Category: Japan

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A few minutes on foot from Hakata Station’s Chikushi exit, I knew where the shop was before I could see it. The smell got there first.

Hakata Issou. Foam-topped tonkotsu, a permanent queue, the kind of place that shows up on every Fukuoka list. We got as far as the door and one of the people I was with stopped walking. “Sorry — I can’t.” The pork bone smell coming out of the extractor fan was, for them, completely disqualifying. They waited outside.

Nobody had warned any of us that this was a thing that happens.

Fukuoka has plenty to see. Dazaifu Tenmangu, the beaches at Itoshima, the ferry over to Nokonoshima. All genuinely worth a day. But I was not in Fukuoka for any of that. I was there to eat pork bone broth from morning to night, because this city is where tonkotsu ramen was invented and where it still lives.

So this article skips the sightseeing almost entirely. What it has instead is a lot of information about smell, noodle hardness, and one conclusion that surprised me.

Fair warning about my palate: I like my broth thick and heavy. Delicate, refined food mostly goes over my head. I don’t put much stock in restaurant rankings.

The smell is the part nobody mentions

Hakata Issou

Opened in 2012 and became one of Hakata’s most-queued shops almost immediately. Three stockpots, domestic pork bones boiled until the bones themselves fall apart, and a layer of foam across the whole surface of the bowl. People call it “tonkotsu cappuccino.”

It was excellent. Genuinely thick, the kind of broth that coats your mouth. The noodles are flat and thin and carry the soup well.

It also smells enormous. The bowl looks refined — pale, foamy, almost elegant — and the smell has none of that restraint. If you have any sensitivity to pork funk at all, stand near the door for thirty seconds before you commit.

Hakata Daruma

Founded in 1963, over in the Watanabe-dori area. They use an iron kettle and a technique called yobimodoshi, where the broth is never fully emptied — new stock is added to old, continuously, for decades.

Also very smelly.

I don’t mean that as criticism. This is the smell of the thing being made properly, and it’s the clearest signal you’re eating something you can’t get at a branch overseas. Outside Kyushu, tonkotsu is almost always toned down.

Two bowls that don’t taste like Hakata

Hakata Genki Ippai!!

In Shimogofukumachi, and it’s for enthusiasts. There is no sign and no shop curtain. From the street it looks like a closed office. The way you know it’s open is a blue bucket hanging by the entrance.

It used to have a reputation for strict house rules — drink the broth first, no photographs — but those were dropped, and the atmosphere inside is relaxed now. A bowl runs about ¥1,000.

The broth is extraordinarily thick, almost viscous, and yet has no funk at all. Creamy. Honestly, the closest thing I can compare it to is corn soup with noodles in it.

I understand why people love it, and there’s nothing else like it. It just isn’t what I came to Hakata to eat.

Ramen Unari, Nakasu

Seafood tonkotsu — pork broth with fish and shellfish stock folded in. Open from 6pm to 6am, so it’s the shop that catches everyone stumbling out of the Nakasu bars. They also do a version with Genoese basil sauce, which I am not making up.

By Hakata purist standards, adding seafood is heresy. It’s also delicious. But the moment I tasted it, what came to mind was Sugakiya.

I grew up in the Tokai region, and Sugakiya is my baseline for what ramen tastes like — a cheap regional chain whose broth is pork bone with fish and kelp dashi. It’s what I ate as a child, and apparently it’s welded to my palate permanently.

Here’s the part that made it funny: there were six of us at the table, all of us from Tokai, and within about a minute someone said out loud, “does this taste like Sugakiya to you?” Every single person had been thinking it.

We flew to the birthplace of tonkotsu and were reminded of a Nagoya chain restaurant.

Unari opened a Tokyo branch in 2026, incidentally, so this particular bowl no longer requires a trip to Kyushu.

Ganso Ramen Nagahama-ya

A short walk from Unari, on the corner where the Kawabata shopping arcade meets the road toward Nakasu.

Something to know before you search for this: the naming situation here is chaotic. There’s the original Ganso Nagahamaya, then Ganso Ramen Nagahama-ya started by a former employee, and then a third shop opened by someone who split from that one, using the same name again. The signage is nearly identical. One of them sued another over it and lost; both still operate under the name.

If you look it up on Google Maps, several nearly identical results is not an error. I couldn’t tell you with confidence which one I ate at.

The ramen itself is fine — solid, standard Hakata-style tonkotsu, about ¥700 with extra noodles at ¥150. Not memorable, but this is neighborhood food, the bowl people eat at 3am without thinking about it.

Hakata Ramen ShinShin, Tenjin

Started as a yatai stall, opened as a shop in 2003, and now has several locations around the prefecture. Reviews are uniformly excellent, which is why I went.

It was good. Clean, no funk, easy to drink, and I understand completely why it’s popular.

But better than Ichiran or Ippudo? For me, no. Hold that thought.

How to order the noodles

Hakata noodles are thin and cook in seconds, which is why you get asked how firm you want them. The ladder, from softest to hardest:

The Nagahama-lineage shops use a completely different system — just Nama, Kata, Futsuu, Yawa — and regulars combine it with fat and scallion levels into a single word, like betanama. Same city, different dialect.

Here is the practical advice, learned the hard way. I like firm noodles and used to order harigane or nama every time, and every time my stomach paid for it afterwards. The reason is straightforward: noodles that haven’t boiled long enough are still, functionally, flour. Wheat starch has to be heated to gelatinise before digestive enzymes can do much with it, so undercooked noodles arrive in your stomach in a form your body struggles with.

