiting from Taiwan amazing that’s so nice and enough for both of us it tastes just like pork that was so nice of John i know i think I might have misunderstood you and thought you were asking like “Hey what does it taste like?” Like “Can I try some can I try some?” She’s got to go up to someone else hey um what does that taste like i’m just at a strawberry stand and this strawberry stand sells moshi it’s a sweet gluttonous rice that was invented over a thousand years ago here in Japan this stand sells everyone you could imagine they have chocolate black sesame peach but as you can see yuzu as well yuzu is a citrus fruit here in Japan but I think strawberry is the most popular the only way I can describe it is that it’s soft it’s chewy in texture and it can be filled with like pastes or ice cream or even fresh fruit and there are more strawberry items as we get closer to the till could I have uh one strawberry candy the strawberry candies are super popular you want to try it after you i think I just enjoyed the That looks really That looks like a rock care for your teeth that does not look as good as the $15 $15 ones hang on oh my gosh that’s just pure sugar so we’re walking back to the hotel to check out now we need to swap hotels because we’ve loved Tokyo so much that we’ve actually decided to extend our stay here tokyo where are we going John we’re going to the other Ibis this is Ibis Ginsa not sponsored by the way we’re going to Iris Ginsa East this one is booked out and we decided to stay longer so thank you for the late check out too appreciate it thank you ibis Ginsa East is way more lux it’s a short taxi ride away so on route John and I hatch our next plan we are going to go check in we’re going to show you around our Japanese suite how cool is it this is the most random thing I think I’ve ever seen in a hotel room before and then take you to some of our favorite restaurants around Tokyo fluffy Pancakes and inside a hedgehog cafe oh my goodness oh he’s so cute but before we dive in let me quickly take you behind the scenes for a quick sneak peek because I get asked about the editing process all the time so as part of this Tokyo series so our last episode and this episode John and I filmed 280 gig worth of footage that doesn’t even include drone footage in a city like Tokyo John and I sometimes don’t feel comfortable putting the drone up because it’s so densely populated there are people everywhere but aerial footage in particular is so important and integral to a story because it really sets the scene so this is where our little secret hack comes in when I was a news reporter stock footage was something that we use all the time to fill gaps it also has optical and ultraviolet sens so with story blocks which is today’s sponsor it is a tool that I’ve been using for years it has an enormous catalog of highquality footage music and sound effects which you have definitely heard during all our episodes they really help bring my stories to life you pay a flat fee either monthly or yearly and then you get unlimited access to everything on the site i usually download a bunch of clips i play around with them in the edit and the shots I use I use and the shots I don’t use I don’t get charged for so if you’re into editing content creation you’ve got a side project or you own your own business make sure you check out Storylocks i’ve put the link in the description or you can go to www.storyblocks/ storyblocks/christina’s travels clicking on the link not only supports our channel but it will take you straight to Storyblocks okay let’s go back to the episode how cool is it we each have a little bed we got a twin bed because the other room only has a double bed you know those little rooms where like the Willy Wonka rooms they get narrower you actually look enormous in the room double beds are tiny we should tell them the truth of what happened at 4:00 a.m John woke up in a panic going “We should have booked the two singles cuz last night there’s just not enough room.” This is a tatami floor tatami mats it’s made like out of bamboo really it says take your shoes off this thing tatami mats on the tatami mat so we noticed something a little bit odd in our last hotel and it’s in this one too kind of look at this there is a spray bottle in the room and we’re like what on earth do you need this for maybe the cleaner left it here but we realized since going to the economy restaurant because of all the cooking smells and the cooking oils they leave fabric and air freshener in your room so you can spray your clothes so they’re spraying us because it smelt like barbecue in there now we smell like linen fresh linen so you can use this to like spray your clothes so unique okay oh and look at this look at this they have a little shoe brush and a lint brush and a shoe horn slippers more slippers oh John i’m noticing something really unusual in this corner oh what is that oh it’s a foot massage no yeah look in case you’ve been