City has many innovative restaurants

Dining in lively Tokyo needn’t amount to a mainstream culinary experience, says a Toronto food personality. Adam Waxman told a Toronto Tourism Tokyo event that among restaurants in the Japanese capital are animal-themed ones, which he said can provide an unusual night on the town. “Imagine having coffee with a penguin,” Waxman said while speaking on the city’s food scene.

Waxman said Tokyo’s flourishing food scene means the city has some 200 Michelin-starred restaurants, an impressive number. He also said the food scene is diverse, with, French, Italian and Peruvian eateries being among choices for visitors. Vegan restaurants are among other options. Waxman said visitors can find restaurants that serve the type of meals that hefty sumo wrestlers normally eat, joking that those dishes are good “in case you want to develop that shape.”

He also said tourists can find “pop-up restaurants” that serve 10 or fewer people at a time and are often found in alleys.  Even 7-11s provide interesting food options, Waxman continued. The event also saw Japanese food served and those on hand were also invited to try sake wine, with Michael Tremblay — who has received the title of sake samurai, a respected position in Japan — on hand to praise sake.

Meanwhile, Joey Lanthier of Air Canada noted that that airline’s network includes service to Tokyo from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver and added that interest in travelling to Japan has rebounded. “Our capacity to Japan this summer is roughly in line with what we had before the pandemic,” he stated. Lanthier’s Air Canada colleague Rocky Lo added that the Toronto event only provided a small glimpse of what awaits those visiting Tokyo. “Tonight is only a tease,” he stated.

More information about Tokyo is available from [email protected].

Shin Kawai of Tokyo Tourism (centre) was on hand at the Tokyo Tourism event, as were Rocky Lo and Joey Lanthier of Air Canada.