Over the past few years, Tokyo’s culinary landscape has seen tremendous changes. There have been pandemic-related losses due to COVID-19–with restaurant bankruptcies in Japan reaching 842 in 2020, according to Tokyo Shoko Research—yet new venues in Tokyo have been popping up at a dizzying pace, in part thanks to preparations for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will now take place this July.
This transformation is quite literal in some central Tokyo districts: The chaotic pop-culture haven of Shibuya, for example, is now home to slick shopping-and-dining complexes that span multiple city blocks, thanks to investments of more than $2.8 billion between 2018 and 2020 ahead of the Games. Statistics from the Japan National Tourism Organization show that visitors to the country reached a record high of 31.9 million in 2019, and the government was aiming for a goal of 40 million in 2020.
This constant sense of evolution is nothing new, but the rapid pace at which the dining scene is changing makes it clear: When Japan reopens to foreign visitors, there will be plenty to explore—and, importantly, to eat.
The rise of sophisti-casual dining
There has been a major shift toward sophisticated casual dining as of late, as Japanese diners seek out more relaxed restaurant experiences that won’t break the bank.
A new take on upscale food halls features casual outlets of some of the city’s top restaurants, with a side of nostalgia for the bar-hopping culture that has long flourished in the Japanese capital’s rapidly disappearing yokocho alleyways. What sets these next-gen venues apart from yesterday's food halls is the outstanding quality of the food, combined with the easy conviviality of street-food-style dining. A few are worth going out of your way for: Inside the sprawling, neo-retro Toranomon Yokocho complex, Elezo Gate serves a few of the Hokkaido game-meat signatures found at members-only Elezo House, while Tsukanto, a spinoff of beloved but now-shuttered restaurant Tirpse, specializes in delectable morsels of next-level tonkatsu paired with natural wine.