Glossary of Japanese Food Words & Phrases

Japanese Food Glossary 日本料理

A glossary of Japanese food words and phrases. Further information on many of the listed Japanese food terms is available via accompanying links, plus information on related food products and Japanese ingredients.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Abura-age - thick tofu slices fried in sesame oil

Aemono - cold dishes (usually vegetables, fish or chicken) mixed with a dressing

Agari - term for tea in Japanese sushi restaurants

Agedashi-dofu - deep-fried tofu

Aji - horse mackerel

Aji - taste

Ama-ebi - sweet shrimp

Anago - conger/saltwater eel

Anko - sweet bean paste made from azuki beans

Anko - angler fish

Asa-gohan - or choshoku - breakfast

Asari - short-necked clams

Ayu - Japanese sweet fish ayu

Awabi - abalone

Azuki - small red bean

B

Ban-gohan - or - yushoku - dinner

Basashi - raw horse meat

Bento - a boxed meal of rice, pickles and small portion of, typically, fish, poached egg, sausage, beans, etc., served in restaurants, train stations or prepared as a packed lunch for school children.

Biru - beer

Buri - yellowtail fish

C

Chahan - fried rice

Chankonabe - a mixed stew traditionally eaten by sumo wrestlers

Chawan-mushi - egg custard with vegetables and usually chicken

Cha-zuke - Japanese tea poured over boiled rice

Chikuwa - a tubular roll of boiled or grilled fish paste. Literally 'bamboo ring' from the method traditionally used to mold it

Chirashi-zushi - sushi topped with fish, vegetables and egg

Choko - o-choko - sake cup

D

Daikon - giant white oriental radish.

Dango - balls of Mochi (pounded sticky rice) served on bamboo skewers.

Dashi - fish and seaweed stock; a key ingredient in Japanese cuisine. Read more on dashi

Datemaki - steamed fish and egg rolled cake

Dengaku - miso over tofu or konnyaku

Dobujiri - a type of nabe made from anko (angler fish)

Doburoku - sake in its earliest stage. Read more on doburoku

Donburi - dish of rice topped with egg and other ingredients

E

Ebi - prawn/shrimp

Edamame - green soy beans eaten as an appetizer or with beer

Ekiben - short for "Eki no bento" a lunch box bought at a station to be eaten on the train

Enoki - long, thin, pale mushrooms

F

Fugu - a blowfish; poisonous fish eaten as a delicacy in Japan.
Read more on fugu

Funazushi - fermented raw fish

Furikake - dried seasoning of fish or vegetables sprinkled over boiled rice

Futomaki - thickly rolled sushi

G

Gari - pickled ginger

Genmai - brown/unpolished rice

Ginnan - nuts of the gingko tree

Gobo - burdock

Gotchisosama - formal salutation at the end of a meal

Gunkan-maki - laver-wrapped seafood on rice

Gyoza - Chinese dumplings

H

Hakumai - plain white rice

Hakusai - Chinese cabbage

Happoshu - lit. "sparkling spirits" or low-malt beer

Harumaki - spring rolls

Hashi - chopsticks

Hijiki - a variety of seaweed

Hirame - halibut

Hiru-gohan - or chushoku lunch

Hiyamugi - thin, white noodles

Hiyayakko - cold block of tofu with grated ginger and sliced onion garnish served with drizzle of soy sauce.

Hiyamugi - white noodles

Hocho - kitchen knife

Horenso - spinach

Hotate - scallops

I

Ichiju-sansui - traditional meal of one soup and three side dishes

Ika - squid

Ikura - salmon roe

Inarizushi - fried bean curd/vegetarian sushi

Iriko - dried anchovy

Ittadakimasu - the traditional pre-meal salutation

Izakaya - Japanese pub serving food and drink in an informal, often lively, atmosphere. Read more on izakaya

J

Jingisukan - BBQ mutton, a delicacy of Hokkaido

Jubako - lacquered boxes

Jyaga-imo - potato, spud

K

Kabocha - pumpkin

Kabu - Japanese turnip

Kai-bashira - scallop

Kaiseki ryori - Japanese haute cuisine made up of many small courses. Read more on Japanese food & Kaiseki ryori

Kaitenzushi - Japanese sushi restaurants where the sushi revolves on a small conveyor belt.

