If there's anything Japan has plenty of, it's restaurants. I've never been anything but a budget traveler by Flyer Talk standards, and I have never had trouble finding a reasonable and delicious meal. Often my problem is deciding where NOT to eat.

Every department store has a floor or two devoted to different varieties of restaurants, ranging from USD5.00 plain noodles to USD50.00 wagyuu steak. Every main thoroughfare is lined with restaurants, and in business districts, every side street is full of restaurants in all price ranges. In a pinch--and this happened to me once when I landed in a budget hotel that was in a totally residential area with no restaurants--the convenience stores sell cheap and edible box lunches and will even heat them up for you.

My general rule is that if a restaurant doesn't have its prices posted outside in some form--the famous plastic models of the food in the window, a picture menu, or prices on a chalkboard--then it's probably the type of place that one can't afford if one has to ask about the price.

When I first went to Japan 40 years ago, the Japanese food was great, but other cuisines were pale imitations of the real thing, the most notorious example being "Neapolitan spaghetti" that was stir-fried in ketchup. In the past 30 years, though, despite Japan's less than generous attitudes toward immigration, it has become easier to find wonderful ethnic restaurants operated by immigrants from various countries and European-style restaurants operated by Japanese who have studied cooking in France or Italy.