Tourists In Japan Need To Stop Using Google Maps To Find Food (And What To Use Instead)

Sushi, ramen, udon, okonomiyaki, yakiniku, tonkatsu, yakitori ... are you hungry for Japanese food yet? There are almost 400 Michelin-starred restaurants in Japan, and the best meals are often found locally. To find them, you could follow Anthony Bourdain's advice for spotting the best local places to eat, or perhaps whip out Google Maps and follow the star ratings. And yet, there are better ways to find drool-worthy food in Japan. 

So why does Google Maps fall short? Well, most Japanese people don't use it to find restaurants, so many reviews are from tourists. The top app to find restaurants in Japan is Tabelog. This is the locals' go-to app for ratings and reviews, so Tabelog shows you far more restaurants than Google, and the star ratings are more reliable. 

What makes a good rating on Tabelog? As Redditor satoru1111 writes in the r/JapanTravelTips forum, "A 3.5 on Tabelog is basically amazing, where as any place that has rats running on your food can still get a 4 on Google or Tripadvisor." This is backed up by many other users (the 3.5-part at least!). The Tabelog website has an English version. You can search by area and type of cuisine, and make reservations for many restaurants online. So imagine you're in Osaka craving okonomiyaki: Tabelog will filter out the tourist traps and lead you to some mouth-watering cuisine. But Tabelog isn't your only option if you're planning a foodie vacation in Japan.

While Tabelog is king, other apps might serve your needs better. Like, what if you're vegetarian or vegan? You might be surprised to learn that finding vegetarian and vegan food in Japan can be a challenge, as most broths and sauces are fish- or meat-based. That's where HappyCow steps in, with almost 5,000 vegan and vegetarian-friendly restaurants listed. User reviews and photos will give you a solid idea of what to expect.

With Galleycat, you can curate a "trail" of eateries, or choose a restaurant from a trail created by other foodies, and then integrate your choice with your navigation app to easily find it. With Rakuten's Gurunavi, you can use the website to book restaurants all over Japan. There are no customer reviews, though some pages link to Tripadvisor reviews. Gurunavi is best for when you already know where you want to eat and just want to make sure you snag a spot.

Finally, we get that you might not want to download yet another app or navigate an unfamiliar website. If you'd prefer to stick with Google Maps, there's a trick: search in Japanese. Japanese people tend to review restaurants in their own language, so switching to Japanese will deliver more authentic results. Just use a translation app to search for the type of restaurant you want. Need more help? Read our article on how to get the most out of your foodie vacation. Itadakimasu!