Day by Day Japan plans a first trip to Japan the way a friend who lives here would: one day at a time, with the trains and the prices written down.

Each route is a real day or weekend: where to go first, how long the walk or the train takes, what the ticket costs and where to eat on the way. Prices come from the operator's or the place's own published fares and carry the date they were checked; where we have not checked a price, the route says so instead of guessing. If it rains, the route has a plan B.

Around the routes sits the week in Japan. Every few hours the site reads the Japanese city and food press and the English-language desks in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Fukuoka, and puts the places they name on one map. Headlines stay in the language they were written in, every story links to its source, and we quote no more than a line.

The routes and notes are written by one editor under a pen name, Sora Nakamura, drafted with AI assistance from checked material and read before they go out. Day by Day Japan is independent: no advertisers, no affiliate links, no bookings.

← Day by Day Japan Archive

5AM RamenEat

Hachimitsu Gotanda Ramen Review: Hand-Pressed Noodles & Shiro Shoyu

August 24

Hachimitsu in Gotanda is one of those ramen shops that snuck up on the neighborhood.

Ramen & noodles Tokyo

Read at 5AM Ramen ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Hachimitsu Gotanda Ramen Review: Hand-Pressed Noodles & Shiro Shoyu

Related

EatMugito Mensuke: Revenge Ramen in Osaka 5AM Ramen

EatTsuchinotomi Ramen Yokohama: Duck, Chicken, and Pork Broth Done Right 5AM Ramen

EatBone Daddies Ramen Review: London's Irreverent Take on Tonkotsu 5AM Ramen

EatDuramentei: Yakumo's Ramen Legacy Lives On in Kameido 5AM Ramen

EatHow to Actually Taste a Bowl of Ramen (Not Just Eat It) 5AM Ramen

EatMatsuo Seibaku: Tokyo’s Pressure-Cooker Ramen 5AM Ramen