From the impressive number of stars garnered by restaurants in Tokyo to heads of state visiting the establishments of famed sushi masters, the high end of the Japanese culinary scene gets plenty of attention worldwide. But eating out in Japan doesn't mean you have to break the bank all the time, and sticking to a budget doesn't entail only going to fast-food restaurants. Enter B-kyu gurume (B-class gourmet cuisine) hearty, reasonably priced and down-to-earth dishes, often with strong regional associations.
Hearty, homey cuisine beloved by ordinary folk has been around for a long time of course, but the actual term B-kyu gurume was first coined in the mid-1980s. It's important to note that although "gurume" is the Japanese version of "gourmet," it doesn't mean a person who enjoys food; it refers to a type of cuisine. The Japanese economy was booming and dining out at restaurants that used expensive ingredients and charged high prices was very much the "in" thing to do.
The trendy set considered spending less than ¥10,000 per person at a restaurant rather declasse. Some people rebelled against this though, arguing there was plenty of good food to be had that didn't cost the earth.