I've been enjoying your report for the past two days. Waiting for more.
As for the food, I'm with photographer. My first time in Japan back 10+ years ago, I would eat at Subway, Starbucks, Burger King and McD. I did it first and last time.
Since then on every single of my trips, if it's not local I'm not eating. I had some nasty food, and was positively surprised few times, but the essence of the travel lays in the local food