Eating in Yoshinoya Is A Rite of Passage to Japan Trip

I landed in Tokyo three hours ago, took the train to Kanda, checked into the hotel, and the very first thing I did on the hotel Wi-Fi? Find the nearest Yoshinoya. Three minutes later, there I was — sitting inside one — accompanied by my Amma, who refused to eat, and my aunt, who hovered curiously and asked for a recommendation for anything chicken or fish.

After half-explaining the menu, I placed my order: a large bowl of beef on rice, a raw egg on the side, and miso soup. Minutes later, I wiped the bowl clean, and just like that, I finally felt like I had arrived in Japan.

At this point, Yoshinoya feels less like a restaurant and more like a rite of passage. Are we even surprised that I marked travel milestones with food? No we are not.

It all began in 2012, on my first trip to Japan. The girls suggested Yoshinoya for lunch, and I said yes without knowing what kinda of eateries it was. I don’t recall loving the taste — my taste buds have always taken their time to mature — but the moment is forever preserved in a photo taken by Yiwen.

Fast-forward to 2015: same gang, same country, different Yoshinoya. This time it was in Sapporo, tucked away in a basement. We were there right after we realised we couldn’t rent a car with an expired driver’s licence. We decided to eat first and figure life out later, talking through our plans over bowls of rice at Yoshinoya.

Since then, Yoshinoya has taken on a quietly ceremonial role in my travels. There was the Christmas Day lunch at Yoshinoya, when nothing else seemed to be open. Then there were countless Yoshinoya work lunches in Jakarta with Che, filling the gaps between trips to Japan and soothing the longing in between.

So yes, while in Japan, skipping Yoshinoya isn’t an option — even when I’m travelling with a brown mum who refuses to eat anything here (don’t worry, I took her to an Indian restaurant a few doors down afterwards).

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