Kaki - oyster

Kamaboko - fish cake

Kani - crab

Kara-age - floured and then deep fried

Katsudon - bowl of rice topped with a fried port cutlet

Katsuo - bonito

Katsuobushi - dried bonito flakes

Kazunoko - herring roe

Kinoko - mushrooms

Kitsune - soba or udon served with fried tofu

Kobe beef- beef from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle, raised using traditional methods

Kohaku kamaboko - red and white fish cake

Kurikinton - sweetened mixture of boiled and mashed chestnuts

Koi - carp

Koko - pickled vegetables

Kombu - kelp or sea tangle used as a basic ingredient for stock. See Dashi.

Kombumaki - rolled kombu

Kome - more commonly - o-kome - rice. See Rice.

Konbini - convenience stores - open 24/7 - sell just about everything as well as offering banking and postal services. Read more on konbini

Konnyaku - Devil's tongue/konjac plant

Konomono - pickled vegetables

Kosu - course

Kujira - whale meat Read more on eating whale

Kurikinton - osechi mix of sweet potatoes and chesnuts

Kuromame - cooked black beans

Kushiage - deep-fried food served in breadcrumbs on wooden skewers

Kyusu - Japanese ceramic tea pots with a handle at 90 degrees from the side. tea products

Japanese soba noodles ready to boil

Japanese nabe

L

M

Mabo-dofu - spicy Chinese-style tofu and mince

Maki-zushi - seaweed-rolled sushi (also makimono)

Mame - beans

Matsutake - type of Japanese mushroom

Meshi - typically male word for "rice" in other words "food"

Mikan - tangerine, satsuma orange

Mirin - intensified, sweetened sake used in cooking

Miso - fermented soybean paste ranging in color from yellow to brown. A staple of Japanese cuisine

Mitsuba - Japanese chervil

Mochi - steamed rice pounded into a glutinous cake and used as a staple ingredient in a variety of dishes, including desserts.

Momo - peach

Mushimono - steamed dish

N

Nabe - one pot meal eaten in winter Read more about nabe

Nama - raw, also draft beer as in nama biru

Namasu - vinegared dish

Nantaimori - "body sushi" using a male model

Nasu - eggplant

Natto - fermented soybeans eaten with mustard and soy sauce

Negi - spring onion

Neta - the top fish part of sushi

Nigiri - combination sushi ie: the rice part and neta - the fish topping

Niku-jaga - potato and beef stew

Nimono - simmered in a soup stock

Ninniku - garlic

Nishiki tamago - egg brocade

Nori - grilled laver/seaweed

Nyotaimori - "body sushi" - eating sushi off a naked woman

O

O-cha - Japanese tea

Oden - vegetables, tofu and fish cake in a broth

O-kanjo - the bill.

Okonomiyaki - "Japanese pizza" - egg based pancake

Omakase - leaving it up to the chef or waiter to choose your dishes at a restaurant.

Onigiri - a sticky rice ball wrapped in a seaweed often containing a filling of fish or a pickled plum: umeboshi

Onsen-tamago - egg poached in its shell in hot spring water

Oroshigane - grater

Osechi ryori - New Year delicacies

Oshinko - pickled vegetables

Oyatsu - snack

P

Pan - bread

Panko - bread crumbs

Pi-man - peppers

Pongashi - lit. 'popped snacks' - roasted rice snacks. Read more on pongashi

Poteto-furai - French fries/chips

Q

R

Rakkyo - pickled shallot

Ramen - Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a bone and vegetable stock and flavored with soy sauce (also known as chuka soba). Read more on ramen

Ranchi - lunch

Reba - chicken liver

Renkon - lotus root

Ryoriya - Japanese restaurant

Ryoshusho - receipt

Ryotei - exclusive Japanese restaurant often popular with politicians.

