It’s a deeply rooted idea that Japanese is the hardest language to learn for English speakers. This view is shared even by Japanese natives themselves, who applaud almost any level of language ability with equal measure. However, one aspect of this that rings true is where it comes to specific vocabulary, specifically kanji. You may be a master of kanji when it comes to engineering, but that might be a completely different story when a sushi menu is thrust in front of you. Here is a quick guide to a number of common food-related kanji you may encounter on Japanese restaurant menus.
Other Entries in This Series:
Beyond Noodles: A Guide to the Different Types of Japanese Restaurants
A Simple Guide to Ordering a Meal in a Japanese Restaurant
Tasukatta! Useful Japanese Phrases When Dining Out in Japan
Table of Contents
ToggleCommon Food Kanji on Japanese Restaurant Menus
Before diving into more obscure kanji, let’s start with some more common ones.
First, let’s recap some words we previously discussed in this series. When it comes to eating out, the most important kanji are without a doubt 食 and 飲, to eat and to drink respectively. When you’re browsing the menu, 食べ物 (tabemono) will head the food section, and 飲み物 (nomimono) will head the drinks section. While you won’t often see these kanji standing on their own, knowing to spot them in compound words will help the eagle-eyed among you to spot an eatery from a mile off. 食 will often appear in some words written on some eateries, such as 食堂 (shokudou) telling you that it is a Japanese canteen style restaurant, or you may see 定食 (teishoku), showing you that the restaurant serves up set lunches.
Next up, a few common menu items. Common finger food at places like izakaya include 枝豆 (edamame) soybeans, 唐揚げ (karaage) or fried chicken, and 串 (kushi), skewers. Again, compounds are very easily recognizable in Japanese: 豆 will be used in many bean-based items, such as tofu or soy milk, and 揚げ will be used in anything deep-fried, so keep an eye out! I always smile when I see 串 because it exemplifies the visual nature of kanji, to me.
You’ll also want to know the word 盛り (mori), which means “plate” or “serving.” You will likely see this used with the characters 小 and 大 to denote small or large servings of things like donburi bowls or sides of rice. (In places where rice is offered free, they may also ask if you want an 大盛 (oomori; large) or 普通 (futsuu; regular) serving.
Here’s a quick run-through of previously discussed menu items:
English | Japanese |
---|---|
Rice | ご飯 (gohan) |
Miso Soup | 味噌汁 (misoshiru) |
Ginger-Fried Pork | 生姜焼き (shougayaki) |
Rice Bowl | 丼・~丼 (donburi / –don) |
Okonomiyaki | お好み焼き (okonomiyaki) |
Hot Pot | 鍋 (nabe) |
Noodle | 麺 (men) |
Izakaya | 居酒屋 (izakaya) |
Ready, Steady, Cook

The cooking world abounds with different ways to describe how to prepare and cook food. This spills over to Japanese restaurant menus too, and some people can be very picky about how they like things prepared – give me a roast potato over a boiled potato any day. At any rate, it can be a good idea to have this small set of kanji (given as verbs below) to hand if you want to know a little bit about how your dish has been prepared.
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生 (nama)
Literally meaning raw, this kanji is used with anything uncooked. This is also used as part of 生ビール, which although looks like “raw beer”, refers to draft beer.
焼く (yaku)
The broadest word for cooking, it broadly refers to using fire to cook something, so you’ll find it in BBQ places, called 焼肉 (yakiniku).
炭火焼 (sumibiyaki)
A few extra kanji transform this into “charcoal grilled.”
炒める (itameru)
To fry, or stir fry. You will often find 炒め (itame) stir fried dishes in Chinese restaurants.
炒る (iru)
To parch, to boil down. Using the same kanji as above, this refers to cooking something until all the water has evaporated, shaking it all the while.
煮る (niru)
To simmer. Usually found as a compound in 煮物 (nimono), a side dish made by stewing.
茹でる (yuderu)
To boil.
蒸す (musu)
To steam.
炙る (aburu)
To broil.
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"Noah [at Unseen Japan] put together an itinerary that didn’t lock us in and we could travel at our own pace. In Tokyo, he guided us personally on a walking tour. Overall, he made our Japan trip an experience not to forget." - Kate and Simon S., Australia


We hate paywalls. Our content remains both free and fiercely independent. If you love the values we stand for and want to help us expand our coverage of Japan, consider a recurring or one-time donation to the Unseen Japan Journalism Fund today.
Seafood and Meat Food Kanji

