Hakone (ryokan kaiseki and onsen) is a food day trips in Tokyo.
Editorially verified May 19, 2026 by Elliot Marsh, TableJourney editor. Source.
Tip: Book a ryokan with two meals included; the kaiseki is the trip. Day-trip via Romance Car if overnight is too much.
Day trip · 12 hours
Fuji across the bay from a hilltop of tea fields, the shogun's first tomb reached by ropeway, and the pine beach on the UNESCO list. Shizuoka by private van, no train ...
Day trip · 11 hours
Green tea rows running straight at Mount Fuji, and an hour with a farming family learning to brew it properly. Farm visit and tasting included. One fixed price per group.
Day trip · 12 hours
The Tunnel of Light - a mirror pool at the end of a tunnel in one of Japan's three great gorges - then sake tasting from 100 Niigata breweries and a station foot bath....
Mount Takao west of Tokyo is the day-hike mountain where soba shops near the summit serve mountain-trail tororo soba. Cable car or chair lift up, walk down.
TipEat at Takahashiya at the base or the trailhead soba shops; the tororo (grated yam) soba is the local order.
Nikko in Tochigi is the world-heritage temple town two hours north of Tokyo. Nikko yuba tofu skin is the lunch order; shojin lunches near the Rinno-ji.
TipYuba kaiseki at Hippari Dako or shojin lunch at one of the Rinno-ji temple restaurants; book ahead in peak season.
Lake Kawaguchiko at the foot of Mount Fuji is the day-trip for Yamanashi houtou stew. Flat udon-style noodles in pumpkin-miso broth at Houtou Fudo.
TipHoutou Fudo's main shop is steps from Kawaguchiko Station. Pair with a Fuji ascending or descending view.
Chichibu in Saitama is the mountain town with the cult Chichibu Distillery, hand-cut Saitama soba and the Yakushido sake brewery. The single malt sells out.
TipChichibu Distillery tours need three-month-ahead booking. Walk the Banba-machi soba street and the Buko sake brewery.
Yokohama Chinatown near Tokyo is Japan's largest Chinatown, with 600 shops and restaurants over a 500-metre district. Cantonese, Sichuan, Taiwanese kitchens.
TipDirect from Shibuya on the Toyoko Line. Try yaki shoronpo at the Daihanten counter and Peking duck wraps at the corner stalls.
Kawagoe in Saitama is the Edo-period 'Little Edo' town with 30 preserved warehouses, the Kashiya Yokocho candy alley, and sweet-potato ice cream and dango.
TipWalk Kurazukuri Street first, then Kashiya Yokocho. Sweet-potato ice cream and the Toki no Kane bell tower are the photo stops.