walking around Tokyo for too long get out and look i don’t know which one which button should I press oh extra big one oh oh you got to hold it down for three oh I think my feet are too big for this oh don’t break it that was excruciating ooh this is the most random thing I think I’ve ever seen in a hotel room before a foot masseuse a foot masseuse yeah a little foot massager this is great they understand if you’ve been walking around Tokyo all day this is a city that currently holds the title of the most amount of Michelin starred restaurants in the world i mean there are 160,000 restaurants here in Tokyo ramen bento box sober and some unique donuts i’m dut oh that that’s damn good okay what did we get anchovi sweet potato and chestnut but before we get trying let me tell you why we were drawn here there was an enormous line when we joined the line we were handed a menu while we waited in the queue anchovi sweet potato and chestnut sounds pretty good that sounds like something you would eat yeah probably flavors were so unique what about orange rare cheese cream ooh here you go so this is the regular one take that one okay wow that one’s med oh my what happened to it i don’t know it looks disgusting oh show the camera oh my god i don’t know if I can do it oh there’s a chestnut oh that is a full chestnut wow that actually looks really good try it okay okay ready here we go cheers oh yours looks so good cheers wow that is fresh this is like doughy we’re literally standing middle of foot path eating donuts oh yours is good yours is really good oh wow anchovies actually tastes pretty good did you get anchovi i got an anchovi have another bite yours is good i actually don’t mind this one we only ordered it cuz it was the weirdest thing on the menu let’s go find the hedgehog oh my god hedgehog Cafe we found it it’s literally like right next to the doughut place hedgehog Cafe 4 i’m so excited thank you oh wow look at this little hedgehog tokyo is famous for their animal cafes the first concept was all about cats but it’s slowly expanded it’s not for everyone but we wanted to see what this cafe scene was all about i will explain how to hold a hedgehog okay please give a hedgehog gentle scand oh there he goes did you get that that is the cutest he’s licking his lips look look at him he’s licking his lips oh my god yes he’s a lively little fell goodness look at his little legs his little tail so the animals don’t get tired sessions are kept short and the price well we’ll show you on the way out that way but while sitting here at the cafe that serves drinks from vending machines concert so Japan cheers we bumped into some subscribers of this channel amazing oh my gosh how great so we just met Sean and Jeff yeah they from Utah right utah yeah he’s from California from Utah favorite animal is it really do you I do really if you see us around please say hi we love meeting you guys and hearing your stories in the most random of places so it’s uh for 30 minutes it’s 1,400 yen with snacks it’s 1,650 per person so it’s like 30 bucks for both of us for half an hour be like 20 US it was fun when you get to play with hedgehogs we met some cool people too so it’s worth it totally yeah where’s next jinx so now we’re getting to the juicy part but while we’re on the topic of sweets if you’re looking for a real cafe there are so many to choose from around Tokyo from high tea to the most perfect designer cakes you’ll ever see with so much precision so much detail for a $50 price tag but if pancakes are all your thing if you’ve been here for a while you know that it’s John’s ultimate favorite food on the planet max butter max Maple but you got to get the real maple syrup then you can’t miss Happy Pancake but you’ll have to arrive early to get a seat so yesterday there was a 2-hour wait but today we got here 10 minutes before it opened as soon as it hit 10:30 like on the dock our reservation was accepted and here we are so these jiggly pancakes have gotten so popular that they’ve taken over Tokyo now there are multiple restaurants dishing them up and each one has thousands of reviews i’ve gone savory today i’m getting salmon pancakes john is getting the honey butter pancake but max but you got to get the real maple syrup you don’t like that it’s not really like pancake it’s like flavor yeah they said they couldn’t temperature oh my gosh are we coming back here tomorrow we did we did go back the next day and we both ordered something completely different we couldn’t help ourselves we completely mixed it up though i got the fruit salad today and John did you make the right choice ordering a blueberry concoction just look at his face for our next stop we’re staying in the Ginsa district but we’re going to be getting into some real food we’re going to start with the best bento box which was actually a recommendation to us by a local and then we’re going to work our way to ramen we’ve just come to the cutest little coffee joint and