Torishin pays tribute to the bird, and this Michelin-starred restaurant is one of the world’s top yakitori joints outside of Japan. Chef and owner Shu Ikeda trained at Toriyoshi in Tokyo, and he initially opened Torishin in 2006 on the Upper East Side, before relocating to Midtown West in 2016, earning three stars from the Times and Eater along the way. On offer are three set menus ($60, $65, $160), plus a la carte skewers, that include various cuts of skewered chicken and seasonal vegetables. Ikeda sources his umami-rich, free range jidori birds from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, and before grilling over high-grade kishu binchotan, he brushes the meat with a 50-year-old tare sauce that the chef brought over from Toriyoshi. The most expensive set menu is also the most immersive, fusing kaiseki-style dining with more adventurous cuts like chicken tail, gizzard, and heart. The space is decked out in 500-year-old hinoki wood assembled via a technique known as kumiko, in which wooden bars are crossed and laid to form minus without any nails.

Tucked one level below French-Japanese hybrid Mifune, Sushi Amane is the cozy, eight-seat edomae omakase bar helmed by Shion Uino, who relocated to New York after nearly a decade at one of Tokyo’s most prized fish counters, three-Michelin-starred Sushi Saito. Within a blonde wood-bedecked minimalist space, Uino shapes approximately 18 courses hinged around wild-caught, sterling seasonal seafood. His $250 omakase spans from otsumami (appetizers) to a succession of nigiri carefully formed using rice seasoned with a blend of Japanese salts and red vinegars. Using connections from Japan, Uino sources rare cuts of fish, like longtooth grouper, and a plethora of exceedingly scarce types of uni, which only become available at certain times of year. For example, Uino offers Murasaki uni from Hokkaido, which most restaurants can’t afford to serve, along with Murasaki uni from his hometown, the islands of Amakusa in Kumamoto. Though Amane is a New York restaurant, it could easily live in Tokyo.

One-Michelin-starred Kajitsu serves a type of cuisine that’s hard to find outside of Japan: vegetarian shojin ryori. Shojin ryori predates kaiseki ryori, and was the original type of food served at Zen Buddhist temples. Consider Kajitsu’s two tasting menu options (eight courses for $95, 10 courses for $125) to be a meat-free form of kaiseki, emphasizing balance and harmony, and cooking preparations which seek to coax out the inherent flavor of each individual seasonal ingredient. Expect to try dishes such as sake lees soup, daikon rice, fried winter mushroom with gingko nut, and daikon with yuzu. Grab a seat at the minimalist blonde wood counter, or for larger parties there’s a simple dining room with tables.

In Japanese, “yaki” means grill, while “niku” means meat. Takashi is a 34-seat yakiniku restaurant dressed in wood, with rustic tables outfitted with individual grills that replicate the heat emitted by a charcoal flame. Just like at a Korean barbecue restaurant, diners order off the menu, and raw proteins land tableside, for a cook-your-own meal. While there’s an assortment of cooked appetizers, the focus is on carefully sourced premium beef (including wagyu) from sustainable farms in upstate New York and Japan. There’s both wagyu from Miyazaki, plus an American take on the buttery beef, alongside more adventurous cuts like tongue, stomach, and intestines. Takashi debuted in 2010 from the late chef Takashi Inoue and quickly become a New York fixture for its excellent beef and spartan Japanese look.

Hi-Collar offers Japanese culture two ways, as a kissaten (a Western-inspired Japanese coffee/tea cafe) by day and izakaya and sake bar by night. During the day, drop by for siphon coffee and a classic kissaten menu of katsu-sandos, omurice (fried rice omelette), and pancakes. Meanwhile, come 6 p.m., charcoal-grilled squid and rice wine take over. Owner Sakura Yagi explains the cafe’s moniker and concept: “Hi-Collar or haikara, is a term that evolved to mean avant-garde; high-collared Western shirts were considered to be modern compared to traditional Japanese kimono.” The narrow, counter-style restaurant is reminiscent of the Japanese Jazz Age, with a mix of sliding shoji screens, stained glass doors, and Tiffany-style pendant lights.

