What do you think about when you think about Tokyo? Buildings taller than skyscrapers you have seen? The Akihabara market with its packed food stalls and convenience stores? Maybe just the over 10 million people that live solely within the 850 square miles that is Tokyo, Japan? The growth of technology, design, and culture that drives one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world runs on its own set of fuel: millions of workers, designers, and people that all run on the express food being delivered right to their hands.  Imagine a small tech designer for Sony: they leave work for the shortest of lunch breaks, so they can get back to changing the technical world as we see it today.  In Tokyo, the entire food district is made for the working class, holding small restaurants with street-front eating areas, fitting for our Sony worker to get his freshly made bowl of ramen.  In this way, Tokyo’s cuisine is designed for speed, aligning it with the fast-paced efficient society it’s known for. 

Food comes from humble beginnings in Tokyo, though it grows on a monumental scale.  One such place is the Tsukiji Fish Market, selling fresh off the boat fish.  The Market opens early in the morning, having fish sales and auctions featuring catches from the evening and morning before.  The Sea of Japan provides all sorts of maritime life, exemplifying the speed from which the fish go from the sea to the table.  Homemakers and workers go to the Market from 4 to 5 a.m. to prepare their meals for the day.  Even octopi are sold at the Market. These oceanic foods are commonly sold at the market to be used in sushi dishes as well as being put in takoyaki, basically the Japanese version of a hushpuppy with octopus in it.  These are also made to order at such markets and can be picked up fresh along with the fish of the day. 

Restaurants in Tokyo mainly focus on how they can get quality food out quickly to the customer.  In the Akihabara shopping district, there are various forms of entertainment as well as quick street-side restaurants, showcasing fresh foods directly from the cooktop to your hand.  Akihabara focuses on fast food – though not in the context that Americans have given it.  Akihabara’s food focuses on speed but is quality: you can eat it quickly to get back to work faster.  Restaurants such as this serve house special ramen (containing all of that particular shop’s trade secrets) as well as serving sushi and other quick eats.   

There are a few dishes that are innately Japanese, being thought of as so for most of the modern era.  Ramen and sushi  both speak to internationals of being classical representations of Japanese culture, but they still tell the story of the need for speed.  Sushi, fish rolled in seaweed, rice, and often other vegetables, is a common food for Japanese lunch and dinners.  Since it has both simple ingredients and a great taste, it is ideal to take to work or pick up at sushi bars or in a convenience store.  Sushi is made fairly quickly and easily if you know how, putting together rice that you could have made and stored the night before and rolling the fish that you need.  Ramen is quick in this way as well: you can cook the noodles and prepare the broth long before your day at work and still be able to piece something together at home that can easily be heated up in a microwave at work.  The pieces that these two traditional dishes require can be all made separately at different times but will ultimately reach their satisfying whole at the end of the convenient process. 

Japan’s work-focused society has bred its own culinary culture based on providing fresh, nutritious foods in a way that is accessible in a flash.  Markets such as the Tsukiji Fish Market have fish sales even beginning at 4 am to sell the day’s catch in time for the working class to be able to access what they need throughout the day.  Restaurants seen in places like izakayas or Akihabara are more street friendly and focused – giving meals quickly to those purchasing from the street for their day.  Most Japanese traditional food that is thought of is known to be fresh, using raw meats and vegetables in combination with starches that can be made in quantities and divided out over time.  With these tools in hand, our metaphorical Sony worker can be able to get whatever food they need for their brief lunch and continue changing the technological world as we know it.