DESTINATION RESTAURANTS
Destination Restaurants now has 60 on the map
Presented by The Japan Times since 2021, Destination Restaurants seeks out Japan’s best restaurants beyond big cities, selected by Japanese experts with international diners in mind.
In mid-2024, a guidebook on the 40 restaurants listed from 2021 to 2024 was published to great acclaim. In the fall, NHK’s current affairs program “Close-Up Gendai” featured culinary tourism and showed affluent foreign tourists visiting restaurants that had been included in the list.
Even in areas of Japan suffering depopulation, just a single standout restaurant can draw in tourists, and the economic impact of such restaurants will only grow. Culinary tourism, in which visitors try to experience a region’s culinary culture and heritage, is estimated to now have a global market size of ¥100 trillion ($700 billion), and Japan’s regional restaurants — and the Destination Restaurants list itself — are clearly growing in prominence.
Destination Restaurants 2026, the list’s sixth annual installment, features 10 new entrants, bringing the total to 60. The judging panel of Yoshiki Tsuji, Naoyuki Honda and Takefumi Hamada remains unchanged. Eligible restaurants can be of any genre but must lie outside of Japan’s major cities.
Selections are based on three principles: that the true expression of Japan’s land and climate is to be found in its regional areas; that it is important to unearth unique local talents; and that Destination Restaurants must be different from other rankings.
As the list grows, a new map of Japan’s culinary scene is emerging more clearly. And yet many great restaurants still haven’t been selected yet, and some prefectures still don’t have an entry in the list. We hope that by 2030, when the list will have grown to 100 restaurants, there will be at least one from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
Kesennuma Kuromori
The Destination Restaurant of the Year 2026
Chef Yoji Kuromori made the decision to move to Miyagi Prefecture following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. After opening a fukahire (shark fin) restaurant in Sendai and demonstrating his skills there, he relocated in 2025 to Kesennuma, one of the world’s leading shark fin producers, and launched Kesennuma Kuromori, where he offers unique fukahire cuisine in cooperation with producers.
Hokkaido
A much-talked-about restaurant where guests can enjoy dinner while gazing at a superb ocean sunset. French cuisine-based robatayaki (char-grilled) dishes feature ingredients nurtured by the rich Hokkaido environment. The cuisine is paired with wines carefully selected by owner-chef Hideo Kon, who developed a unique culinary philosophy while at a French restaurant in Tokyo and a fresh fish store in his hometown, Kushiro.
Yamagata prefecture
Established in Yamagata Prefecture’s Okitama basin in 1915, the hot spring inn Yamagata the Takinami reopened in 2017 after renovations. U-Ki-Tomam, the restaurant in the inn where chef Tsuyoshi Nakagawa displays his skills and creativity, communicates the excellence of local ingredients to people inside and outside Japan, calling itself “Yamagata’s showroom and curated store.”
Ibaraki prefecture
Ohtsu was established in 1991 by owner-chef Takashi Ohtsu. In recent years his son, Takaaki — who won the 2022 edition of RED-U-35, a competition that has become a gateway to success for young chefs — has been strengthening his presence in the role of sous-chef. The dishes make skillful use of local ingredients on a foundation of classic French cuisine.
Nagano prefecture
Owner-chef Ryuichi Nishimoto’s experience with firewood cooking dates back to his childhood. After honing his skills in Spain, he returned to Japan and carried out camp management and firewood production and sales. As a firewood specialist, he cooks a variety of ingredients over a wood fire, including mushrooms and wild vegetables that he forages in the Northern Alps. His “mountain cuisine” is attracting a great deal of attention.
Yamanashi prefecture
This inn and restaurant was opened in the summer of 2024 by chef Kohei Horiuchi and his older brother, sommelier Moichiro Horiuchi, both of whom had previously worked in restaurants inside and outside Japan. The inn is situated in a forest on the north side of Mount Fuji, and its dining room has just nine counter seats. A vegan course menu is available.
Fukui prefecture
Tsukihi opened in February 2025 as a restaurant attached to the Six Three Estate winery in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture. Kyohei Nagaya assumed the post of chef after studying grape cultivation and winemaking at the winery. Making use of local ingredients and handicrafts, he conveys Echizen’s characteristic sense of beauty.
Shiga Prefecture
Owner-chef Mitsuru Furukawa renovated the century-old traditional house where he was born and raised, and opened this Japanese-style inn with attached sauna in June 2024. On a foundation of Japanese cuisine, Furukawa creates distinctive course menus with ingredients including wild game that he hunts himself and fish from Lake Biwa.
Nara prefecture
This restaurant opened in 2025 in the inn Seseragi no Yado Misenkan in the village of Tenkawa in Nara Prefecture’s Yoshino district, situated in a corner of a World Heritage site. Chef Toshiharu Sunayama creates cuisine that reflects the distinctive terroir of the Kumano River basin.
Saga Prefecture
After honing his skills at renowned restaurants in France and serving at Blue Hill at Stone Barns on the outskirts of New York City, Yuichi Yokota struck out on his own in May 2024 as owner-chef of Restaurant Présage. He is opening up new culinary territory while continually asking questions about the meaning of cuisine, eating and expressing regional character.
The 2025 edition of Destination Restaurants is the list's fifth annual installment welcoming 10 new entrants and bringing the total number of featured restaurants to 50.
With the addition of Ehime Prefecture's Kurumasushi on Shikoku, all 10 of Japan's major regions are now represented including Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Tokai, Hokuriku, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa.
With 50 restaurants and more to come, a new map of Japan's culinary scene is emerging, highlighting exceptional dining destinations and setting itself apart from conventional guides.
Destination Restaurants was launched by The Japan Times in 2021 as a list of the best restaurants in Japan, selected by Japanese experts with international diners in mind. As in previous years, Yoshiki Tsuji, Naoyuki Honda and Takeshi Hamada have kindly judged the 4th edition, Destination Restaurants 2024, and selected 10 top-quality restaurants from across the nation.
Click here for inquiries regarding public relations/sponsorships
