How to Order at a Japanese Restaurant When You Can’t Read Japanese
By Yoshi | Japan Unveiled
I want to begin with a reassurance.
The scenario you may be imagining — standing in front of a Japanese restaurant menu, unable to read a single character, surrounded by Japanese people who are ordering efficiently and confidently while you experience the specific anxiety of a person who has no idea what is about to happen — is a scenario that has a solution. Multiple solutions, in fact. The Japanese restaurant system has developed, partly through its own internal logic and partly in response to the practical needs of an increasingly international visitor population, a set of tools and conventions that make ordering possible even for the person who has arrived in Japan with zero Japanese language ability.
You will be fine. Let me explain why, and how.
Tool One: The Plastic Food Display
Before you enter many Japanese restaurants — particularly casual and mid-range establishments — you will pass a display case in the entrance area or in the window containing plastic replicas of the dishes on the menu.
These replicas — shokuhin sampuru (食品サンプル), the subject of a dedicated Quirky Japan Chronicles episode elsewhere on this blog — are produced by specialist manufacturers to extraordinary levels of accuracy: the specific colour of the teriyaki glaze, the exact arrangement of the garnish, the specific cross-section of a cut roll of sushi, reproduced in painted plastic or resin with the fidelity of a still-life painting.
The plastic food display is not, primarily, a tourist accommodation. It developed in Japan as a practical solution to the specific problem of menu communication in a society where many people — historically, before universal literacy — could not read, and where seeing the food before ordering was a practical need. The accommodation for non-Japanese readers is a secondary benefit of a system developed for entirely different reasons.
The practical use: before entering the restaurant, study the display. Identify what looks appealing. Note the prices displayed alongside each item. Enter the restaurant and point to what you want — either by physically bringing the staff member to the display case to indicate, or by having noted the item’s name or number and using that in the ordering.
Pointing at the plastic food replica is not rude. It is the specific use for which the display exists.
Tool Two: The Picture Menu
An enormous proportion of Japanese casual and family restaurants — the famiresu (family restaurant) chains like Gusto, Jonathan’s, Denny’s Japan, Joyfull, Royal Host — provide menus that are primarily or entirely photographic. Every dish is accompanied by a large, accurate photograph of the finished plate, with the price clearly displayed.
The picture menu is sufficient for ordering without any Japanese language ability. Point at the photograph. Indicate the quantity using fingers. The system will handle the rest.
The picture menu is also the most reliable source of one specific piece of information that food-allergy-aware visitors need: the visual identification of dishes that contain specific ingredients. If you cannot eat shellfish, identifying the photograph of the seafood pasta and indicating that you want to avoid it gives the staff a specific visual reference for your allergy concern, which is considerably more reliable than attempting to communicate the allergy verbally in Japanese or through a translation app.
Tool Three: The Ticket Machine
Some restaurants — primarily ramen shops, tonkatsu restaurants, and certain other casual establishments — have replaced the ordering process with a ticket vending machine at the entrance. I wrote about this in my ramen shop culture article.
For the non-Japanese reader, the ticket machine is potentially confusing but manageable. Key strategies: look for photographic illustrations on the buttons (many modern machines include them). Look for the price displayed beneath each button (most machines display prices clearly). If genuinely uncertain, identify the item that is most prominently featured — it is typically displayed first or most centrally on the machine, and it is the shop’s primary offering, which is usually both excellent and appropriate.
Pressing a button and holding up the ticket to confirm with a staff member before completing the purchase is acceptable at most ticket machine restaurants. The staff are accustomed to helping confused-looking customers.
Tool Four: Translation Apps
The current generation of smartphone translation apps — particularly those with camera translation functionality — have transformed the experience of eating in Japan for the language-uncertain visitor.
The camera translation function: point your smartphone camera at the Japanese menu text, and the app displays an overlay of the menu with each item translated into your language. The translation quality varies by app and by the specific Japanese text being translated — restaurant menu Japanese, which often uses specific food vocabulary, archaic food names, and regional dialect terms, is more challenging for translation apps than standard Japanese prose.
Google Translate with camera mode and DeepL are the most reliable options as of this writing. The translation will not be perfect — “grilled young yellowtail with daikon in ponzu” may emerge as something less precise — but it will typically provide sufficient information to make an informed ordering choice.
One specific situation where translation apps are valuable beyond the menu: the dishes listed on chalkboards or handwritten signs inside the restaurant, which the plastic food display and picture menu do not cover. These chalkboard specials are often the freshest and best value items in the restaurant and are worth the effort of translation.