Barikata is where this stops happening for me. It’s also what most shops recommend by default. Ordering harder does not make you more of an expert, and there’s no prize for nama.

Kaedama, and the order of operations

Kaedama means a second serving of noodles dropped into the broth you already have. It was invented at Ganso Nagahamaya — they made the noodles thin so fish market workers could be served fast, thin noodles go soft fast, so they cut the portion size and let people order more. Thin noodles came first; kaedama is the workaround.

How I do it:

First bowl, minimal interference. Red pickled ginger only, but a generous amount of it. I want to taste the broth and noodles as the shop made them.

No sesame. Ground sesame changes the flavour dramatically to my palate, and not in a direction I want. Plenty of people disagree.

Order the kaedama before you finish the noodles in front of you. This is the one that matters. If you wait until the bowl is empty, you sit there while they boil, the broth cools, and the momentum dies.

Don’t drink all the broth early. It’s tempting, because the first bowl is the best it will ever taste. But you need enough liquid left for a second kaedama, and possibly a third.

Once the kaedama arrives, start adjusting. Tare from the table to bring the seasoning back up, spicy mustard greens if they have them, and garlic if it’s available. Garlic makes almost anything taste better to me, so treat that as a statement about my palate rather than about the ramen.

I skipped the yatai

Nakasu’s street food stalls are the signature Fukuoka image and I walked past them without stopping.

Two reasons. They sit in the middle of an entertainment district and are priced accordingly. And I’ve spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia, where eating at a stall is just how dinner works — Bangkok, Hanoi, Taipei. The format doesn’t feel like an event to me.

The atmosphere is lovely, no argument. But if you have a limited number of bowls in you, I’d spend them indoors.

The conclusion I didn’t expect

I did not visit the Ichiran or Ippudo flagship stores in Fukuoka. They taste the same everywhere, so going to the original branch seemed pointless.

And then, after all of the above, this is where I landed: the two best tonkotsu in Hakata are Ichiran and Ippudo.

The reason is the smell.

Those two are the only ones that removed the pork funk, and this isn’t my interpretation — Ichiran publishes a list of “five firsts” they claim to have originated, and the second one is tonkotsu broth without the funk. The company treats deodorising the broth as its central invention.

No funk means anyone can eat it. Nobody stops at the door. That is why these two, out of hundreds of excellent Hakata shops, are the ones that went global. The person who couldn’t walk into Issou would have finished a bowl at Ichiran without a second thought.

There’s a neat symmetry, too. All the fiddling I do at the table with tare and garlic — Ichiran handles that on a slip of paper before the bowl is made. Their order sheet lets you specify noodle firmness, broth, richness, pork, scallion, secret sauce, and garlic. That sheet is another of the five firsts. They anticipated the exact adjustment I was going to make.

I should admit my premise here. I’m assuming chain restaurants taste identical everywhere, and that isn’t universally true — Fuji Soba, for instance, has no product development department at all and lets individual branch managers trial new items, and handles complaints about inconsistency at branch level too. That chain varies deliberately. But with these two tonkotsu chains, the sameness held up every time I checked it.

The cost is money. Ippudo’s Shiromaru Motoaji runs in the ¥850 range, the simpler version around ¥790, while Nagahama-style shops start at ¥500 and top out around ¥700. Against local prices, the chains are expensive. Ichiran revised its pricing at some branches in July 2026 and prices now vary by location, so check before you go.

That gap does buy something, though. Making a bowl that no one refuses is probably the hardest version of this job.

Where I stayed, and one logistics warning

I stayed at the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk, on the waterfront at Jigyohama. Every room faces the sea, the bar is genuinely nice, and the breakfast buffet does a good impression of luxury. I picked it for no particular reason.

One thing to plan around: the nearest subway stations, Tojinmachi and Nishijin, are close to a twenty-minute walk. There’s a free shuttle, but it only runs weekends and holidays, 10:00 to 19:00. If your plan involves eating ramen until 2am, the shuttle is not part of your life. Use a taxi, or the bus from Hakata Bus Terminal.

If you want to be within walking distance of the shops in this article, Nakasu, Tenjin, or right by Hakata Station will serve you far better.

Compare Fukuoka hotels on Booking.com

Before you go

eSIM. Getting data sorted before you land removes a genuine annoyance, especially since half the shops here have hours and closing days that only exist on their social media. I use Airalo.

Travel insurance. Japan is safe, but medical costs for visitors are not. World Nomads covers travellers who are already abroad, which is useful if you didn’t sort it before leaving.

Getting around. Fukuoka Airport is unusually close to the city — two subway stops from Hakata Station — so you rarely need a transfer. If you want passes or day trips, check what’s available for Fukuoka before you fly.

Browse Fukuoka passes and day trips on Klook

Come for the ramen. Bring someone with a strong stomach, or be prepared to eat alone at the door of Hakata Issou.

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Here’s the thing about eating in Tokyo. If you want the sushi you’ve read about — Sukiyabashi Jiro, the places with three Michelin stars — good luck. Most won’t take a reservation from someone without a connection, and if they do, you’re looking at ¥40,000 a head before drinks.

Ramen costs about ¥1,000. There’s no dress code, no reservation required at most places, and the standard in this city is genuinely absurd. It’s also the Japanese food the rest of the world actually got obsessed with.

So this isn’t a Tokyo guide with Senso-ji and the Shibuya scramble crossing in it. You can find those anywhere. This is about ramen — where to eat it around Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa, and which famous places are worth your limited stomach space.