we just ordered a matcha green tea and John’s ordered a cafe latte all right let’s go okay coffees and matcha john’s never had matcha before so this is matcha it’s matcha coffee right so it’s great oh no no it’s not coffee it’s matcha oh oh that’s really good do you like it it’s like grassy but nutty m matcha is finely ground green tea powder is it caffeine cheers cheers matcha tea has been a tradition in Japan for over 800 years you notice how there’s no bins anywhere but it’s spotless so spotless everything is clean you could lick the ground honestly so we’re just trying to find a bin cuz we need to go back that way oh do we yeah we got to go there but we’re trying to find a bin okay we should tell everyone what we’re doing trying to find a bin and this secret little restaurant it was our barista who actually recommended this underground hidden restaurant we’re underground down alleyway down some stairs so cute look at the place feels so authentic john ordered that top one which is the biggest one on the menu [Music] dipping sauce one oh my gosh that’s all yours so all of this was about 1,700 yen it’s pretty good $17 john got a full 3/4 mil got some tea just fresh rice this tempura is so beautiful fried veggies into the sauce got some like fish and prawns eggplant carrot pickles so we ate tempura similar to this for breakfast too while on our way to the sumo championships the other day go check out part one of our Japanese series if you missed it we stumbled upon a selfservice udon bar oh wow look at them cooking john you pick a broth your noodles of choice they put the noodles in the And then you’re greeted to by a smorggas board of freshly fried tempura and you pay per item starting from around a dollar up to $3 seafood vegetables tofu thank you and you slide your tray down until you’re at the checkout and after you pay there’s unlimited garnishes spring onion ginger and fried bits second breakfast when one breakfast isn’t enough to me it felt like a Japanese diner and I loved every minute every bite and every flavor that’s so big it’s like got a sweet egg finger on it another soup dish that hit the spot for us as soon as we landed in Tokyo a few days ago i’m so tired i just want a bowl of ramen oh can we go get some food was ramen this popular joint in Ginsza always had a line out the front and was always packed inside but first oh god so we’ve just come off an 11-hour flight you happy i drink beer that’s because it plays a huge cultural and social role in Japan especially after work some Tokyo bars even have beer games on the menu okay our friend John who now lives in Tokyo took us to one the other day if you get a tanaka you get a mega mug and if it’s odd number you’ve got to pay more but you also get the the massive Yeah size to try okay go okay you got the odd number so you got to pay more but you got the bigger one that’s hilarious cheers cheers guys i guess you could say that beer and sake are like a staple in Japan kind of like ramen toppings and everything so what is ramen ramen is a soup made with wheat noodles served in a rich delicious broth and topped with things like pork belly a softboiled marinated egg nory seaweed and of course spring onions i think I’m going to take my jacket off of this one they’ve just given us aprons on like proper apron like tiny branches such a good idea enjoy wow this looks amazing i’m so excited i got the spicy ramen i’m very glad that they gave me a bib on the same street just a few doors down we discovered another type of ramen this one sells fine fish salty ramen we’ve had some pretty interesting meals since we’ve been here probably the highlight was for the wacky wacky food was probably cod testicles but we were we had a couple different translations we’re here with our friends Ben and Mari and you have no idea what it is they’re going to surprise us oh my gosh I’m so nervous the suspense is killing me it’s really good tastes like It tastes almost like um like actual cream i like it it’s good like a creamy and when our friends told us what we’re actually eating no it’s not no are you joking the translation’s intestines but it’s not that’s why it’s creamy it’s like on the topic of wacky what exactly is flying fish ramen why is it so popular and what’s the big deal well supposedly it’s the broth base which is simmered with literally dried flying fish and has a briney umami rich flavor it’s saltbased rather than a heavier soy or miso base and you can tell straight away oh my gosh it’s so salty we’re going to be so thirsty tonight there are 4 million vending machines in Japan so being thirsty wasn’t a problem in Tokyo even if we were traveling by train and 7-Eleven was pretty much on every corner hot black tea hot latte hot coffee hot lemon tea japan is home to 25% of the world’s 71s with more than 20,000 of them spread out across the country strawberry sandwiches try one you can get like a single egg oh my gosh so funny dollar dollar an egg should put