Ready for a Japanese breakfast?

You’re unlikely to find bread, pancakes or cereal on the breakfast table of a traditional Japanese ryokan. Instead, you’ll sit down to yakizakana, tsukemono and onsen tamago!

To help you make sense of Japan’s morning meal, discover our guide to the main components of a traditional Japanese breakfast:

Rice

Steamed rice is a staple of the morning diet, providing plenty of carbs to accompany the rest of the meal.

Soup

While miso soup is the standard, you’ll find plenty of regional variety. In the fishing port of Ito, Hoshino Resorts KAI Anjin serves up a morning soup with sea bream broth, salt, soy sauce and ginger.

A great way to start the day with local flavours!

Fish

Grilled fish (yakizakana) is a favourite breakfast dish. It’s often served whole – which can make it tricky to eat with chopsticks!

You may well be treated to local catch, such as sea bass at Hoshino Resorts KAI Izumo or finely-grated rainbow trout at Hoshino Resorts KAI Kinugawa.

Side dishes

Expect a generous assortment of small dishes filled with treats such as pickled vegetables (tsukemono), dried seaweed (nori)

and vegetable dishes (kobachi) like mushrooms or onions. Egg is also a firm favourite, usually served as onsen tamago, soft cooked and served floating in a dashi-based soy sauce.

Green tea

No breakfast is complete without green tea!

At Hoshino Resorts KAI Enshu, you’ll be in the heartland of Japan’s tea culture – with your morning sencha made from local leaves.

Green tea is even used to create a delicious aromatic rice soup as part of your breakfast.