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Jan 16, 2026

International cuisine that's hard to come by?

In my region - Chiba-Saitama - there are many Thai, Indian, and Vietnamese restaurants serving authentic flavours. Which international cuisines do you see underrepresented in your area? Have you found any rare gems in the Kanto region? I miss Greek/eastern Mediterranean food the most...

TonetoEdo

TonetoEdo

Living between the Tone and Edo Rivers in Higashi Katsushika area of Chiba Prefecture.

8 Answers



Best Answer

  • BigfamJapan

    on Jan 17

    Irish! Is the first thing that comes to mind. There are Irish pubs in various cities in Saitama Prefecture, that would have some Irish food, but I don't think there is one in Kawagoe. I don't think Greek is easy to come by in Kawagoe either. There is a really gorgeous Spanish restaurant, but overall Spanish cuisine is also thin on the ground in this area of Saitama. Like in Chiba, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese are easy to come by, as well as Chinese and Turkish.

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  • genkidesu

    on Jan 16

    Greek food is one that comes to mind for me, too. My home city in Australia (Melbourne) is home to one of the largest Greek communities outside of Greece itself, so as you can imagine there are some pretty fantastic Greek restaurants back there to choose from!

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  • TonetoEdo

    on Jan 18

    @BigfamJapan There was an Irish cafe in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, but unfortunately, it folded during the pandemic.

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  • TonetoEdo

    on Jan 20

    @genkidesu Have you found any Greek, Lebanese, or other Mediterranean food in your region? A little Googling reveals a half-dozen in Tokyo, but alas, none near me.

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  • TonetoEdo

    on Jan 20

    @BigfamJapan Ooh! Turkish food. Do you have any reccos?

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  • genkidesu

    on Jan 20

    @TonetoEdo no great luck out this way, either. I think Greek in particular would perform well. Just so interesting that there are an absolute ton of Italian restaurants just about anywhere you go here, but Greek ones are so few and far between.

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  • TonetoEdo

    on Jan 22

    @genkidesu I just found out there are only a few hundred Greek nationals in Japan. The food culture doesn't have much representation in Japan. It's surprising considering the profile of Greek-Irish author Lafcadio Hearn.

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  • BigfamJapan

    on Jan 22

    @TonetoEdo unfortunately the only one I really liked closed during the pandemic. However, they do food trucks now instead. I think they are called M&S Catering, but it is hard to pin down when and where food trucks will be.

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