it this way sushi is the bomb here it comes in these little packets and there’s a special way to open them so the seaweed doesn’t get soggy special way to eat it is that yeah i I don’t know so it says like pull down pull back pull to the right pull to the left how much was it pull down from number one up here one but you don’t follow the numbers like Oh like this yeah one one no you hold it like Oh it separates the rice from the seaweed see oh that’s so pull out the plastic is between the seaweed and the rice oh my gosh so when you eat it it’s crunchy take a big bite oi oi it mostly tastes like rice you got to get the bit in the middle though it’s got all the bit in the middle $145 that is the most healthiest nutritious tasty little snack that was so tasty so tasty i enjoyed that best $150 ever oh no that’s John keeps on looking for bins there’s no bins umbrellas there is no bins ever anywhere but the best sushi that we had all trip was here at Kaitton and Ginsa oh my god really good it’s 2:00 on the rocket clock john has found somewhere to eat a late lunch we’re heading to sushi and it’s taken us to the back streets of Harajuku which is really cool the vibe here is amazing if you’re into street wear okay let’s find this sushi joint we eventually found it and the front door was overflowing we decided to get a ticket a position in the queue the line at Sushi was longer than an hour and a half so we went for a walk to kill time stumbling upon a farmers market where we met this character wow do you want to try oh very sweet okay very sweet sweet okay japanese [Music] number one number one japanese number one okay hi hi it is really good we’ve made like pins of all the places and points of interest so I’ll add the link in the description below and you’ll be able to find the farmers market in that Google map so we’ve just made it back to sushi and we are pretty much next in line as forecast there’s a bit of snow about sleep i’d call it probably sleep yeah it’s like icy sleep it’s like wet snow as soon as we sat down at the bar there was a wipe chopsticks and a cup of green tea waiting for us there’s green tea powder in a cute pot and tap with unlimited hot water there are also iPads to order from everything here is made to order right before our eyes that was nice what do you have there miso soup salmon salmon row pickled mackerel chicken car it’s really good can we try some john just said that this is the best sushi he’s ever eaten the different grades of tuna had us intrigued john is currently eating his $620 piece of tuna [Music] good really you should try it okay I’ll try it at first I was a little reluctant and then John reminded me why I may have been apprehensive was that as good as the tuna that you caught off of Lulabar if you’ve been here for a while a big bloody fish this was the first tuna that we caught on our yacht to Carter woohoo quickly find out what he is so we work out whether to put him back or not no we can’t put him back like that john and I were really proud of ourselves that we made sushi from it does it taste all right John did you try some the sushimi yeah not realizing that this species we caught is usually thrown back because it has such a strong taste oh John’s not enjoying it what do you think i don’t know maybe it’s cuz we saw it live these are honestly some of our favorite memories over the past few years on our boat and now that John and I if you haven’t seen already I’m pregnant and so we’re starting a family over the next coming months there’s a little nose and its belly and its leg oh my goodness so we’re currently basing ourselves in Southeast Queensland in Australia so we’re currently in Brisbane so this is where we’re going to be having our little bubs we’re already planning to get back on a boat next year but in the meantime we have a few travels to share with you that we’ve taken over the past few months [Music] [Applause] thank you so much for all your love and your support we can’t wait to meet our little munchkin

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OUR STORY:
Kristina and John are two Aussies 🦘 who met when they were just teenagers at high school! Kristina went on to become a TV Journalist and John an Airline Pilot flying all over the world.. which is where their passion for travel first began!

We packed up our apartment and took “one-year off work” before purchasing the boat of our dreams!! We documented our adventures sailing around Australia, and when global boarders opened, we began travelling overseas. We’ve since visited more than 60+ countries!

Kristina is now a full time YouTuber and John a part time Commercial Pilot onboard a Boeing 737 (listen out for his name on your next flight!) and our goal is to explore and share the most incredible destinations by… 🚐🚗⛵️✈️!!

We are so grateful to share our adventures, tips, guides and thank you for being part of the journey together!! 😊🎥 K x

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