Review excerpt: Takumi Shiraishi owns three lively craft beer pubs across Kyoto, including Beer Pub Takumiya, where he encourages customers to commune over a good pint and plates of locally grown food.

Review excerpt: Although Tokyo has one of the best restaurant scenes in the world, sometimes you’d rather eschew the high-end and complex for simple, nourishing dishes, the kind you’ll find at Tiny Peace Kitchen.

Review excerpt: Chef Akihiro Seto makes the most fragrant and punchy Japanese curry at Kyoto's Taiyo, dressed with a soaring combination of vegetables and delivering a symphony of taste.

Review excerpt: Tokyo's Aoyama Kawakami-an serves soba noodles by day but adds wine, wagyu and sometimes even a DJ.

Review excerpt: The noodles and clear broth are what set Ginzasa apart from other ramen shops in Tokyo.

Review excerpt: Shibuya's Utsura Utsura is a welcoming little izakaya tavern that has the warm feel of a local watering hole.

Review excerpt: Kyoto's Shokudo Marushin has "teishoku" meals that are a classic combination of rice, miso soup, vegetables, and a main dish of meat or fish.

Review excerpt: This pair of long-time friends traveled the country, tested out ramen from all over Japan, and now, at age 22, own their own noodle shop, Ramen no Bonbo, in Kyoto.

Review excerpt: Jinbocho's Hinomoto Beer Parlor also has a strong emphasis on sake, plus an excellent menu of Japanese food to go with it — just right for an after-work evening of sipping and nibbling.

Review excerpt: The new lunch menu at Shibuya's The SG Club, an award-winning bar, has both Mala and Mole curries.

Review excerpt: Breakfast at Lorimer is the best Japanese-style breakfast in Kyoto. Then, in the afternoon after Lorimer empties out, the spaces doubles as a cooking school.

Review excerpt: Tokyo's Raku serves a longer, skinnier Kobe variant of dumpling, each just a single bite with more golden-fried wrapper than filling.