Before I start, my bias, so you can calibrate.

The delicate, clear soy-sauce ramen that sits permanently at the top of Japanese review sites — I don’t get it. Not saying it’s bad. I just can’t pick up whatever everyone else is picking up. I love food across a lot of categories, but the subtle Michelin-type flavours are honestly lost on me. I have a fairly ordinary palate and I’ve made peace with that.

What I like is thick and heavy. Tonkotsu above all. Pork-and-fish tsukemen, the fat noodles of Jiro-style, iekei, spicy miso. The kind of bowl where the broth clings to every noodle and you finish with a full stomach and mild regret. If there’s raw garlic on the counter, I’ll agonise over it and then put it in.

First, the thing most visitors don’t realise

Almost every famous regional ramen chain in Japan has a branch in Tokyo.

Ichiran and Ippudo from Fukuoka. Tenkaippin, Ramen Yokozuna and Shinpuku Saikan from Kyoto. Kamukura from Osaka. Ebisoba Ichigen from Hokkaido. The ramen you’d normally have to cross the country for is mostly sitting in Tokyo already.

There’s a caveat: a flagship shop has an atmosphere a branch doesn’t. Walking into the original Tenkaippin in Kyoto’s Ichijoji is a different experience from its Tokyo outpost. But if you just want to taste it, Tokyo is enough.

If you’re not travelling the length of Japan on this trip, eating your way through the regional styles while you’re in Tokyo is a pretty efficient move.

The two giants of Chiba and Kanagawa — and why you probably can’t just show up

Two shops dominate any conversation about ramen around Tokyo: Chuka Soba Tomita in Matsudo, Chiba, and Iida Shoten in Yugawara, Kanagawa.

And both have changed in the same way. Neither is a place you can queue at and get in anymore.

Chuka Soba Tomita (Matsudo, Chiba)

For tsukemen, this is my favourite in Japan.

When I went, I queued before 7am to get a numbered ticket. Up early, standing outside the shop, coming back at the time they assigned me. It was worth that.

The system has changed since. The main shop now runs mostly on advance booking through a reservation site called OMAKASE, with new slots released around 12:30 every Tuesday. The moment they open, everyone piles in, and even if you reach the booking screen a five-minute countdown starts. It’s a scramble.

There’s apparently still a morning ticket option from 8am, but if you want certainty, you’re going for the reservation.

Tomita’s influence is easier to see from a distance. In Kyoto there’s a shop called Menya Takei, run by someone who trained at Tomita, using noodles from Tomita’s own noodle maker. You can eat something very close to it 500km away. That’s how much of a benchmark Tomita has become.

Iida Shoten (Yugawara, Kanagawa)

I’ve been to the main shop twice, and to their food court branch at LaLaport Numazu twice.

It’s permanently near the top of Japan’s national rankings. The broth is genuinely superb — a friend I went with just said “this soup is insane,” and he was right. The house-made noodles are on the soft side though, and that part didn’t land for me. Less a fault than a texture preference that splits people.

Here’s the practical part.

Iida Shoten’s main shop used to mean a long queue outside. It’s now fully reservation-only online, through OMAKASE, which is a paid booking service. Slots open at a set time and if you miss them, you don’t eat. Add Yugawara’s location to that and the barrier is high.

Which is where the food court comes in.

There’s an Iida Shoten inside the food court at LaLaport Numazu. I went twice, both times in the evening, and there was no queue at all. As for the actual food — for the signature shoyu ramen, I couldn’t detect a meaningful difference from the main shop. (My own impression, for what it’s worth.)

Weighed against winning a reservation lottery and travelling to Yugawara, the food court is a surprisingly reasonable answer. The main shop has its own atmosphere, obviously, so if that’s what you’re paying for, different story.

What I’d actually send you to in Tokyo

Menya Itto

I’ve been back many times. For the tsukemen.

Thick pork-and-seafood dipping broth, dead centre of what I like. There’s a sister shop nearby doing a shrimp version, which was also good.

Slightly absurd side note: they had a branch in Bangkok. I went looking for it while travelling and got there right at opening, so no queue. Eating tsukemen at that level in Southeast Asia was a strange and excellent experience.

Chasing tsukemen also took me out to Tsukemen no Michi in Katsushika. It’s a bit outside central Tokyo, but worth the trip if you care about the genre.

Rokurinsha

The headline act at TOKYO Ramen Street in Tokyo Station.

Honestly, it’s very good. One of the few tsukemen shops you can mention in the same breath as Tomita. Holding that standard inside a train station is impressive on its own.

Ikaruga there was also excellent — another name that comes up when people list Tokyo’s best bowls.

I stop by Ramen Street basically every time I’m at Tokyo Station. Being able to fit it around a train connection makes it unusually practical for a traveller.

Worth knowing: Tokyo Station has ramen outside Ramen Street too. Ebisoba Ichigen from Hokkaido is there — a Sapporo bowl built on shrimp broth, in Tokyo Station.

Ramen Jiro

Straight answer: I’m not really a Jiro person. The mountain of beansprouts, the slabs of pork — I don’t go for those.

But the fat noodles in Jiro-style ramen are great. Real wheat flavour, proper chew, and they don’t get buried by a heavy broth. Ramen where the noodles are the main event is rarer than you’d think. That’s why I go.

If you’re a first-timer, read this before you walk in. Jiro has its own ordering ritual. When your bowl is nearly ready, staff will ask something like “ninniku?” — that’s your cue to call your free toppings: garlic (ninniku), extra vegetables (yasai), back fat (abura), stronger seasoning (karame). Saying nothing usually gets you the default. Portions are enormous even at sho (small). Don’t order the large unless you’re confident, don’t leave food, and don’t linger after eating.

