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Restaurants and Food
Food in Japan can be either a problem or a blessing, depending on your tastes. Japanese food comes in several varieties, among which are soba, udon and ramen (noodles in a broth with various bits of vegetables, meat, fish, etc.), tempura (batter fried vegetables and fish, dipped in a light soy sauce), sushi and sashimi (actually quite different, but basically raw fish eaten with a hot green mustard called wasabi), donburi (items such as fried meats, eggs, etc. on top of a bowl of rice), sukiyaki (a broth with meat and vegetables which you cook yourself at your table), okonomiyaki (often called a "Japanese pancake," which can contain all sorts of fish, fried soba, eggs, cabbage, etc., eaten with a thick sauce), etc. With almost every meal conceivable (and some not conceivable) you will receive rice: served pure and white. As meat is not eaten in Japan in the quantity that it is elsewhere, vegetarians and people with other special dietary requirements should find it easy to survive here (although vegetarian restaurants are scarce and vegetable prices are occasionally more than those of meat). Seafood (of which fish is only a small subset) is much more popular than red meat or poultry in general, and you should be able to satisfy all your cravings for delicious seafood of all varieties.
Tokyo is a large, metropolitan system, so you can expect to find many different types of food. However, be prepared to pay more than you are used to. A typical French or Italian meal in downtown Tokyo is usually around 5000-yen per person.
At Musashino, there are three restaurants (map M-5).The main one is
the dai-shokudoo (大食堂 "big cafeteria"), where you can get various
fish, meat, tempura, and curry dishes. Most of the R&D center's
three thousand employees eat here. Prices are from 400 to 800-yen. On the
second floor, just above the dai-shokudoo, is the Musashino Lounge
(ラウンジむさしの). Here you can find soba, ramen, udon, sushi, and
even hot dogs. Here, prices are from 150 to 1000-yen. The final
"on-campus" restaurant is the Tsuken Club, where you can get Western
style foods like pork cutlet, seafood, and the "spaghetti of the day."
The Tsuken Club tends to be a bit pricy, 550-1000-yen. NTT pays a 3500-yen
monthly subsidy to offset the costs of food at the dai-shokudoo and
Musashino Lounge (but not the Tsuken Club). This subsidy is credited
to your NTT ID card which can be used at the ticket vending machines
outside the cafeterias.
Outside of the Musashino ECL, there are surprisingly few restaurants. There are two just outside the north gate (map M-4). One is a Chinese restaurant with a wonderful proprietress and a talented and dynamic chef specializing in yakisoba, soba, and other lunch menu specialities. Prices are 500-1000-yen. The other is a soba place with a broad menu of various sobas, tenpuras, donburi, etc. Quantities are fairly large here, with prices about 1000-1500-yen.
A five minute walk south of Musashino ECL brings you to the "Green Park" shopping area (map M-4). There are lots of vegetable, meat, and fish markets here, as well as a few restaurants and convenience stores. Close by is a tempura place with possibly the best tempura in Tokyo (at least the best that we've found) for the paltry sum of 800-yen. This place seats only 15 people, but curiously it is rarely overflowing.
For those willing to walk further, there are various places along OOme kaidoo (青梅街道) to the north, about 10-15 minutes walk. There is also a Denny's (it's true!) about 10 minutes to the east of the Musashino ECL.
At the NTT dormitories breakfast and dinner are provided on weekdays. The food is cheap and can be good, though very short on vegetables and fruit. It's Japanese style food and OK for the flexible eaters. Rice is abundant.
At Yokosuka, there are two restaurants in the basement: the cafeteria or shokudoo (食堂) and the Matsuyoshi (松良) restaurant. The cafeteria is similar to the ones at Musashino and uses the same ID card system for purchasing tickets. The Matsuyoshi restaurant is more expensive, like Musashino's Tsuken Club. Sandwiches and so forth can be purchased at the small "Saikaya" shop between the restaurant and the cafeteria There are no other restaurants within walking distance, but anyone with a car can drive down to the beach for lunch. It is also quite pleasant to take food outside in the garden or to climb Takeyama mountain (more of a hill really), which is just over the road, and eat lunch at the summit! The nearest nice restaurant is a Tempura shop (天亀 Tenkame) behind Nobi station. There is a good Italian/French restaurant (Shallow Leaf) overlooking the beach near Tsukuihama (津久井浜) station. Otherwise Kurihama, Yokosuka Chuuoo and Kanazawa Bunko stations are the normal destinations for eating and drinking.
There is an obscenely large number of restaurants in the Tokyo metropolitan area, the number being measured in the tens of thousands. In the Kichijooji/Mitaka area, there are some good restaurants. There is a good udon place just south of the Musashino Sports Center on Chuuoo doori. As restaurants change quite frequently, we will refrain from giving an exhaustive listing. The best way to find a good place is to ask someone.
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