We recently spent 10 days in Japan: a week in Tokyo and then three days in Kyoto. This was our first time in Japan. As you might expect, we ate out a lot in both cities. We were staying in places with small kitchens but only ever cooked breakfast. This means I have a lot of meal reports for you from both cities. (We did more than just eat in both cities but I’ll spare you reports on our visits to museums, temples etc..) The eating began almost on arrival. Our flight from Minneapolis to Haneda airport arrived (early) at about 12.30. By the time we had got off the plane, cleared immigration, picked up our luggage and sorted out our Tokyo metro cards (and our Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the following week), it was almost 2 pm. In other words, time for a late lunch. A number of well-regarded restaurants have branches in the airport and we were aimed at one of these in particular: Hanayama Udon. Continue reading →