Places that didn’t land for me

Being honest about these is more useful than pretending.

Tanaka Shoten

A popular tonkotsu shop in Tokyo. My take: I thought Ichiran and Ippudo were better.

Tonkotsu is my favourite genre, so I went in with high expectations, which may have worked against it. Both of those are enormous chains with branches worldwide, but on tonkotsu specifically, the chains suited my palate more. Taste is personal though, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Tanaka Shoten is someone’s number one.

Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto

Famous for spicy ramen.

What I found was that the heat and the temperature arrive first, and I couldn’t really taste the miso underneath. The impact is real, but I felt like I could predict the flavour just from looking at the bowl. If you love spice, you’ll probably love it.

One thing worth saying: the 7-Eleven cup noodle version is a remarkably good reproduction. Since the shops are basically a Kanto-area thing, being able to get close to it in a convenience store is a genuine gift. Though I should admit the cup version of Hokkyoku — their hottest — beat me. Couldn’t finish it.

For spicy miso I’d rather have Ryushanghai from Yamagata. The heat and the miso are balanced, so it doesn’t stop at just being hot, and that lump of special garlic miso sitting in the middle of the bowl is the whole point. More on where to find it below.

Shibata and Torikui

Shibata in Tokyo works with duck broth and soy sauce; Torikui in Kanagawa is also clear-style shoyu.

Both are highly rated, and as I said at the start, this whole category goes over my head. I can tell they’re made with real care. It just never turned into anything I’d call excitement. Same as Iida Shoten — that’s on my palate, not on them.

If clear-style shoyu is your thing, these two are probably wonderful. So I’m not dismissing them. I’m saying I’m not qualified to judge, and leaving it open.

If you want to try several without burning three days

Two places let you cover a lot of ground in one stop, which matters if you’re here for a week.

TOKYO Ramen Street (Tokyo Station)

Underground at Tokyo Station, in the Ichibangai complex. Rokurinsha and a lineup of shops that can actually hold their own.

The value is entirely in the logistics: you can eat here between trains. It gets busy at peak times, but it’s still far easier than tracking down individual shops across the city.

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum (Kanagawa)

Two visits, four shops. Famous names from around the country, inside a space built to look like a Showa-era street.

This is where I ate Ryushanghai from Yamagata — spicy miso done properly, and exactly my thing. Also Sumire from Sapporo, whose miso is as strong as its reputation.

The key detail: they serve mini portions. You can do several shops in one visit. Compared to normal ramen crawling, where one bowl finishes you, the efficiency is on another level. For a visitor who wants to understand regional Japanese ramen without flying around the country, this is probably the single best place in Japan.

📍 Book Ramen Museum tickets and food experiences

Practical things worth knowing

Reservation-only is spreading. Tomita and Iida Shoten both used to be queue-and-wait. Both are now booking-first. If there’s a specific shop you want, check the official site or their social media for the current entry system before you go. Turning up on the assumption you can just queue is how you end up standing outside a closed door.

Most shops use a ticket vending machine. You buy a meal ticket at the machine by the entrance and hand it to staff. It’s confusing the first time. Many machines are Japanese-only, but they usually have photos — if you’re stuck, the top-left button or the biggest, most prominent one is almost always the signature bowl.

Carry cash. Plenty of independent ramen shops still don’t take cards or IC payment.

Don’t linger. At busy shops, get up when you’re done. This isn’t a place where you sit and talk for an hour, and it applies across Japan, not just here.

A word on portions. Japanese ramen portions are heavier than they look, especially anything tonkotsu or Jiro-style. If you’re planning to try several shops in a day, order small.

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The short version

Ramen judgment comes down to your own tongue in the end.

I went to clear-broth shops rated above 4.0 and couldn’t work out what I was missing. Meanwhile I preferred a global chain to a celebrated independent. I thought a convenience store cup noodle got close enough to a famous shop that I’d skip the queue.

That’s an unrefined palate, and I’ve stopped being embarrassed about it. What actually matters is knowing which style you like. Once you know that, you stop being pushed around by rankings and start eating what you actually want.

If you like it thick and heavy: Tenkaippin, Ichiran, Ippudo. For tsukemen, Tomita, Rokurinsha, Itto. If it’s the fat noodles you’re after, anything Jiro-style. For spicy miso, Ryushanghai at the Ramen Museum. Iekei — Machida Shoten is plenty.

If you like the clean, delicate style, then Iida Shoten and Shibata — the ones I couldn’t crack — are probably exactly your thing.

Although, full disclosure: put enough garlic in anything and I’ll tell you it’s delicious. Which tells you most of what you need to know about my palate.

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I’ve been to Hokkaido about five times now. I don’t handle heat well, so I’ve gone mostly in summer, but I’ve been in winter too.

What strikes me every time is that Hokkaido becomes a completely different place depending on the season.

Summer means cool air, lavender fields, a strange blue pond, and roads that run straight to the horizon. Winter means snow, hot springs, and some of the best skiing in the world. You could be heading to the same town on the map and have almost nothing in common between the two trips — different sights, different activities, even different luggage. When you decide you want to go to Hokkaido, the first thing to settle isn’t where. It’s when.

This guide covers the places I’ve actually been — Otaru, Sapporo, Hakodate, Niseko, Biei, Furano, Asahikawa — with honest notes on what was worth it and where to stay without overspending.

