Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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Quick answers
What is washoku?
和食 is the everyday Japanese meal system: rice, soup, pickle and seasonal sides. Sushi is one famous register, not the whole cuisine.
Is Japanese food spicy?
Rarely in the chili sense. Wasabi, sansho, ginger and pickles provide sharpness. Okinawa and some ramen shops are the exceptions.
What is dashi?
A stock, usually kombu kelp plus katsuobushi (dried bonito), sometimes shiitake or sardine. It is the umami chassis of soups and simmered dishes.
Why is sushi expensive at the counter?
Fish quality, rice skill, waste and the cook's time. Conveyor and supermarket sushi are different products with different fish.
Is it rude to slurp noodles?
No. Slurping ramen and soba is ordinary. Sticking chopsticks upright in rice is the actual funeral-adjacent error.
What did UNESCO list?
Washoku as an everyday social practice (2013), not a single restaurant style.
Japanese cuisine changes by valley, coast and capital. Toyosu / old Tsukiji, Tokyo is one node, not the whole map.
The meters treat heat, ferment, street density and sharing as the axes that actually organise meals.
Systems
Kanto soy-salt
Tokyo-Yokohama dark soy, soba tsuyu and a saltier urban set meal.
Kansai dashi-sweet
Lighter soy, kelp-forward dashi, okonomiyaki and a sweeter palate.
Kyushu tonkotsu
Pork-bone ramen and a richer south-western bowl culture.
Hokkaido miso and dairy
Miso ramen, butter-corn experiments and a northern seafood pantry.
Okinawa
Pork, goya and a tropical table only loosely under the washoku umbrella.
Temple Kyoto
Shojin and kaiseki as parallel high crafts in the same city.
Flavour meters
Cities & regions
Toyosu / old Tsukiji, Tokyo
The tuna auction and outer-market sushi that tourists still chase.
Dotonbori, Osaka
Okonomiyaki, takoyaki and neon street eating.
Nishiki Market, Kyoto
Pickles, tofu and the kaiseki supply street.
Hakata, Fukuoka
Tonkotsu ramen and a surviving yatai cart culture.
Sapporo ramen alley
Miso ramen in the city that made it a brand.
Materials
Kombu and katsuobushi
The two pillars of standard dashi.
Short-grain rice
Sushi, donburi and the everyday bowl; variety (koshihikari etc.) is argued like wine.
Miso and shoyu
Regional ferments that replace a single "soy sauce" idea.
Seasonal fish
Landings, not a fixed protein list, still set serious menus.
Regional pride in this cuisine is argued through Sushi and Ramen more than through a single official recipe.
Keep exploring
More in East Asia
Korean cuisine
Fermented heat and shared grills: kimchi, gochujang and banchan from the Korean Peninsula.
Overall 76 🥟Chinese cuisine
Eight great traditions, one wok logic: soy, rice, wheat and the regional map behind "Chinese food".
Overall 80 🍲Vietnamese cuisine
Herbs, nuoc mam and a French-colonial overlay: pho, banh mi and the regional split from Hanoi to the Mekong.
Overall 68 🌶️Thai cuisine
Hot, sour, salty, sweet: nam prik, fish sauce and the regional map from Bangkok street to Isan grilled chicken.
Overall 77