Today’s breakfast consisted of toast, a smear of butter, a 3-minute egg and some sea salt and pepper. Not a bad way to start the weekend.

Finding good food is a top priority when Ben and I travel. It puts you in touch with the country’s culture and connects you with its people. I, unfortunately, don’t read or speak any Japanese (except for a handful of vocabulary) but Ben buckled down a couple of months before our trip and learned enough to get us around comfortably, order food, and even ask for recommendations. Here’s a collection of some of our favorite meals in Tokyo.

first dinner in Tokyo

curry dog taiyaki -- better than it sounds

my favorite thing we ate -- New Year's ozoni

we searched hard for this one -- ichigo mochi

grilled buns with various fillings

New Year's festival food -- candied strawberry

not just any old steamed potato

street cart okinomiyaki

5am breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market -- uni, toro, and tamago

still warm sweet potato mochi in kawagoe

the best salmon onigiri I've ever eaten

second breakfast of the day -- strawberry and chestnut mochi

one of many, many crepes

our last lunch -- pretty and delicious

These meals anchor all the good memories we made in Tokyo. We’ve always had great food experiences while traveling in Japan, and this trip was no different.

Happy New Year, friends!

Ben and I just got back from a fantastic winter trip to Japan where we spent the better part of the week wandering the streets of Tokyo and eating everything we could get our hands on. A photo-filled post of all the deliciousness we encountered is coming, but I wanted to dedicate one to the wonderful breakfast we had each morning before we started our day.

Before heading back to our hotel every night, we would stop at a convenience store (AMPMs dominated our block) and pick up some juice and a container of yogurt. Ben would get up early in the morning and walk up the street to the neighborhood Doutor coffee shop and pick us up some coffee and occasionally a muffin to supplement our convenience store finds.

It was the perfect way to start each morning; we fell in love with Japanese yogurt and were delighted to find drip coffee and grapefruit juice — two things that are difficult to come by in Korea.

Maybe Japanese yogurt only tastes this good if you’re on vacation… but we’re pretty sure it would be awesome anytime.