Summer or winter: they are not the same trip

Summer (June–September) While the rest of Japan is unbearable, Hokkaido is remarkably cool. Lavender peaks around mid-July, and Furano at that moment looks like a painting. Summer is also when driving here is at its best.

Winter (December–March) If you’re coming from somewhere that doesn’t get snow, or if skiing is the point of the trip, this is your season. Niseko’s powder is world-famous, and the Sapporo Snow Festival runs 4–11 February 2027. But the cold and the road conditions are a different order of magnitude from what most visitors expect — your gear and your transport plan both need thought.

I’ve ended up going in summer more often simply because I dislike heat. Neither season is better. They’re just two separate holidays that happen to share a name.

Getting around: the answer changes with the season

Hokkaido is enormous, and the distances between cities are nothing like the rest of Japan. Two places that look close together on a map can be a two- or three-hour drive apart.

In summer, rent a car The distances are long, but the roads between cities are largely straight, and I found it far less tiring than I expected. It’s completely unlike grinding through mountain switchbacks in Honshu. The landscape is open and wide, so the driving itself becomes part of the trip. Sapporo alone is fine on the subway, but for anywhere beyond it, you’ll want a car.

In winter, don’t Black ice and whiteouts are genuinely dangerous if you haven’t driven on snow before, and this isn’t a “just be careful” situation. If you have no winter driving experience, take JR trains and bus tours instead. You’ll be safer and you’ll enjoy the trip more.

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A note on international licences: check what your own country requires before you leave. Japan recognizes the 1949 Geneva Convention International Driving Permit for many countries, but not all — a few require an official Japanese translation of the licence instead. Confirm which category applies to you before you travel; you can’t sort it out on arrival.

Where to go, and where to stay

Arranged in a practical order from New Chitose Airport.

Sapporo and Jozankei

The natural base for a Hokkaido trip. The range of food is enormous, and Susukino, the nightlife district, is genuinely fun in the evening.

Mount Moiwa for the night view If your schedule doesn’t stretch to Hakodate, the view from Mount Moiwa in Sapporo is beautiful in its own right. The whole spread of the city sits below you, and it holds up well on its own terms.

ONSEN RYOKAN Yuen Sapporo A ryokan in central Sapporo where the open-air bath uses hot spring water trucked in from Noboribetsu’s Karurusu onsen. Being able to soak in a real hot spring less than ten minutes’ walk from Odori Station is not something you find often. Good if you want to combine city walking with an onsen.

Grand Blissen Hotel Jozankei Jozankei is a hot spring town in a river gorge, about 50 minutes by car from Sapporo. This one opened in 2021, and every room faces the gorge — most of them have their own hot spring bath with a view, so you can soak while looking at the valley from your own room.

That last detail matters for a specific reason. If you have tattoos, a room with a private onsen bath solves the problem entirely. Japanese public baths and onsen can still be conservative about visible ink, and policies vary by property. Booking a room with its own bath means you never have to ask. It’s the simplest workaround in the country, and Hokkaido has a lot of rooms like this.

There’s also a free shuttle bus from JR Sapporo Station (advance reservation required), so you can reach it without a car — useful in winter.

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Otaru

Famous for its canal, though I’ll be honest: the canal isn’t my highlight.

LeTAO cheesecake is. Otaru is where this originated, and eating it there is a different experience from buying a box at the airport. It’s a standard souvenir too, so it works either way. Otaru is a comfortable day trip from Sapporo — half a day covers it.

Niseko

The ski destination that made Hokkaido internationally famous. So many foreign visitors that it doesn’t feel like Japan, in a way that’s either the appeal or the drawback depending on what you came for.

The strength here is ski-in ski-out resort hotels. Walking from your room onto the slope is hard to beat if skiing is the purpose of your trip. In summer it’s a quiet mountain retreat.

Here’s my honest position, and I’ll flag that it may read differently to you than it does to me. Niseko’s hotels are out of my price range. International demand has pushed rates well above everything else in this article. But if you’re paying in dollars, euros, or Australian dollars, and you know what a week at Whistler, Aspen, or Zermatt costs — Niseko may look entirely reasonable to you. The weak yen has made the same room a splurge for me and a bargain for you. That gap is worth understanding before you dismiss anyone’s price opinion, including mine.

If skiing isn’t your reason for coming, you don’t need to stay in Niseko. If it is, this is one of the most highly regarded places in the world for powder, and it earns that.

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Hakodate

The night view from Mount Hakodate is called one of Japan’s three great night views, and it deserves the title. Photographs don’t prepare you for it.

Lucky Pierrot If you make it to Hakodate, this is worth your time. It’s a local burger chain, and the interesting part is that it exists only in Hakodate and the surrounding area — 17 branches, no national expansion, not even a Sapporo location. You have to come here to eat it.

I went to the Bay Area branch near the red brick warehouses. It’s the original location, themed as a “merry-go-round in the forest,” and there was a swing, which I ended up sitting on. Every branch has a different theme and interior, so some people make a circuit of them.

The signature item is the Chinese Chicken Burger — a large piece of fried chicken in sweet-savoury sauce, with lettuce, and a lot of volume. Locals shorten it to “chai-chiki.”

My honest take: I prefer a normal American-style burger. With fried chicken inside, it reads more like a Chinese sandwich than a burger to me. That’s a matter of taste rather than a criticism — it’s good, and it’s something you can only eat here, which is reason enough to try it once. There’s also curry, omurice, and yakisoba on the menu, so a group with different preferences won’t struggle.

