DESTINATION RESTAURANTS
Destination Restaurants
2025
Destination Restaurants is a list of Japan’s best restaurants published by The Japan Times. Started in 2021, the list is selected by Japanese experts with an international audience in mind. On May 28, The Japan Times hosted the 2025 Destination Restaurants Awards at Dining 33 Hills House, a cozy restaurant in Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower, in which the selected restaurants were recognized for their exquisite dishes and sustainable cuisine.
Himawari Shokudo 2, which opened in the city of Toyama last year, won Destination Restaurant of the Year 2025. The fine-dining Italian restaurant serves an omakase course menu based on owner-chef Hozumi Tanaka’s creativity. The main dining room has two counter seats and six table seats.
Guest speaker Futoshi Nasuno, the secretary-general of the Cabinet Office’s Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters, said culinary experiences are a major reason why travelers visit Japan today. He noted that the Destination Restaurants initiative, by supporting regional revitalization, aligns with the Cool Japan strategy. Tsutomu Wakamatsu of the Japan National Tourist Organization added that cultural encounters, especially those related to food, promote spending by overseas visitors. After a toast by Patricia Barbosa Lima Cortes, the deputy chief of mission at the Brazilian Embassy, guests enjoyed a six-course meal by award-winning chefs.
Some of the previously awarded chefs joined a talk session to share their perspectives on Japanese food culture, exploring the differences in culinary expression between urban and rural areas. The three speakers said they hoped the Destination Restaurant award would have a positive impact on local communities and discussed what they expect from diners as craftsmen.
The judges selecting the restaurants — Yoshiki Tsuji, Naoyuki Honda and Takefumi Hamada — weigh the use of ingredients that are local, the use of ingredients in a sustainable way, whether chefs are creating a unique gastronomy, how much they are helping to raise the level of local producers and how much a restaurant adds to the community by shining a light on it.
