If you are considering Tokyo real estate as a vacation destination, chances are enjoying Japanese food is on your agenda along with visiting interesting sites. 

I believe Japanese food became popular in the last 25 years or so.  Why do I say this? That’s because when I lived in New York City 20 years ago, I remember fusion cuisine was gaining popularity faster than I can finish drinking my Shiso Mojito, and almost all fusion restaurants included elements from Japanese food.  Grated yuzu was everywhere over the dishes, amuse-bouches had pearly orange salmon roe, those who wanted something other than Matcha latte were trying on Houjicha latte, and to this day I have yet to meet anyone who does not like the taste of soy sauce! 

And then I hear from a friend in Paris, that a new Japanese restaurant is popping up on every block of the arrondissements.  Also, whenever a few years later, I got married and met my spouse’s friends (Mexicans), who couldn’t stop talking about their love for Japanese foods.  They are all extremely nice people, so initially I thought they are just being nice, trying to strike up a conversation with me because I am Japanese and food is always a much better and fun topic than most (!) then I realized quickly, that they really do like Japanese food and were very curious about ingredients and preparation.  Some of them have been to Japan, and others had a dream of visiting to visit one day. 

So, aside from Japan’s unique culture, it is clear from the popularity of Japanese food all over the world that delicious local food is definitely attracting visitors to Japan.  Tokyo has an abundance of good chefs and even the so-called average restaurants offer very good food. When I say average, it’s got 2 ½~3 stars out of 5 in Tabelog, one of the most popular rate sites for restaurants in Japan.  Especially in Tokyo, the choice is endless.  While many foreign chefs working in Japan from overseas brought in authentic flavors from their own countries, the Japanese chefs who trained overseas are just as equally talented. Excellent!!

Japanese food is actually an umbrella term for a wide variety of cuisines.  Despite being such a small country, there are numerous very distinct regional cuisines and specialties.  More often than not,  restaurants in Japan offer only one type of food or food from one specific region.  For example, in a typical Japanese restaurant outside of Japan, you may see sushi, chicken teriyaki, buckwheat noodles (soba), etc., on the same menu.  Usually, sushi is eaten in a sushi restaurant only serving sushi, noodles eaten in a noodle shop only serving noodles, and so forth. 
Depending on the region, the ratio of buckwheat and wheat used to make noodles is different. Even the balance between sweetness and saltiness of the dipping sauce vary varies.  As a general rule of thumb, East Japan including Tokyo prefers a saltier taste as you can see in the use of darker shade miso and the popularity of soy sauce-based ramen noodles. 

These days, because of the Covid pandemic, food delivery service has become quite popular again.  If you live in Tokyo, you practically have access to practically all kinds of good food even if you stay in your Tokyo vacation home all day! I have tried the service a few times and just like the trains that run on the schedule here, they always delivered on time.  Even in the heat of summer, I was not afraid of ordering fresh food, including sushi was quite fresh. 

Food delivery is not the only that is another convenient thing worth mentioning about living in Japan. It has a superb regular merchandise home delivery system as well.  Not to mention things are not only packed carefully and get delivered very fast and packed carefully but also you can specify the time of delivery or pick–up for, an item you want to ship to or from your home (in my experience, the delivery man never ever missed that 2-hour window!).  This preciseness allows for the safe delivery of frozen food delivery. You can order crabs from Hokkaido or artisan cheesecake from Kobe if you wish and not have to worry about spoilage!   

In case you were not home to receive the delivery, there will be a delivery attempt notice slip in the mailbox that shows the telephone number that you can call and have the item re-delivered on the same day if you arrange the re-delivery time before 6 pm.  You may have seen “Delivery box at the entrance” listed as an amenity on Tokyo real estate listings.  A delivery box is like a large-sized mail box mailbox, actually more like a locker facility that can both receive a delivered item or store an item for pickup and pick up the item for shipping at any time.   

Moreover, for those who are hardly ever home during business hours (though the Japanese delivery service offers delivery until 9 pm) and do not have a delivery box, you can choose to have the item shipped to the nearest convenience store, which is open 24 hours, for pickup. 

What you can do in Japanese convenience stores is just incredible!  Again, in Tokyo real estate listings, along with information on proximity to a train station or a bus stop, proximity to a convenience store is often stated because it really does make your life convenient!  In terms of goods, they literally sell everything that you might need in a rush or an emergency.  Run out of eggs and milk?  No problem! Just realized you are out of detergent to do your wash?  No problem!  You missed the last train and needed to stay at your friend’s place?  You can get your toothbrush, change of underwear, and toiletries at the convenience store. 

Convenience stores also offer a wide variety of services.  There’s a dry-cleaning pick-up/delivery locker.  You can copy/print anything stored on your phone wirelessly using an app.  You can order and print your birth certificate and other official records which in the old days you normally would have to get at the municipal offices.  You can purchase get tickets to museums, exhibitions and concert tickets.  You can make payments for utilities, insurance, and delivered goods orders (yes, it’s very common to make payments after goods are received using a whereas payment slip that is enclosed with the ordered goods, instead of using a credit card when placing an upon order).  Needless to say, postal service is also offered.   

All these are services I have personally used, but I have a feeling there are more services that I am not aware of.   What a fun place it is as they constantly offer new flavor drinks and sweets as well as seasonal items, such as Halloween and Christmas goodies.  Of course, packaged food and processed food are not the things for foodies, but I assure you the quality is really not bad at all.    

It goes without saying that Needless to say, food is such an important part of our lives.  Luckily, even when I was overseas, I have always had access to Japanese food. However, the choice was often limited and prices quite expensive. Now that I am in Tokyo, I am surrounded with good healthy inexpensive food that I truly enjoy, and things are so convenient, that it has become rather difficult to convince me to live anywhere else.  You might purchase a piece of Tokyo real estate for vacation purposes but then, may I warn you,  you may end up wanting to spend more than vacation time here!