The catch is distance. Hakodate is a long way from Sapporo, and a tight itinerary won’t accommodate it. If you can fit it, the night view justifies the time. If you can’t, Mount Moiwa covers you.

📍 Check rates for Hakodate

Asahikawa

The base for northern Hokkaido, and well positioned for Furano and Biei.

Asahiyama Zoo The facilities are visibly old, but the design thinking is exceptional. Walkways and tanks are positioned at exactly the angle where you see the animals moving and behaving naturally. That’s what makes it feel so immediate. It holds an adult’s attention completely.

OMO7 Asahikawa This is Hoshino Resorts’ OMO brand, about ten minutes’ walk from Asahikawa Station. Hoshino Resorts has a reputation for being expensive, but OMO sits at a far more realistic price point. It works well as a base for wandering the city, and the zoo is easy to reach from there.

📍 Check rates for Asahikawa

Biei and Furano

The landscapes that define summer in Hokkaido are concentrated here.

The Blue Pond (Biei) A pond of an almost unreal blue. “Blue” undersells it — the colour isn’t quite like anything I’d seen. It shifts with the weather and time of day, so photographers get a lot out of it.

Furano’s lavender In July the hillsides turn purple and it is genuinely beautiful. But expect traffic. Around the well-known farms the roads seize up, so build slack into your schedule.

The best thing I did here was the buggy There’s an activity where you drive a buggy yourself through the flower fields and open country. It was far more fun than I expected. Looking at scenery is one thing; steering through it yourself leaves a much stronger memory. It also completely cured my irritation about the traffic.

📍 Book buggy tours and activities

Hoshino Resorts Tomamu

A large resort in the mountains of central Hokkaido.

I went in summer, and there was enough on the property to keep children happily occupied all day — a water park, outdoor activities, the lot. You don’t have to leave the grounds for the trip to work.

And then there’s the Unkai Terrace. You take a gondola up the mountain early in the morning to look out over a sea of clouds. It’s a natural phenomenon, so there’s no guarantee it appears on any given day, but the view is worth the alarm clock.

📍 Check rates for Tomamu

The food does not miss

Ramen

Hokkaido means miso ramen. Sumire, Saimi from the same lineage, Ebisoba Ichigen with its shrimp-based broth, and Shingen are the names people cite. Each has real character and you’ll want to work through several.

Asahikawa breaks the pattern: Santouka there is tonkotsu-based. The fact that ramen style shifts by region within one prefecture is part of what makes eating here interesting.

Soup curry

Soup curry originated in Sapporo and is worth seeking out. GARAKU, SUAGE, and Okushiba Shoten are the standards. Chunks of deep-fried vegetables sit in a heavily spiced broth — it’s not quite like anything else.

Check the hotel breakfast buffet

This matters more in Hokkaido than almost anywhere. A lot of hotels include all-you-can-eat seafood at breakfast — salmon roe, fresh fish, as much as you want, first thing in the morning. Given that a seafood rice bowl at a restaurant will cost you a few thousand yen, a room rate that includes that breakfast changes the maths considerably. Compare breakfasts, not just room prices.

One rule for choosing accommodation

Hokkaido is cool even in summer — comfortable during the day, but cool enough at night that you’ll want a layer. So whatever the season, stay somewhere with an onsen.

Every place I stayed had one. After a day of walking or a long drive, whether you can soak makes a real difference to how your body feels the next morning. That holds in August as much as in February.

On price: Hoshino Resorts’ “Hoshinoya” tier is the aspirational one, and honestly it isn’t a casual purchase. But the same company’s OMO and Tomamu properties sit at realistic prices and still deliver a proper resort experience. Within reach of a modest stretch, there are plenty of good options.

📍 Compare hotels across Hokkaido

Practical notes

Cash. Cities and hotels take cards without issue. Smaller restaurants and rural areas often still don’t. Carry some yen, especially outside Sapporo.

Winter disruption. Snow causes flight delays and cancellations at New Chitose more than most Japanese airports. If you’re flying in winter, don’t schedule a tight connection on your departure day, and check the cancellation terms on your bookings.

Cold-weather gear. Winter in Hokkaido is colder than most visitors anticipate. Proper boots with grip matter more than a heavier coat — icy pavement is what actually causes problems.

📍 Get a travel insurance quote 📍 Set up an eSIM before you go

Closing

Hokkaido has shown me something different every time.

In summer: cool air through open windows, lavender and the blue pond, a buggy across the hills. In winter: snow, powder, and hot springs. Either way, the food does not let you down.

The distances are long, but the roads are straight. Pick a few areas instead of trying to cover everything, and book somewhere with an onsen. That alone gets you most of the way to a very good trip.

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I’ve been to Okinawa many times now — almost every year. Each time, I rent a car and go with family, or with friends, or as a couple. And every time, I arrive at the same conclusion:

Okinawa isn’t a place to cram your itinerary. It’s a place to subtract.

If you’re coming from elsewhere in Asia, the access is hard to beat — roughly two and a half hours by air from Tokyo or Taipei, easier than flying to Phuket or Bali. A long weekend, or two days plus one day off, and you’re standing in front of clear water and a genuinely luxurious resort. You don’t have to fly to some far-flung tropical country. Okinawa sits within two hours — and that alone is a kind of luxury.

In this guide: which island has the most beautiful water, when to go and when to avoid, and what I remember from the resorts I’ve actually stayed in.

Okinawa vs Thailand & Bali: Why the Grown-Ups Choose Japan

Having seen a fair number of tropical resorts, I’ve come to believe Okinawa’s real value is its quietness.