Kyo Ya bears no signage, belying what lies within: one of New York’s very first kaiseki restaurants, and still a hidden gem nearly 12 years later despite a Michelin star. On its below-ground space, polished wood shines within the intimate 36-seat eatery that’s divided by sliding shoji screens, with imported Japanese tiles, tatami mats, and rice paper lamps creating a serene escape from busy Manhattan. Here, the star is traditional, elegant kaiseki, eight seasonal courses for $150, with many ingredients flown over from Japan. Following classic kaiseki progression, expect to start with sakizuke (amuse) like fried taro with crispy shrimp and miso, followed by assorted zensai (small appetizers) like cod fish milt made in chawanmushi-style. Soup, sashimi, a grilled dish, a fish dish, rice, miso soup, and seasonal fruit follow. There is a short a la carte menu available, too.

Encompassing just 600 square feet, Bar Goto replicates the feeling of drinking in a tiny Japanese pub, of which there are millions spread through the country. Somehow owner Kenta Goto fit 40 seats into that diminutive space, decorated with warm wood, and here the Pegu Club alum serves a short list of cocktails made with Japanese ingredients (think dashi and sakura blossoms) that reflect his time in both New York and Tokyo. To soak up the booze, there are top-notch bar snacks like okonomiyaki and ume (plum) vinegar octopus.

Stefen Ramirez operated Tea Dealers as a rare tea import organization for two-and-a-half years before relocating from Williamsburg to Alphabet City in 2018 and opening his quaint, 33-seat cafe. Here Ramirez serves naturally grown, unblended, single cultivar teas, along with sake and tea-infused soju, sourced from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and India. There’s also a concise collection of tea-friendly Japanese dishes like the cafe’s signature ochazuke, rice served with marinated king salmon, house-made pickles, and tea. While menus change every two months or so, 29B’s ethos remains constant: to offer some of the world’s most rare teas, with a focus on those from Japan. Every so often you’ll find a contemporary nod, as found in the cafe’s famed matcha beer. An earthy palate of grey and honied wood give the space a sense of calm.

Kaiseki meets sushi via Shoji at 69 Leonard, the Japanese pop-up turned permanent concept that replaced Ichimura in 2018. Chef Derek Wilcox — who recently earned three stars from the Times — spent seven years at three-Michelin-starred Kikunoi in Kyoto, and he brings to New York one of the most faithful Japanese dining experiences the city offers. Within an unadorned, blonde wood, 10-seat counter space, Wilcox plates three weekly-changing omakase menus ($190, $252, $295, all gratuity included) rife with rare and hyper seasonal Japanese ingredients. Hamo (pike conder eel) sashimi, kan buri (winter amerjack) marinated in sake lees, and namako (sea cucumber) tenerized in green tea all make appearances. The menu commences with a series of otsumami (appetizers) and kaiseki-inspired small plates before moving into around 10 drops of nigiri, followed by temaki, soup, and dessert.

Tiny little Okonomi is driven by the Japanese philosophies of chi san chi sho (locally grown, locally consumed) and mottainai (no waste). The 12-seat restaurant feels like one of the millions of cramped Japanese cafes that can fit just a handful of humans. During the day, until 3 p.m., stop in for a daily-changing $20 to $35 set menu (no tipping here) that mirrors a style of breakfast common throughout Japan: rice, miso soup, a slice of roasted fish, and various veggies. During the evening, Yuji Ramen takes over with an a la carte menu dedicated to seafood ramens and mazemens (no-broth ramen). Coming back to the no-waste philosophy, the restaurant takes the bones from the fish it serves in the morning and cooks them all day for ramen that night.

Ramen is often a solo sport in Japan, with people quickly ducking into a shop during lunch for a fast bowl of soupy hot noodles. Which is why Japanese ramen chain export Ichiran offers customers solo dining booths, for patrons to slurp its famous Fukuoka tonkotsu broth in silence. In fact, Ichiran serves just one type of ramen, and this focus enables the place to concert efforts on perfecting that bowl. However, customers can customize bowls by ordering extra noodles, pork, or adding a dash of black vinegar. After launching in 2016 and attracting lengthy lines, Ichiran opened a second, smaller outlet in Midtown.