Tool Five: The Magic Words
A small collection of Japanese phrases will significantly improve your ordering experience even if you speak no other Japanese.
「これをください」(Kore wo kudasai) — “Please give me this.” Said while pointing at the menu item. This phrase is the complete ordering system. Point, say kore wo kudasai, hold up fingers for quantity if ordering more than one. Done.
「すみません」(Sumimasen) — “Excuse me.” Used to attract a staff member’s attention. Not rude, not demanding — the appropriate and expected way to call for service in a Japanese restaurant.
「おすすめは何ですか？」(Osusume wa nan desu ka?) — “What do you recommend?” This question, asked at any Japanese restaurant, will produce one of the most reliable and most helpful responses available in the ordering process. The staff recommendation is typically the freshest ingredient of the day, the dish the kitchen is currently making best, or the item that the owner most wants you to experience. It is almost always the correct choice.
「アレルギーがあります」(Arerugi ga arimasu) — “I have an allergy.” Followed by the specific allergen in Japanese if possible: ebi (shrimp), kani (crab), nattō (natto, for those with soy sensitivity), guruten (gluten), gyūnyū (milk), tamago (egg). The combination of this phrase with pointing at specific ingredients in the display or on the picture menu creates a workable communication system for most food allergy situations.
The Allergy Question: Being Honest About the Limitations
I want to be honest about the specific challenges that serious food allergies present in Japanese restaurants, because the consequences of miscommunication are significant.
Japanese food uses a range of ingredients that are not always visible in the finished dish: dashi (broth) made from fish (katsuobushi) or shellfish (dried shrimp), miso (which contains soy and sometimes gluten), various fermented condiments with complex ingredient lists. The soy allergy, the gluten allergy, and the shellfish allergy are all particularly challenging in Japanese restaurant environments because these ingredients are present in foundational preparations — in the dashi, the tare, the marinades — rather than only in identifiable components.
For severe allergies — the anaphylaxis-risk category — I strongly recommend using the dedicated allergy communication cards available from various sources (Japan-specific food allergy cards in multiple languages are available from various travel health organisations and travel websites) and presenting these cards before ordering rather than attempting to communicate the allergy through the in-restaurant tools I have described. The cards provide the specific Japanese vocabulary and the specific level of seriousness that a verbal or gesture-based communication may not convey.
Japan is a genuinely allergy-aware food culture — the allergy labelling requirements for pre-packaged food are among the most comprehensive in the world — but the communication gap between “I have an allergy” and “this is anaphylaxis-level serious” is significant, and closing that gap requires tools more precise than pointing and basic phrases.
The Etiquette of the Experience
A few practical notes on the restaurant experience itself that will make ordering and eating more comfortable.
Sit where indicated. Japanese restaurants often have specific seating arrangements — counter seats, table seats, private room (zashiki) seats — and the staff will guide you to appropriate seating when you arrive. Sitting where you are not directed, or moving from where you have been seated, requires explanation.
Water is often self-service. In many casual Japanese restaurants, a pitcher of water or a water dispenser is provided at the table or in the restaurant, with the understanding that customers will pour their own. The staff will not typically come to refill your water.
The bill is paid at the register. In the majority of Japanese restaurants, the bill is paid at the front register when you are ready to leave — not brought to the table and paid there. When you are ready to leave, catch a staff member’s attention and ask for the bill (o-kanjō onegaishimasu), receive it, and take it to the front to pay.
No tipping. I have written a full article on this. Leave no tip. The service charge is included in the price or is simply not charged.
The Confidence Factor
The most important practical tool for ordering in a Japanese restaurant without language ability is not the translation app or the plastic food display or the picture menu.
It is confidence.
Japanese restaurant staff are accustomed to foreign visitors who cannot read the menu and who are navigating the ordering process by pointing and basic communication. They are patient, genuinely helpful, and motivated by the specific Japanese omotenashi (hospitality) ethic to make the experience pleasant for you. The staff member who guides you through the menu by pointing at photographs and nodding or shaking their head to indicate availability is doing exactly the job they want to do.
Approach the ordering process as a collaborative puzzle rather than as a test. Smile. Point. Say kore wo kudasai. Express appreciation when the food arrives. Say oishii (“delicious”) when something is good.
The meal will happen. The food will be good. The experience will be one of the things you remember about Japan.
— Yoshi 🍽️ Central Japan, 2026
Enjoyed this? You might also like: “Ramen Shop Culture: The Unspoken Rules of Eating at a Japanese Ramen Counter” and “Izakaya Ordering Guide: How to Navigate a Japanese Pub Like a Local” — both available on Japan Unveiled.