The beach towns of Thailand and Bali develop a certain energy after dark — day and night are two completely different worlds there. That’s part of the fun of travel, but when you’re there with family, there are moments you find yourself on guard. Okinawa’s resort areas don’t have that. You can walk out of your hotel at night holding your child’s hand and not feel tense. That sense of ease shapes the quality of a trip more than you’d expect.

That said, it isn’t an island of only quiet. Come with friends and you can spend the hours until sunset at a beachside barbecue spot overlooking the ocean — places like Cozy Beach Club or Resort Magic. At night, head to Kokusai-dori, where the izakaya are endless and some feature live sanshin (the Okinawan three-stringed lute) performances.

The same island wears a different face depending on who you bring. That’s what makes it interesting.

A note for visitors from the West

Two things worth knowing up front:

• Tattoos. Japan can be conservative about tattoos at pools and public baths, and some resorts ask that they be covered. In practice, a rash guard solves this at most hotel pools and beaches, and the ocean itself is never a problem. If you have visible tattoos, it’s worth checking your specific hotel’s policy in advance.
• Getting around. Okinawa is more car-dependent than mainland Japan. It’s very doable without a car if you stay resort-based (more on that below), but a self-drive trip opens up far more of the islands.

The Best Season Is Not Summer

This is the point I most want to stress.

July through September is peak season. But prices at resort hotels comfortably double or more — and it coincides exactly with typhoon season.

An Okinawa trip hit by a typhoon and one under clear skies are worlds apart. You can’t get in the water, can’t reach the islands, and end up watching a grey sky from your hotel room — after paying peak rates for the privilege.

I’ve been fortunate never to take a direct hit. That’s not luck; it’s because I’ve always shifted my timing.

What I recommend: March–April and October–November. The beaches are open, typhoon risk is low, and prices are calm. Early May through late June is Okinawa’s rainy season, so I avoid it. In March and April the water is still on the cool side, so it suits a trip built around scenery and comfortable weather rather than swimming.

I know the harshness of summer firsthand. The time I cycled around Taketomi Island in July, I nearly collapsed, drenched in sweat. That island, that season, by bicycle — I truly can’t recommend it for anyone traveling with kids.

The Classic Route: Three Days, Two Nights Is Plenty

After all these trips, I have a set formula.

Night 1: Naha City sightseeing and shopping. Kokusai-dori, DFS, and Shuri Castle.

Night 2: A resort in the central or northern region This is where the trip finally shifts into “rest” mode.

That’s it. Try to cram Okinawa and you only add transit time. Three days, two nights — one in Naha, one at a resort. That balance delivers the most satisfaction.

If you’re adding an outer island, make it one night on the main island plus two on the island, giving the island the leading role.

On Shuri Castle in 2026 After the 2019 fire, restoration has progressed, and in October 2025 the scaffolding structure covering the work was removed. You can now see the vivid main hall (Seiden) exterior for the first time in about six years. Interior public access is scheduled for autumn 2026. In other words, right now is a window unique to this moment — a completed exterior with an interior you still can’t enter. Right beside the castle is Suri Soba, a spot famous for its Okinawa soba.

For the Water, Go to the Islands — and to Miyako

Let me be honest.

Okinawa’s main island has beautiful water compared to mainland Japan. But once you’ve seen the outer islands, the story changes.

The most beautiful water I’ve found is Miyako Island.

Ishigaki is the liveliest of the outer islands. But for transparency and depth of blue, Miyako wins by a wide margin. Ishigaki’s famous Kabira Bay is a genuine spectacle — but swimming is prohibited there. A sea you can only look at, versus a sea you can dive into. What healed me was the latter.

The whiteness of Maehama Beach. And the Irabu Bridge — driving across it, layers of blue spread out on both sides, so beautiful you almost don’t want to reach the other side. It’s the kind of thing you can’t understand until you go.

When I dove in, the water was so clear I felt like I’d jumped into an enormous swimming pool — the fish plainly visible. I hold an Advanced diving certification, but when it comes to Miyako, even without any license a trial dive is more than enough — the transparency itself is the main attraction. Weather matters a great deal, of course. Even if you don’t dive, snorkeling alone rewards the trip.

If you’re staying overnight on Miyako, choose a resort hotel. Compared to Ishigaki, Miyako has surprisingly few restaurants. I once stayed three nights in cottage-style lodging and found myself bored unless I drove out somewhere. Checking into an ocean-view resort from the start and simply staying put — that’s the right way to do Miyako, as I realized only afterward. Next time, that’s what I’ll do.

To see beautiful water on a day trip from the main island I recommend a day trip to the Kerama Islands. Minna Island is also a quick boat ride away.

There are other beautiful outer islands like Hateruma, but when it comes to islands with genuinely good resort hotels, the options narrow considerably.

📍 Miyako trial diving & snorkeling (Klook) 📍 Kerama Islands day trip (Klook)

The Resorts I’ve Stayed In — and the Ones I Still Want To

So far I’ve stayed at: two resorts in Chatan, HIYORI Ocean Resort Okinawa, ANA InterContinental Manza Beach Resort, The Busena Terrace, Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Seragaki Island Okinawa, and on Ishigaki both Fusaki Beach Resort and ANA InterContinental Ishigaki Resort, plus Haimurubushi on Kohama Island.

The one that stays with me most is the evening at Busena Beach.

From the adjacent Busena Terrace, live saxophone drifts across the sand every day. Standing on the beach in the light of the sunset, that sound is all you hear. If you’re there with someone, it becomes a moment that’s hard to beat.

