Imahana: A Shōwa-Era Set-Meal Diner in West Tokyo

Imahana, a Showa-era set-meal diner in Kita-Karasuyama, west Tokyo: a wall of hand-brushed menus, ginger pork, chicken katsu and omurice, cash only.
Things to do in Japan, including onsen, food, nature, and traditional towns.
What to do · 96 field reports
Hidden Japan Gems lists 96 things to do across Japan, each one walked and timed in person rather than aggregated from other sites.
They span onsen towns, hands-on food experiences, day hikes, post-town walks, and festivals, sorted so you can match an experience to your region and travel month. Start with the Mt. Fuji area and Kyoto on a first trip; move to Tohoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu for the quieter alternatives.

Imahana, a Showa-era set-meal diner in Kita-Karasuyama, west Tokyo: a wall of hand-brushed menus, ginger pork, chicken katsu and omurice, cash only.

Nankintei's Kunitachi branch is a 24-hour roadside machi-chuka near Tokyo - hand-wrapped 550 yen jumbo gyoza, big fried rice and stamina stir-fries.

Ume-no-Yu, a wood-fired sento near Tokyo's Jindai Botanical Gardens in Chofu: 550 yen baths, a cypress sauna, open-air and herbal baths, hours and how to get there.

How to use a Japanese sento (public bath): etiquette, the 550 yen Tokyo price, tattoo rules, the baths inside, and tattoo-friendly sento in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Tokyo · Mt. Takao · Diamond Fuji Diamond Fuji from Tokyo 2026: 10 Days a Year, 1 Hour from Shinjuku You don’t need to drive to Yamanaka to see Diamond Fuji. Mt. Takao gets it for about 10 days around…

Tatsumi Shokudo in Susono, at the foot of Mt Fuji: a Showa-era diner serving hearty teishoku, stewed offal and beef-with-egg, with free rice. Hours, what to order, access.

Oi Racecourse hosts Tokyo's biggest flea market: up to 700 stalls most weekends, 9:00-14:30, free entry. What to find, how to haggle, access, and other Tokyo markets.

Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, Nagano: wild macaques bathing in a hot spring. What it costs, when they actually soak, the icy 1.6km trail, and how to get there.

Michi-no-Eki Hakuba roadside station, Nagano: what a michi-no-eki is, Hakuba's purple rice as amazake and chiffon, the soba set, hours and how to get there.

Kashiho Mase, a 150-year-old wagashi shop on the Atami coast of Izu — the Izu no Odoriko sweet, seasonal citrus daifuku, its branches, and what to buy through the year.
Every image on Hidden Japan Gems was personally photographed on a Sony α7 across five years of walking Japan. Please don't re-use without permission — reach out if you'd like to.
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