S

Saba - mackerel

Sake - Japanese rice wine: a clear drink made from fermented rice, 14-16% alcohol by volume, served either warm or cold. Usually referred to honorifically as o-sake. Read more on sake

Sashimi - sliced raw fish

Satsuma-imo - another name for the Japanese sweet potato

Sato-imo - sweet potato

Senbei - rice cracker

Sencha - green tea

Setto - set meal

Shabu-shabu - thinly sliced beef dipped in seasoned broth

Shari - the bottom, vinegared rice part of sushi

Shichimi togarashi - lit. "seven-flavored chili pepper"

Shijimi - freshwater clams

Shimahokke - Atka mackerel

Shio - salt

Shirouo - small, transparent fish eaten alive. Read more on shirouo

Shiso - perilla leaf often served with sashimi

Shiitake - Chinese black mushroom

Shochu - Shochu is a distilled, clear alcoholic beverage made from a variety of different ingredients such as barley, buckwheat, sweet potatoes and sugar. shochu - Read more

Shoga - ginger

Shojin-ryori - Buddhist vegetarian cuisine associated with Kyoto

Shokuchudoko - food poisoning

Shokudo - canteen, restaurant

Shokuyoku - appetite

Shoyu - soy sauce shoyu - Read more

Soba - Japanese buckwheat noodles (resembling spaghetti) served in a soy-flavored, or sometimes clear, broth made from fish and seaweed stock: Dashi. Read more on noodles

Subutta - Chinese-style, sweet and sour pork

Sunomono - vinegar dishes

Sukiyaki - meat or tofu, with vegetables and other ingredients, simmered in an iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin.

Suribachi & Surikogi - (ceramic) mortar and (wooden) pestle.

Sushi - bite-sized servings of cooked sticky rice, served cold, flavored with sweet rice vinegar and grated green horseradish, or wasabi, and garnished with strips of raw or cooked fish, other seafood, cooked egg or vegetables. Also called maki-zushi when wrapped in dry seaweed, or nori.
Read more on sushi

T

Tai - sea bream

Tako - octopus

Takoyaki - octopus balls in batter

Takenoko - bamboo shoot

Tamago - egg

Tama-negi - round onions

Tazukuri - dried sardines cooked in sugar and soy sauce

Teishoku - a set meal served in restaurants usually including rice, pickles and miso soup

Tempura - fish, prawns or vegetables deep fried in a non-greasy batter

Teriyaki - dishes cooked with a mixture of mirin/sugar, soy sauce and sake

Tofu - soybean curd

Togarashi - hot chili

Tonkatsu - pork cutlet

Toro - fatty tuna

Tsukemono - pickled vegetables

Tsumami - or o-tsumami - hors d'oeuvre often with drinks

U

Udon - wheat flour noodles

Umai - delicious!

Umeboshi - sour, pickled plums often eaten with rice.

Unagi - eel

Uni - sea urchin

V

W

Wakame - a type of seaweed, usually found in Miso soup.
Read more on wakame

Waribashi - disposable chopsticks.waribashi - Read more

Wasabi - green horseradish, often eaten with Sushi.

X

Y

Yaki-mono - grilled dishes

Yakitori - charcoal-grilled chicken on skewers
Read more on yakitori

Yoshokuya - westernstyle restaurants adapted to the Jpanese taste.

Yuba - soy milk skin

Yuzu - lemon-like citrus fruit

Z

Zabuton - floor cushions, 'za' meaning 'sitting' and 'buton' being Futon.

Zaru - bamboo basket/sieve

Zaru-soba - cold noodles

Zashiki - floor seating area in a restaurant or home