Two I haven’t stayed at yet, but keep eyeing

Halekulani Okinawa consistently ranks at the top on Japanese booking sites. With the weak yen and rising prices making Hawaii harder to reach, Halekulani stands almost alone in its class. Even off-season, a night won’t dip below ¥50,000 — but set against the cost of a Hawaii trip, it starts to look reasonable.

(As an aside: Kahala, the other grand Hawaiian name, came not to Okinawa but to Yokohama. I’ve stayed at Kahala Yokohama too, and I still can’t quite figure out why it was Yokohama.)

Ryukyu Hotel & Resort Nashiro Beach opened in July 2022 in Itoman and is the largest resort in the main island’s south. All 443 rooms are ocean-view, it has one of the prefecture’s largest lineups of six pool types, and a 1.8-kilometer stretch of natural white-sand beach lies right in front. It’s about 20 minutes by car from Naha Airport — a distance that matters, because you can sink into resort mode without the long drive north. It also runs a direct limousine bus from the airport, so you can reach it without a car.

📍 Compare and book Okinawa resorts

Food, Fun, and Honest Takes

Okinawa Soba Is Good Wherever You Eat It

I have opinions about ramen, and I’ve worked my way through about ten well-known Okinawa soba shops on the main island. My conclusion: the base is essentially pork-and-bonito broth, topped with thick sanmai-niku (three-layer pork belly, braised soft like kakuni) and fish cake, accented with red pickled ginger and chopped scallion. That’s the template, and there’s no dramatic gap from shop to shop. It reminds me, oddly, of Sugakiya — the ramen chain that was the soul food of my Tokai-region childhood, and which I still visit often.

That’s not a criticism — it’s good news. No need to queue; walk into whatever place catches your eye and it’ll generally be good. Halfway through, I like adding kōrēgūsu (island chili peppers in awamori) to blow the whole flavor apart. That’s how I enjoy it.

A&W, and the Taste of Medicated Patches

Okinawa is the only place in Japan where you can eat at A&W. Whenever I go, I order a root beer without fail. If I had to describe the taste, it’s like Salonpas — a medicated pain-relief patch. And yet I order it anyway. That’s the strange magic of A&W.

Steak, burgers, tacos, taco rice. Okinawa’s American side lives on, vividly, in its food.

JUNGLIA — Once Is Enough

This is a theme park that opened in the north in 2025. My honest impression after going: once is enough. Even my kid said, “Once is fine.”

If you do go, avoid the hot months. And if a typhoon rolls in, there’s nothing to be done.

📍 JUNGLIA tickets (Klook)

Miyako’s Summer Festival

On Miyako, I went to the island’s rock festival, the MIYAKO ISLAND ROCK FESTIVAL (locals call it “Miya-Rock”). Ketsumeishi, MONGOL800, HY, ORANGE RANGE, BEGIN — in the height of summer, Okinawan artists sharing a stage with mainland acts, a scene that only holds together here. The stage is close enough that you can get swept up in it, beer in hand.

Practical Info: Driving, Payment, Typhoons

Getting to Okinawa: most international routes connect through Tokyo, Osaka, or Taipei, and the final leg into Naha is often on a different carrier than your international flight — sometimes a domestic airline like ANA or JAL, sometimes an LCC like Peach or Jetstar. Airline websites generally won’t search across carriers like that, which is where a flight search tool that combines multiple airlines comes in handy.

📍 Search multi-airline flight routes to Okinawa (Kiwi.com)

On getting around: on both the main island and the outer islands, having a car is generally more convenient. But there’s an exception — if you’re simply nesting in an outer-island resort, the airport limousine bus, hotel shuttles, and taxis are enough. Some hotels, like Nashiro Beach, run a direct limousine bus from Naha Airport, so a fully car-free stay works.

📍 Compare rental car rates (GetRentacar.com) 📍 Book a private airport transfer (GetTransfer.com)

International driving in Japan: if you plan to drive, check the rules for your own country’s license before you go. Japan recognizes the 1949 Geneva Convention International Driving Permit for many countries — but not all, and a few countries require an official Japanese translation of their license instead. Confirm which category yours falls into before you travel.

The essence of typhoon strategy is choosing a season that won’t get one. Before you think about insurance and refunds, pick March–April or October–November. That’s the most reliable move. If you’re going in summer anyway, always confirm the cancellation policies of your flights and hotel before booking — especially with low-cost carriers, where change and refund terms tend to be strict.

📍 Get a travel insurance quote (World Nomads)

Payment: resort hotels and major attractions take cards without issue, but local diners, markets, and some soba shops still run on cash. Keep some yen on hand.

Staying connected: rather than hunting for a local SIM at the airport, an eSIM lets you land with data already working — Airalo is the easiest way to set one up before you fly.

📍 Set up a Japan eSIM before you go

Closing: Practicing Subtraction in Okinawa

Okinawa is a place that gets simpler the more you go.

One night in Naha, one at a resort — that’s enough. Want the water? Go to Miyako. Short on time? Day-trip to Kerama. Avoid summer; choose spring or autumn.

Having seen so many resorts around the world, the reason I keep returning to Okinawa is that the island carries an air that permits you to do nothing — and it’s only two hours away by plane. The sunset falling on Busena Beach, and the saxophone drifting in from somewhere. Every time I remember those, I find myself booking again.

Next time: Halekulani, Nashiro Beach — or maybe, just maybe, doing nothing at all at a resort on Miyako.