When I say Japan, you say sushi. What can we say? Japan is an island nation that loves fish, and sushi may be its most famous culinary export. So here we go on an adventure to discover what’s what. To kick off our discussion of (海鮮; kaisen). we’ll first look at the different fish (魚; sakana) then head to shellfish (貝類; kairui).
First off, let’s explore the different types of sushi 寿司 (sushi) you have. Although many kanji in Japanese are used to directly relay the meaning of a word, the kanji used for this kanji is ateji. This means that the kanji were chosen for their sound rather than meaning. Interestingly, these kanji were picked because sushi “governs your longevity” (寿を司る). Originally, the word is said to have come from a conjugation of the adjective for sour, 酸し (sushi). This makes semantic sense, as sushi is defined, in Japanese, as being a dish consisting of vinegared rice and a topping.
The common types of sushi you will see at a sushi restaurant can be split into three major groups. First off you have 握りずし (nigirizushi). This literally means “gripped sushi”, which refers to how the sushi is formed. Next up is 巻きずし (makizushi). Literally meaning “wrapped sushi”, this refers to sushi rolls, wrapped in seaweed, 海苔 (nori). Finally, we have the amusingly named 軍艦巻き (gunkanmaki). Literally meaning “warship wrap”. This is nigiri sushi wrapped up in seaweed, usually with a topping of tuna paste, salmon roe (イクラ; ikura), or uni (urchin). It’s a relatively recent concoction. Legend has it that it originated in Ginza in 1942 when a customer asked for a sushi topped with precarious ikura.

Finally, although not officially sushi, you have sashimi 刺身 (sashimi). This is an odd one as sashimi is made by slicing cuts of fish as opposed to “piercing” them, as the kanji would suggest. However, it is said that this nomenclature comes from the fact that they pinned the fin of the fish to the flesh, as it’s sometimes difficult to identify a fish just from its meat.
Here’s a list of the common types of fish you will encounter, not only in a sushi restaurant but elsewhere too.
Fish:
English | Japanese |
---|---|
Tuna | 鮪 (maguro) |
Salmon | 鮭 (shake) |
Mackerel | 鯖 (saba) |
Sardine | 鰮 (iwashi) |
Jack Mackerel | 鰺 (aji) |
Sea Bream | 鯛 (tai) |
Shellfish and other seafood:
English | Japanese |
---|---|
Shrimp | 海老 (ebi) |
Octopus | 蛸 (tako) |
Eel | 鰻 (unagi) |
Sea Eel | 穴子 (anago) |
Squid | 烏賊 (ika) |
Scallop | 帆立 (hotate) |
Abalone | 鮑 (awabi) |
Crab | 蟹 (kani) |
One extra kanji to look out for on Japanese restaurant menus is 鯨 (kujira). This refers to whale. Given the ethical issues associated with consuming whale meat, this may be something you wish to avoid.
Bonus Round: 炙り〆鯖

Occasionally, no matter how prepared you are, you’re going to find something on Japanese restaurant menus that throws you. That was true the last time our publisher, Jay, went to Japan, and encountered 炙り〆鯖 (aburi-shimesaba) in an izakaya in Tokyo. The character 〆, pronounced shime, is a Japanese-only kanji (和製漢字; wasei kanji) that you only see used intermittently in the modern era. The character can be used to stand for a series of characters. It most commonly means “to fasten/seal/bind” or “to end,” but in this case, it means “to pickle.” shimesaba is a saba (mackerel) that’s cut into threes, covered in salt, rinsed in water, and then lightly pickled in vinegar. The 炙り here refers to it being lightly scorched. (In our publisher’s case, this was done with a blowtorch at the table, which definitely made the meal more of an experience!)
Japanese Restaurant Menus: Conclusion
Japan is a country whose people love not only fish but meat as well, and with it brings a set of kanji to work your way through. The kanji 肉 (niku) is a catch-all for all meat, including red meat and poultry. 牛肉 (gyuuniku), 豚肉 (butaniku), and 鶏肉 (toriniku), beef, pork, and poultry respectively, are the three major meat contenders in Japan, although you can sometimes find 羊肉 (youniku).
Obviously it would be impossible to go through every food kanji in the world, so here’s a list of some more miscellaneous kanji that may prove useful when dining out. The register will often be marked by 会計 (kaikei) and upon your bill you may see 税込み (zeikomi) or 税抜き (zeinuki) meaning including tax or not including tax, respectively. You may see the words 限定 (gentei) or 季節 (kisetsu) written on some items on the menu, which mean limited and seasonal. Japan loves limited edition items and seasonal variations, so it can be fun to try something new every now and then. Finally, we have 自家製 (jikasei), which means homemade. At restaurants, this usually refers to a dish that’s made completely on-premises as opposed to being shipped to the store.
Also, don’t forget to check out our article on the joys of sake for some useful vocab! Hopefully, these guides to food kanji will help introduce you to a rich new series of culinary adventures.
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