Japan

As far as great cities of the world are concerned, Tokyo is one I’ll always go back to on every single trip to Japan.

It is massive not only in population, but in size, too, and with so many great experiences and restaurants that we could foreseeably never, ever get tired of exploring the city proper.

But this presents a challenge when planning a trip to Japan, as there is one extremely difficult question you need to answer: how many days in Tokyo should I plan for?

While there is no ideal answer here, since everyone’s trip will be different, be it for interests, length of time visiting, budget, and more, we have a few insights to share after several trips to Japan where Tokyo has always been a staple in our itinerary.

You’ll likely want more time than you have, so be sure to plan accordingly.

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Whenever we told a sake brewery worker or bartender that we were heading to Kanazawa on our third trip to Japan, there was a near-unanimous reply- you have to try sake from the Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute. When we replied that we had already made a reservation to visit, we got a subtle nod of approval as the reputation of this one truly precedes it.

This brewery is famous not only for making acclaimed products, but also because its Toji, Noguchi Naohiko, is often considered the God of Sake Brewing.

Why is that? Well, he’s been making sake since 1949, was critical to the Yamahai style revival, and helped popularize Ginjo sake in Japan to name a few. And if you’re looking at that year and wondering, yes, he is also in his 90s and helps pass on his sake knowledge at his namesake Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute!

So, given that Angie is obsessed with sake (WSET Level 3 certified), and I love a good sake tour, we made our way out to the institute outside of Kanazawa to check it out and enjoy a tasting!

In this one, we wanted to share a bit more about what the experience was like and offer some booking tips, since reaching this one isn’t the easiest!

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Whenever we visit a major city, we’ve been getting in the habit of booking a Culinary Backstreets tour to get off the beaten track and explore areas we otherwise wouldn’t have visited (and with a particular emphasis on eating, of course).

In Tokyo, we jumped on their tour focusing on the Monzen-Nakacho region of Koto City on the eastern side of Tokyo, and absolutely fell in love with the area- so much so that we’ve even returned to explore more on future visits to the city!

But, as with all of the Culinary Backstreets tours we’ve been on, we have one recommendation we suggest you heed- go hungry. This tour will leave you stuffed for quite some time.

Note: As with most guided tours, your mileage may vary on where you visit on any given day. Please reconfirm all tour details prior to booking as stops may change. But for this one, you aren’t covering a big area, so if your particular tour doesn’t hit every spot we visited, you can always go back to the ones mentioned in this article after the tour is over!

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